After enduring the full Holy Month of Ramadan, followed by the searing heat of summer in the Middle East last year, it went without question that vacation dates needed to cover those two periods this year.
With flights booked and seasonal information taken into account, the boys back home held up their behaviour of bombarding the social media feed with images and stories, along with a few incredible catches pretty much breaking the fishing pages with headlines of monster fish.
Nevertheless, I had convinced the Emirates check-in clerk that the reason the suspicious looking black tube was 7ft 3” was because the Shimano Terez is a one piece rod and those funky hypnotic things, bound to the outside with packaging tape, were in fact free diving fins bedazzled in the ultimate holographic stickers the world has to offer.
No mention of 2 spear guns, 4 spare bands, 2 buoy lines, a belt reel, spare spears and a 1kg vacuum sealed pack of the most divine Arabic dates was made and were all packed and ready for the South African winter!
It wasn’t an hour after stepping through the door into the house, to break the surprise to the family that I would be home for holiday, that the messages stacked up to spend my second, much needed lazy day on my home waters targeting early season Daga Salmon (kob) off the North Coast.
After figuring out a pattern that had produced some great fish, we stuck to our game of alternating launch times, wind predictions and tides to best maximize an afternoon or morning session.
Before departing for South Africa, a booking for a weeks camping was made on the down low, Cape Vidal being the destination of choice. Positively, the improvements made to the camp sites and facilities are great. Unfortunately, the fauna and flora will eat everything. The grey tree rats are approximately 3 Decembers away from being able to roast their own marshmallows. While the terrors attack from above, its not uncommon to have the Banded red devils at ground level snatching whatever the other critters have dropped or digested and left on the outskirts of the camp.
All in all there’s no way one can beat the experiences or change the people we spend those times with.
A big thank you to all the friends and family who have made this trip back home an absolute beauty!
