Day 5 and 6 Recap and Pics

After flying from Jo-burg to Durban, we were met by Jana and his wife, a very cute older couple. He is Indian, originally from Umkomas, just south of Durban proper, and she is German. They met in Umkomas before moving to Germany for 20 years because they weren't allowed to marry in South Africa during apartheid. It was interesting to hear about the real personal impact of the politics.

In Umkomas we stayed above the Aliwal Dive Center. Amazing view of the ocean! (see pic below) We checked in at about 4 PM, and decided to take a little nap. We didn't wake up until 5 AM the next day! Clearly we needed to catch up on some sleep.

After waking on Friday (day 6), we walked downstairs to the dive shop. We went out for 2 dives on Aliwal Shoal, on the top dive spots in the world. Conditions were ok, medium visibility, lots of surge. We did see a bunch of different rays and one black tip shark. We took some pics using an underwater disposable, but we'll have to get them developed to see how they turn out.

After the dive, we had some breakfast and then Jana drove us up to the Fairmont Zimbali Lodge. Our room is very nice, big upgrade in comfort from the dive shop. Neat view of the jungle. The lodge in general is pretty nice. It's only 14 years old, but was designed to look kind of old timey.

Friday evening, we went to the Sangeeth celebration. It was nice to see some friends and to meet Justin and Ree's parents. The ceremony is to cleanse Ree and get her ready for marriage (Stef and Leslie help out below). Apparently another tradition is that the boys sneak outside for a few drinks, at an otherwise dry ceremony. I was much more a fan of this then Stef was. After dinner, the DJ turned down the house lights and turned on the lasers and the heaviest strobe light I've ever seen. It was pretty awesome. Everyone was moving like Anne Rice vampires.

We got back to the hotel around midnight and had a night cap at the bar before heading to bed. Wedding tomorrow!