ROBBEN ISLAND - a short story

A few years ago I travelled around South Africa. 
While I was in Cape Town I took the ferry to Robben Island and met a man called Ntoza: an experience I will never forget.

I described the tour of Robben Island in an article I wrote for an English language newspaper in Spain.

Shortly after the death of Nelson Mandela I wrote a story based on my experience which was published on the Cafe Lit website.

Cape Town from ferry to Robben Island

You can read the story here

Robben Island

Nelson Mandela's Cell

Nelson Mandela's Cell

Touching the Unicorn

My strapline says: scribbler, scuba diver and unrepentant vagabond, so I thought it was high time I told you something about my scuba diving experiences. Here is a little tale about the unicorns of the underwater world…

Blue Triggerfish

 When it came to naming newly identified species, Latin was adopted as a universal system. Not so, the common names. Many common names are often simply descriptive. Hence: blackbirds, tortoiseshell butterflies and death’s head moths, to name a few. So it is with many fish. Triggerfish have a little concealed dorsal fin that flicks up like a trigger as a warning signal; surgeonfish have spines as deadly sharp as a scalpel. There are cornetfish, frogfish, butterflyfish, glassfish… you get the picture.

Frogfish

The first time someone mentioned unicornfish I was intrigued. Unicornfish? Surely the stuff of legends and fairytales! Of course the reason for this name is more prosaic. Unicornfish have a protrusion between their eyes, some more obvious than others.

Spotted Unicornfish

I have to confess to feeling somewhat disappointed when I identified my first unicornfish. Visions of endearing fish in My Little Pony colours were shattered. 

Drab in colour, it is the ‘horn’ that makes this fish recognisable rather than its ‘plumage’.

So, I ignored unicornfish in favour of the flamboyant and flirtatious strumpets of the fish world. I allowed myself to be diverted by multi-coloured parrotfish, cute anemonefish - or clownfish - decked out in orange and white, delicate butterflyfish, angelfish and strangely angular boxfish. And who wouldn’t be seduced by the Many Spotted Sweetlips with its Angelina Joliesk-pout?

Spinecheek Anemonefish

Common Boxfish

Many Spotted Sweetlips

Yet, the unicornfish had something up their metaphoric fishy sleeves that would knock the others’ behaviour into a cocked hat… their curiosity of divers and our bubbles.

Pause for any length of time around unicornfish and they’ll hover above you in your stream of bubbles. There is something enormously appealing about any wild creature that is willing to interact.

Waiting for the unicornfish

Now, whenever I spotted unicornfish on a dive, I would wait to see whether they would approach and hang out in my bubbles. Whenever they did, their demeanour reminded me of those Japanese macaques – you know the ones that sit in the hot water pools with sleepy-eyed, stoned expressions?

Humpback Unicornfish

The last time I saw unicornfish I was diving in The Maldives. One bold individual hovered just above my head, enjoying my bubbles. I reached out reflexively, as I often do. It’s a futile, harmless gesture because no fish will tolerate human contact. On this occasion, the unicornfish stayed put and allowed my fingers to brush, ever so softly, against his surprisingly velvety skin.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly - Insect mini-series

Here is story number 5 in my insect mini-series

Small Tortoiseshells and Peacock Butterfly (West Cork, ROI)

It was all a bit much. Bad enough that he had to endure all the other Small Tortoiseshells muscling in on his chosen Buddleia, but the Peacock interloper was one lepidoptera too far.

He watched the activity from his solitary perch with a jaundiced compound eye. The other Tortoiseshells were feeding close together, probing the flowers for nectar with their long proboscises. When the Peacock arrived they had merely budged up a bit. He, on the other hand, had flown off to an upper level.

It didn’t take him long to realise the advantages of his elevated position: he could observe the females and spot likely candidates to lure into his territory close to the nettle patch.

The nettles played an important role in the mating business because female Small Tortoiseshells preferred to lay their eggs on the underside of nettle leaves. The territory he had already scouted out beside the nettles was surely irresistible.

Etiquette dictated that he should wait in his territory until a female entered it before he started wooing her. However, if he spotted a potential mate, perhaps he could make an early start at the courtship procedure on the Buddleia itself. He hadn’t tried this strategy before. It was risky. Courtship entailed approaching a female from behind and drumming his antennae on her hindwings. She wouldn’t be expecting it while she was feeding and might react as if she’d been goosed. Still… he who dares…

A fetching looking female alighted to feed on a flower below him. He landed beside her. Now he just had to summon his courage.

Huntsman Spider - Mini-series of insect stories

Here is story number 4 in my insect mini-series

Huntsman Spider - Savusavu, Fiji

Nocturnal hunting came with its own set of rules, rewards and hazards. While she risked the dangers of the hunter becoming the hunted, she enjoyed a freedom of movement that only a webless spider could experience.

Fruit Bat - or Flying Fox in Papaya Tree, Fiji

On this particular night she had stalked a beetle up into the canopy of a papaya tree, and found herself confronted by a flying fox – or fruit bat. The bat had taken umbrage at the interloper who had disturbed it at its evening meal, causing the Huntsman to make a rapid retreat. The spider leapt, jumped and skittered down the papaya tree and took refuge on a nearby house where she had spotted some interesting activity. Moths were hurling themselves against a window in a vain attempt to reach the light within.

 She had barely positioned herself to pounce on a juicy looking specimen when she spotted a gecko approaching, no doubt with the same idea.

Now the Huntsman had a serious problem. With a potential leg span of 160mm she was the largest spider in this part of the world, but geckoes were dangerous predators. She knew the lizard would have no qualms about taking her on. Indeed, a spider of her dimensions was probably a far more attractive proposition to the gecko than a slim moth with insubstantial wings.

The Huntsman withdrew.

She needed to find a hiding place because she knew that more geckoes would arrive to feast on the moths. Her preferred choice was loose tree bark to slide and hide beneath, but with sunrise imminent she didn’t have time to leave the security of the building to go in search of something more suitable. She therefore elected to remain under the eaves of the house.

Now, if only the creature that lived within the house would stop flashing a light in her eight eyes, she might have been content to stay a while. As it was, she waited patiently for night to descend once more so that she could make good her escape.

Google Friend Connect

Hello
This is just a quick post to highlight the fact that I've finally managed to add the Google Friend Connect widget to my blog. So if any of you lovely people would prefer to use it instead of the Google+ system - please click on the link that says 'Join This Site'.

My next post is going to be slightly delayed because I've got a new laptop and I have to get to grips with a new photo system. Watch this space...

The Elijah Project - a short story

During my years in Fiji I had many fascinating experiences and gained vast amounts of material for both fiction and non-fiction writing. My latest story published on the Cafe Lit website was inspired by things I saw in Fiji. The story is fictional, and Fijians do not have a culture of throwing family members out of their homes, but the character Elijah is loosely based on a real person.

Harvesting coconuts

Click here to read the story

House building

Selling trinkets to tourists

Touching the Void in Antalya, Turkey

Hello, I've just returned from a trip to Turkey where I scuba dived, went paragliding, visited a food market and did a little culture vulturing. Here's how the paragliding went... 

The minibus pulled up alongside a vertiginous gravelled slope that slipped away so precipitously I couldn’t see over the edge. I averted my eyes. If I was ever going to baulk at this latest adventure – it was now. My best strategy was to turn my back on that heart stopping vista and not allow myself to reflect on what I was about to do.

My guide, Fartih, was brisk and professional. He kitted me up with elbow and knee pads and then strapped me into my harness. I posed for a photograph, smiling like a lunatic to hide my nerves.

‘Let’s go,’ said Fartih.

I slid and scuffled after him down the gravel slope to where the business end of the chute lay.

As we hooked up Fartih said, ‘The conditions are perfect today. We won’t even need to run down the slope in order to take-off.’

To say I was relieved to hear that, is an understatement.

I could feel the chute tugging at us. We stepped forwards and backwards a couple of times, waiting for the wind to catch the billowing material and suddenly my feet left the ground. 

Fartih pushed me gently in the small of my back and now I was sitting comfortably in my harness. The views were gorgeous and there was no sensation of vertigo. I stuck my feet out and took photos. We cruised above the mountain ridge, waiting for the others to join us.

Eventually we swung high over the town and out to sea where I watched my husband and his guide doing aerobatics.

I managed to stay on my feet when we landed, but my heart and soul remained in the air for the rest of the day.