villa4europe Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 (edited) Quote @tonyh29 Saw great White Sharks (got in the water with them all be it inside a cage ) in South Africa what was it like? its on my to do list before im 40 (im 32) no chance the missus will do it so i'll be leaving her by a hotel pool for the day, think it was a company called marine dynamics that id looked at before, looked cheaper than i thought it would be and started very early (something like a 4am pick up) how long did you get to spend in the water compared to on the boat? Edited September 5, 2016 by villa4europe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 (edited) 25 minutes ago, villa4europe said: what was it like? its on my to do list before im 40 (im 32) no chance the missus will do it so i'll be leaving her by a hotel pool for the day, think it was a company called marine dynamics that id looked at before, looked cheaper than i thought it would be and started very early (something like a 4am pick up) how long did you get to spend in the water compared to on the boat? I actually went with Marine Dynamics , there are loads of companies but MD take a marine biologist out with you and seem to be really passionate about what they do and sharks in general ( they give you a shark conservation talk after you get back to shore whilst you get warm eating soup ) as its winter now the boat trip out is only 20 mins as the sharks are in shallow water , the flip side to this is that visibility is not great in the cage , maybe 1m tops ... Go in the summer and you have a longer boat trip out to dyer island and much better visability ( I don't know if that impacts on time in the water though ) they do as much as they can to maximise your chances of seeing one so they won't bail out until they really really have to we'd been out about 30 mins when a juvenile white appeared and that's when they put the first group in the water .... I was part of the first group and we got around 25 - 30 mins before we came out and the next lot went in ... I'd imagine this time is dependant on how many people are on board on a given day( we just about saw him whilst in the water but tbh the better views were had from on deck , I suspect in summer that might not be the case though ) everyone that wants to go in gets the same time , there were 3 spaces with the last group so I was lucky enough to get to go in again ( Helps if you talk to the crew and get friendly with them )when a huge adult male turned up .... It came straight at me out of nowhere ( rem the vis was only 1 m ) and then veered off and swam along the length of the cage ... I couldn't help it but I jumped a little the speed it came out of nowhere at is just amazing .... I've scuba dived with sharks dozens of times even the naughty ones that attack people from time to time but never seen one in attack speed mode like that ... was as well worth it even allowing for the 4am start from Cape Town if you go check out a town called Hermanus and look to stay there ... It's a wee bit close to the Gansbaii where you depart from and it looked a very picturesque place with the bonus that you can often see whales from the coastline id also try and talk your wife into it , the trip is great even if you don't go in the water Edited September 5, 2016 by tonyh29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Got back from Tanzania last week. Absolutely brilliant, my favourite country I've been to. Spent the first ten days on Zanzibar, stayed in a couple of beachy places and two nights in Stone Town. It's a real paradise island. On a sunset boat trip got chatting to one of the lads who was working on the dhow, claimed he had trailed at Norwich City a couple of years ago and had been drinking with Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch at the time, fantastic imagination some of the stories he was coming out with so much so that I began to wonder if it was true! Great weather, lovely food and reasonably cheap beer. Would definitely go back to visit some of the other parts of the island we didn't have time to go to. Then we flew to Arusha which we used as a base to go on safari to the Tarangire national park and the Ngorongoro Crater. I wasn't too fussed about safari before we went especially given the price we were paying but with hindsight I'm so glad we did it, brilliant two days, saw all the animals you'd expect to apart from Leopards and Cheetahs. We were lucky enough to have the jeep and guide to ourselves, cue smug looks at the other packed jeeps who had probably paid more than us (we went for a 'budget' option). Fifteen minutes into our first day we saw a pride of lions eating a wildebeest that they had killed, really quite something! From there we went up to Lushoto in the Usambara Mountains for a couple of nights and a short (20km) trek. Beautiful up in the hills. Spent the last two days at the beach just south of Dar Es Salaam. Aside from our two bus journeys (told they would be 6 hours each, both were 9!) it was a very relaxing holiday and I can't speak highly enough of the country or its people. If you're thinking of going further afield than Europe and want to give Africa a try (this was my second visit, after going to Ghana a few years ago) I can't recommend Tanzania enough! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 On 05/09/2016 at 18:44, tonyh29 said: Got back from my African adventure last night .. Swam at the top of Victoria Falls (Zambia) , entered Zimbabwe illegally drunk at Africa's Highest pub in Lesotho , Saw great White Sharks (got in the water with them all be it inside a cage ) in South Africa , got nicked for Speeding and bribed a copper in Swaziland , Kayaking with Sea Lions in Namibia ( stroking sea lions FTW) got refused entry into Angola and escorted upstairs to wait for the next flight out before finding someone that spoke English (rather than Portuguese ) and allowed entry once I'd been formally apologised to by the official who refused me entry ... and stood in the Rorkes Drift mission and got to shout " Stop chucking those bloody spears at me " , words that everyone knows Michael Caine said , but he actually didn't ( he said it in "The man who would be King " FWIW ) You hear a lot about Africa and how it isn't safe and whilst it's true houses do tend to be ringed with Electric fences and have ADT armed response signs all over them , the over riding view is that it's no different to any other country in the world where if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time then bad things will happen .. all we got was beaming faces , a " Hello" and lots of waving ... we even walked home from the pub at various times at silly hours with out any issues what so ever I've been to bits of Africa before but this was my first real exploration where we drove around ourselves and went solo rather than through escorted tours ... wish I had done it much much sooner , take a bow Africa you were amazing Sounds fantastic mate, bet you had some good nights out too on the local brew? They say Africa is the last frontier in travel as Asia as become so sanitised over the years. I've always fancied... its got a bit of danger to it and excitement. Whether i'll ever get there is another matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 Booked flights and accommodation for Reykjavik yesterday. Going later in the year. Looking forward to it already Planning another break with a mate as well.. looking at Warsaw or Gdansk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 Its all go now... Iceland booked, Stockholm perhaps the week after and now a sun break... So, has anyone here been to Gambia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 2 hours ago, Xela said: Its all go now... Iceland booked, Stockholm perhaps the week after and now a sun break... So, has anyone here been to Gambia? I have spent a week in Banjul bit meh if im honest , I went primarily to go fishing and high rain meant everything had been washed away so I killed time visiting a peanut factory , some river trip a wildlife park ( next to zero wildlife ) and watching Banjul FC play football .... Even the swimming pool flooded the rain was that intense at times this is was in 1990 so maybe things have got better .... Or worse 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 On 6 September 2016 at 20:24, Xela said: Booked flights and accommodation for Reykjavik yesterday. Going later in the year. Looking forward to it already Planning another break with a mate as well.. looking at Warsaw or Gdansk Check out Sopot it's the same airport but is a beach town with some decent bars and clubs ... You can always do Gdansk as a day trip ... We went by train it's fairly straightforward once you master the ticket machine 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 On 9/6/2016 at 21:24, Xela said: Planning another break with a mate as well.. looking at Warsaw or Gdansk If you need any help with Poland, let me know 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Anyone ever been to Cartagena? as usual I'm looking at you Tony... looking for somewhere in the Caribbean that's a bit different, so the likes of Honduras, Costa Rica etc and you can stay in some OK looking resorts in the beachy part just outside the town Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 12 hours ago, villa4europe said: Anyone ever been to Cartagena? as usual I'm looking at you Tony... looking for somewhere in the Caribbean that's a bit different, so the likes of Honduras, Costa Rica etc and you can stay in some OK looking resorts in the beachy part just outside the town Nope you got me there I've not been to Colombia , other than a stop over at Bogota airport which doesn't count Damian is yer man for all things Colombia , but not sure he's posted on her in a while ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 On 06/09/2016 at 20:23, Xela said: Sounds fantastic mate, bet you had some good nights out too on the local brew? They say Africa is the last frontier in travel as Asia as become so sanitised over the years. I've always fancied... its got a bit of danger to it and excitement. Whether i'll ever get there is another matter Windhoek beer seemed to be everywhere but did track down the local brew in each country for research purposes ... Zambian beer seemed to give me the squirts for some reason !! by and large I'd say the nationality we encountered the most tourist wise was Italians , they seem to have wisened up to Africa before the masses ....didn't see one back packer with beads and a guitar .... it's holiday Nirvana 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted September 20, 2016 Author Share Posted September 20, 2016 @tonyh29 how many countries you been to in Africa and what is your favourite? I fancy Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda at some point. Some interesting histories there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 4 hours ago, Xela said: @tonyh29 how many countries you been to in Africa and what is your favourite? I fancy Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda at some point. Some interesting histories there. None of those 3 as it happens our guide in Djibouti had lived in Ethiopia for 6 months and loved the place , think it's one of those you can travel around in for some time and see a lot of interesting stuff.... I'm not sure about the other 2 , do they have the wow factor ? Gorillas in the wild maybe ? Africa was never high on my to do list , I'd done safari in kenya / Tanzania and beach in Zanzibar but the rest of it wasn't calling out to me ....but my recent adventure there was surprisingly good and perfectly safe (as have all my trips to Africa tbf ) Top 3 .....for me Djibouti is still the best place in Africa as its kinda untouched ... if you go out to swim with the whale sharks you'll pretty much be the only person there ( v Philippines where about 40 boat loads go out every day ) , lake Assal and the fault lines also add to its appeal then it would be Egypt I'd never get bored of visiting the pyramids and Cairo Museum Then probably Namibia I'd happily go back there (and probably will ) thats a bit harsh on South Africa tbh as the place has everything and I'll also be sure to go back there at some point , id possibly even consider living there when I retire tbh .... maybe it's just that everyone goes there hence my pref for Namibia 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted September 23, 2016 Author Share Posted September 23, 2016 Africa is definitely on my list. Probably start with somewhere like Tanzania before perhaps trying somewhere a bit more untouched. Freetown in Sierra Leone is meant to be a great place to chill out 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 24 minutes ago, Xela said: Africa is definitely on my list. Probably start with somewhere like Tanzania before perhaps trying somewhere a bit more untouched. Freetown in Sierra Leone is meant to be a great place to chill out Tanzania would be a great place to start 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid4ever Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Just back from Gibraltar, have to say I was amazed at the history of the place, did not realise I was so uneducated. Can highly recommend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 I'm in Milan now, strange place, it's got a very nice centre with duomo and the really posh shopping bit, got some nice restaurants and from what I've seen you can go really expensive here but it's pretty rough, 2 turns left from the duomo and it's proper ropey, fair few homeless and beggars it's also really quiet in my hotel so I got a free upgrade, I also played the game with last minutes mystery hotel (look at the trip advisor rating, 5/5 from 523 reviews, just find the one with 523 reviews and that's your hotel..) means I'm paying £75 for a £200 a night room, poshest place I've ever stayed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 I was back from a week in Rhodes weds night. Great weather, and the cleanest, clearest water I've ever swam in. Didn't really go near any pools, didn't see the point, apart from a few token water slides. Rhodes old town was magnificent, learnt an awful lot about the history of the island too - it's been governed/occupied by the Turkish, Italians, Germans, British and now the Greek in the last 100 years alone. It's history during the Crusades is probably more interesting, and of course there's the ancient Greek and Roman side of things too. As a result there's the most wonderful amalgamation of culture and architecture I've ever seen in the flesh. Where else would you see Minarets rise above the sky line within a fortified medieval city? Bizarre, and rather beautiful. I'm almost certainly not alone in this - taking note of other countries attitude to health and safety. Rhodes had some fun examples. At one part of the old harbour (still in use mind) you can freely climb the medieval fortifications. Climbing one particular set of stairs (no hand rail ofc), and following the walkway round to the right presents you with a path completely crumbled away leading directly in to the sea. I did prefer Lindos though. That's magic. We did a yacht trip down the east coast, swam in a few bays too. One guy was a bit shady the whole day, in the last bay we swam in he didn't come back, turns out he'd swam to shore and got a taxi to his hotel Health and safety policy at the acropolis here - there ain't one, if you climb up a wall and fall off you'll probably die, cos you're an idiot. Also, a couple of hours after we left, Rhodes airport was evacuated due to what at first presumed to be a pepper gas attack - instead, it was actually a canister of the stuff that went of in someone's case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Back from Milan, really enjoyed it, duomo was incredible, there's loads of stuff tucked in the city centre, did the hop on bus tour to kill time really yesterday and the architecture is fascinating, the nightlife areas I went to (navigli and brera) aren't as good as say la ramblas or even Lyon old town which I went to earlier this year when you add in the shopping areas which didn't really interest me and there's tons of museums there (I didn't even see the last supper) I can imagine there's a lot more to do lake como was great too, great food great drinking (went to varenna) more than anything I think it made me really want to explore Italy, my first time there and really enjoyed it, been to France twice this year, Lyon for the euros which was ok and then st nazaire for the villa which I hated, I'm in no rush to go back to France, Italy on the other hand I think I'd go back to next weekend if I could 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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