Jocara Newsletter
Feb 9, 2005

The last two weeks have been crazy with all the great people and stuff
going on for us in Tanga.  We extended our stay until yesterday, we've
enjoyed the place so much.  Oliver came out with us for two days to take
water samples, anchored overnight among the reefs.  Then there were more
repairs (generator again) then off for a Sunday dive with Simon, the
principal of the local international school that has taken Alex under its
wing, and our new friends Luuk and Birgit, plus a motley assortment of
kids.  Caroline spent Monday filming 'a day in the life of' Nina, Luuk and
Birgit's daughter.  This is really for the Ministry of Education in
Singapore and included a lot of time at the Tanga International School
(http://www.tistanzania.com), a wonderful school with just 32 pupils and
three classes.  Tuesday we hosted a boat visit from the kids; just like we
did for the classes in Singapore.  John finally worked up the courage to
attack the main engine overheating problem, and has maybe got it licked.  
Wednesday we visited the Tanga Coastal Zone Conservation and Development
Programme office to talk to them about their fisheries management and
protection programme, and also about the amazing 19 Coelacanths that have
been caught in the Tanga area in recent months. The Coelacanth is a
'living fossil'; extremely rare, weird and a protected species.  We saw
one in their freezer, it was immediately apparent that this is a truly
strange fish, completely different from anything else we have ever seen.  
We worked with the programme officers to set up a webpage on their amazing
findings and are going to get that put up as soon as we are able to help
get the news out and spur efforts to protect the newly-discovered habitat.  
Refuelling was a nightmare experience (as always in remote places) but we
got 1000 litres of diesel on board that will have to last us until... who
knows?  Caro and John spent many happy hours running about town picking up
all sorts of provisions, and we now (once again)  have a freezer full of
frozen meat of various sorts.  The stay was rounded off with a trip
up-country to the hills, tea plantations and tropical rainforest of Amani
and Eastern Usambara mountains, where we also visited small dairy farms
who work in a collective of such farms; a long-term project of Luuk and
Birgit (who are vets).  Finally, we pulled ourselves away from this
delightful town and its people, all of whom have been so friendly and
supportive.  The 50m motor vessel 'Lamu' (an ex-Norwegian whaler and North
Sea oilrig rescue boat, now privately owned as a pleasure yacht) were very
generous in taking us alongside on our way out to give us 1200 litres of
fresh water, swap some DVD films, books, magazines, stories... so that we
eventually cleared the point around 13:00 and finally set sail for
Zanzibar. Today, 9 Feb. finds us at 5 deg. 37.2'S, 39 deg. 07.3'E making
4.5 kts southwards in 10 kts of wind towards our next appointment with the
Institute of Marine Sciences to work with them on their Menai conservation
area and Dolphin tourism.

The Crew of Jocara.

P.S. Don't forget to check out our website at http://www.jocara.net for 
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