Perspective...

Marianne, off the planet and happy!

29 October 2011...

Even though I would love to the reality is just that there is not enough time in the day; time to write, time to go through photographs, time to share and time to reminisce. Once again I am of sitting at the airport cafeteria and despite not having had a single drop of coffee for two weeks now, I am completely at ease. (The coffee bit has been far easier than I thought – seems like I am lucky – no addictive gene in my bones!).

The last few days have proved to be somewhat disappointing from a whale shark point of view. We have been able to get up and fly for much of the last days but the sharks have just not been forth coming. Today is Saturday and since I only managed a very short flight this morning – Marianne and I could not get around to the west side of the island where the sharks hang out – the bout trip for the afternoon has been cancelled. It means just a normal survey flight and a bit of a reprieve for me at the airport cafeteria.

Hey! Would you believe, David has just joined me sporting a doughnut and coffee, (Yes, I looked at the coffee – it did nothing for me :) David is of course the man behind the MCSS. Founder, chairman and maker of the MCSS, his passion and enthusiasm of late have become highly contagious. He has come to collect Georgia who has been at a Marine seminar in the Maldives. (Georgia lives in the flat down stairs – David calls her the scary one, which is very amusing to all of us – other than a few extra studs in her ears, very short hair that changes colour every now and then, she is of course anything but scary. Georgia is part of the permanent staff of the MCSS and because she has two surfboards in her room, I think she is way more than cool. :)
David and I have a light and very pleasant conversation before he heads off to meet her.

Marianne and I after her flight.

As it turned out (A fortunate turn of events you can call it) Niki, Marianne's daughter, accompanied me on the afternoon flight. We did not see any whale sharks but managed a few fish traps, a couple of schools of fish and of course, the beauty and perspective the view from the air brings. The whole island is cast out before you as if by magic – hours by car is captured in a single glance and dots are finally joined, even for those you did not even know existed. I allowed Niki to pilot the wing for a while – she turned out to be a natural pilot, flying the wing with ease within just a few minutes, no doubt I am sure, bringing new insight to her own abilities as all new experiences seems to lend itself to.

There was a large line of rain moving in from the south bringing a slight sense of urgency to our flight, often so typical of Seychelles. Even so we managed to get to the north and have a quick look for those very shy spotty creatures. On the way back we took a different route. Instead of moving right around the island we flew back up the west coast and dived through some cloudy layers over Anse Royal. It was pretty spectacular to say the least and seeing the endless smile on Niki’s face made me realise that true perspective does not come from being able to look down on our world but rather it comes from within.

These are the moments that define us.

Wish you were here!
:)

Niki high over Conception island...

Niki - a definitive moment...