So after not much preparation following the hard times we went through it was time to head down to Vidal for a two and a half week trip.
The new Ranger 3.2 4x4 ran like a dream and I was impressed with the comfort, power and fuel consumption.
We drove to Mtunzini and arrived at 9pm, and went straight to bed after my mom fed her long lost son
We got up at 4am and arrived at St Lucia as the sun came up. We filled with fuel and were soon at the gate to Vidal reserve.
We arrived at research camp (camp 51) and started preparing to set up camp.
It took us nearly all day to set up camp and after that all I had to run back to St Lucia for my fishing licence which expired on the day exactly..can you believe it
Setting up this kind of camp takes a lot of hands and its not easy going. But slowly she came up.
We started unpacking from the 5 bakkies that carried everything, including 3 boats, 1 caravan, 1 deepfreeze trailer and all the tent poles etc.
We launched briefly on the Friday morning and got I think 1 or 2 fish but returned quickly as Cyclone Irina was bearing down on us.
The cyclone hit us hard, with swells running in the 7m range and wind speeds near 60 knots.
The water came up right onto the dunes and the whole beach was flooded.
Then the enivetable happened and the big tent gave way. This meant dropping the tent and packing up everything again as it was raining cats and dogs (Vidal had almost 450mm rain).
I drove back to Mtunzini, slept the night and took the tent to Zululand canvas in Empangeni where I waited for them to open Monday morning. Elize helped me promptly and started with the repair ASAP. WEnt back to Zini and picked up the tent the Tuesday and returned to Vidal, where we set up that huge came once again.
But first I stopped at St Lucia mouth
We spent a lot of time driving around and visited the Mfolozi and Hlulhuwe reserves.
So after 10 days with 2 hours on the water we hit the sea on the 10th of March when conditions were far from perfect. THe rain had all the rivers running muddy water into the ocean. The water was brown all the way from St Lucia pas Leven point, and all the way out to the 150m mark.
Managed a nice prodigal sun and the odd couta, yft and dorado. THe sharks and especially the dolphins cleaned us out this year.
We enjoyed some fresh sashimi almost every night.
I had some friends come over for a couple of days fishing, and managed some fish on rapalas as they could not take drifting and turned a shade of green
(Disclaimer the Queenfish was rapala hooked in the gills)
The Lowrance was doing it job
The one night we made some sushi for starters.
On another evening a buffalo made the road it’s own and we had to wait a while before it let us pass.
and the yft kebabs were lovely.
The last days fishing paid of with a nice striped marlin, which was released.
Overall not the most successful trips but fun none the less
