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Wednesday
18th October, 2000
A ROUGH PLAN FOR
2001:
Mark is
now back in London after his short contract as a EU Fisheries Observer
in the NW Atlantic, and ready to focus on bringing the seeds for the next
expedition to fruition. A brief outline of what we are hoping to achieve:
- To dive and document
the largest underground lake known to man, Dragon's Breath Cave in Namibia.
- To dive and document
the coastline of Mozambique.
- To provide unbiased
information on areas visited.
The main differences
to the previous expedition will be that we are expanding the team and
also the media that we are using. As well as info on the site, we will
be filming the next trip for TV - a Cape Town based production company
will be joining us to lend their expertise as documentary filmmakers.
Rather than a 'fly on the wall doci' about a couple bimbling their way
through Africa we aim to make something that is rich in striking images,
entertaining interviews and facts about the areas. Neither of us feel
pretty enough or witty enough to be presenters, but we are confident that
within our team we can produce something meaty. We are also hoping to
add another member to the team who will be responsible for video streaming
on the site. To improve our self-sufficiency we have now had to increase
our kit, which has been provided by sponsors:
- 4m rubber dinghy
(rubber duck) and 15hp outboard engine.
- 'Twin-sets' - to
allow us to explore greater depths, or increase dive time, we will be
using twin cylinders and mixed-gas. Once we learn more, we will be able
to talk about this kind of diving with a little more authority than
the present moment;
- Slide processing
unit;
- Generator;
- Compressor;
- A trailer to put
it all in!
The next few weeks
promise to be very interesting as we've now got to get secure a good deal
more finance. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, please keep the
ideas coming as some of these developments are due to the comments, ideas
and compliments we have received.
Monday
2nd October, 2000
As
you probably know, we've been offline for a couple of weeks - 'a few technical
hitches', in simple terms means Charlie's got a job and hasn't had much
time to play. A
year's worth of internet technology has recently hit us with a resounding
'thwack'. Although connected in Africa, we didn't quite have the funding
to warrant hours of surfing and keeping up with the latest internet trends.
Now that we're back, we've got a bit of time on our hands. This site is
to undergo major surgery over the next few weeks/months in preperation
for Expedition 2001. As always, keep the ideas coming in. What do you
want to see on this site for the next trip. Here are some of the frequent
suggestions sent in so far. Video streaming(underwater and on-land); Daily
diaries of life on the African road; Personal Diaries; Web Cams.
Send
your suggestions to 2001@divethedream.com
Friday
15th September, 2000
Fax
from Mark today. He's being transferred from the main Ship to one of the
Trawlers trudging back and forth over the Grand Banks, 200 miles off the
coast of Canada. The last guy on board wanted an emergency transfer as
no-one had spoken a word to him in three weeks. Great. Mark's really looking
forward to this!
Friday
8th September, 2000
Several
pained phonecalls to the AA this week. Firstly trying to explain how Truck's
chassis number had changed since leaving UK last year, and secondly to
explain why we're in the UK and the Truck is still in South Africa....
If you remember, on entry to SA last August, customs kindly pointed out
that the original vehicle registration document was mis-printed which
of course meant that all the other documents were also wrong) Her (Truck's)
documentation expired on the 25th August and we've been trying for the
last few months to extend the Carnet de Passage so she (Truck) can legally
wait for us to return in March..... Thank god the lady at the AA was in
a good mood. She's going to help us sort this mess out.
Thursday 31st
August, 2000
Had to finally say goodbye to Mark whose now sitting somewhere
on a ship off the coast of Iceland. On his way to the Grand Banks for
another lonely stint as an EU Fisheries Observer, he'll be keeping a diary
which should make interesting reading when he gets back. Just imagine,
no sight of land for 3 months, spending your time on a fishing trawler
in the cold, stormy waters of the mid-north Atlantic in the company of
30 spanish fishermen and a load of dead fish..... Quite a jump from 'Dive
The Dream'. His reasoning for doing this work is not only the money, but
also the fact that he's going some way to help control the worlds 'ever-depleting'
fish stocks. Fine reasoning until he said, "I'd forgotten quite how
lonely it was ........", his last words before going through customs
tonight. While Mark's away, I'll be updating this site, continuing to
find sponsors and looking into the TV options, listening to your comments
and hopefully earning money...... I had a look at our list of things to
do tonight and thought 'oh shit!'
Monday 28th
August, 2000
What
a nightmare trying to get hold of people in TV companies! OK so we were
being naieve when we thought we could get all this TV thing sorted before
Mark went on his way but we did manage to have phone conversations with
a couple of people from a prominent TV channel who were full of very positive
advice for us. Its just very difficult to pin the big bosses down to a
meeting. We'll keep trying.
Thursday 24th
August, 2000
Thanks to a friend, we met Baroness Lynda Chaulker of Africa Matters
this morning. Our meeting was held with the hopeful aim of gaining some
advice and contacts for our next expedition to Mozambique. Lady Chaulker
was welcoming, encouraging and seemed genuinely interested in what we
had to say. Full of advice, contacts and positive feedback for Dive The
Dream, she has also agreed to introduce our project to the Minister for
Tourism when she next visits Mozambique as we will be ultimately helping
the country's tourist industry through this website. That was a big boost
for us and the future of Dive The Dream and we left the meeting with a
spring in our step.
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Other good news this
week: Thank you to ARK Inflatables
who will be providing a special yellow Dive The Dream rubber duck (dinghy)
for the next trip. Visit their very cool website at http://www.ark.co.za.
We're still awaiting confirmation of sponsorship from an outboard engine
manufacturer to complete the set. Now all the expedition needs is a compressor.......
Monday 14th
August, 2000
After a hectic week
of chasing jobs and sponsors, some good news is that we have been sponsored
a couple more 'Africaproof' BF Goodrich Tires for our 'soon-to-be-made'
trailer. A big thank you to the guys at Southam
Tyres. Looks like we may have an outboard engine as well. Not definate
so no names to be revealed just yet. Not a lot else to report on the sponsors
front as we're just waiting for responses to our proposals sent out last
week. Bad news? Only that Mark has to go back to sea for 3 months. Should
be quite an interesting test for the ol' relationship
after so much time spent together in a little yellow truck this past year.
We'll save the sordid details for the book. Phonecall yesterday from South
Africa. In true African style, after 2 months of reams of paperwork, 'waiting',
persuing, waiting and more paperwork, the AA in South Africa have only
now decided to tell us that they have absolutely nothing to do with our
re-application for an extension on our Carnet
de Passage for Truck. Acceptingly, Mark did little more than raise
his eyebrows and phoned AA UK to try and explain why Truck had been left
in SA without the necessary legal papers..... Lets just hope this potential
problem can be sorted out without too much trouble.
Monday 7th August,
2000
Arrived
home Tuesday 2nd August on a beautiful English summer's day and can't
quite believe that the sun's been shining ever since. To keep you up-to-date
with next year's Dream, we're aiming to head back to Africa to cover some
of the more remote diving locations. For some of the sites we will need
technical diving qualifications so we intend to head back to Cape Town
sometime in March 2001 to take the relevant courses with Andrew Newby
of Farside Adventures
in Cape Town. Plans are still reasonably vague at the moment but there
is no doubt as to whether or not we're continuing with the 'Dream'. A
most definate 'yes'. A few people have asked if we're bored of diving
yet? Not a chance. With so many varied diving
environments around the coast of Africa, its practically impossible to
get bored. The other popular question that people have been asking us
is how the hell can we afford to keep doing this kind of thing? Well for
starters we don't have a house, car or dog and are not planning on babies
for quite some time. Everything we own we carry with us in 'Truck'. We
were also helped by a few welcome sponsors (and hope to get more) who
see that we are providing a useful information service for divers world-wide.
As far as earning money for the next trip; Mark will soon be heading back
to the icy mid-north Atlantic at the end of this month to do a lonely
3 month stint on board a fishing trawler as a Fisheries Observer - he'll
be sending fax updates to me on how the fish are smelling! Meanwhile I'll
be doing temp work in London and a part-time advanced web design course.
Our aims for the next few weeks are to attract as many sponsors as possible.
To start on a positive note, we had a great meeting on Friday with Mick
Robertson from Scubapro UK
and handed over our Christmas list for all the diving equipment required
for the next trip. We are in negotiations with a company that sells outboard
engines as we're looking for a small 15HP outboard motor for our inflatable
dinghy (which we're also on the lookout for!). Another interesting idea
that has developed over the last few weeks is the possibility of a TV
crew filming the next trip. We've got a few meetings set up next week
and will let you know the outcome. Fingers crossed. Sounds like this could
be fun!
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