Baobab Church

Sony NEX-7 underwater camera settings; 30mm 1:2.8 lens, Aperture priority at 2.8, -.7 stop exposure compensation, white balance set for cloudy, ISO locked at 100.  Seems to be working!

 

I had on my swimsuit, ipad in hand, for the Sunday traditional poolside lunch at the Old Boma in Mikindani, but I had to give it a miss.  We have a new arrival on base, and I've been tasked with running him through emergency after emergency and IFR approaches and what-ever other skills he requires to operate commercially here, and to be quite honest, I'm having a blast!  As I sipped an instant coffee outside in a plastic deck chair at the airport, waiting for the helicopter to be prepped for our sortie, I could hear a rural church, actually not much more than a gathering under a huge baobab tree, singing gospel.  The unmistakable Swahili-African voices carried through the swaying trees and it was quite simply, beautiful. 

Last night we headed out over the Indian Ocean for rig deck landings at night, and with no wind and no moon, he had his hands full, but we got it done.  I had really missed the instructing and am happy to be back at it again.  It's been a long transition from the Super Pumas and S61s to the AW139, but I'm pretty much there now.  More time on type would be nice but it only comes with time.  I certainly can't complain about missing a day at the Boma, we are here to work after all.....