The past week or so has been interesting in terms of weather; we had an intense rainstorm a few nights ago that lasted about 8 hours, and before that (and coincidentally right now) the wind has begun to pick up and lead to waves around 2 m. Combining those waves with a rocky shoreline makes it a bit unsafe to dive so we already had to take one afternoon off. The first day, we were still debating the dive as the wind kicked up, and I walked by Fernandez our bottle filler, navigator, and general advisor on what not to do. I asked whether it was thumbs up or thumbs down for the afternoon, to which he responded “oh, yes.” When I looked back confused and asked if it was safe to dive, he promptly responded “oh, no,” then laughed. Some of the other team members were on the boat by Mbita Island when it started up, and they were stranded at the dock at fisheries until the early evening. Their return trip included a frantic boat ride to shore, a car ride from town to the wrong village, from which they had to walk to our lodge.
Our fearless leader Susan has headed home. It was sad to see her go, but she trained us all well and I’m confident we’ll survive without her.
It seems National Geographic has taken an interest in Lake Tanganyika recently. Hopefully you find it interesting!
The Ligocki Lab 
Nice photo!