Another cloudy day, though I can’t say I’m that disappointed as I’ve yet to recover from the sunny one. It’s calmer though, which makes it good weather for sitting on the deck reading. In the morning I finish atonement and reply to a few emails from Rob.

After lunch we head for Barra lodge to book an ocean safari for tomorrow, but discover that they are not running one until Monday. Artur rings to say he will come to visit us tomorrow to sort out our flights and accommodation in Maputo. He reveals that there are no flights on Wednesday, when we planned to leave Barra, so we will fly on Tuesday instead. This gives Nick the idea that we should visit Swaziland as well, and reduce our stay in Maputo to two nights, which gives us two nights in Swaziland. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

After checking the ocean safari times, we stay around Barra Lodge and take a dip in the pool. At around sunset (if the sun were out, which it isn’t), we walk back to the house, stopping to admire the sandbars that have been revealed by the low tide. The waves are now breaking at least a hundred yards off the beach, and a series of sand ‘islands’ dot the shallow waters. I take a swim in the sea before we go back to the house to get ready to go out tonight in Tofo.

We head off around 7pm for Fatima’s Nest the bar we visited two nights ago, where live music is promised. Hours later, having eaten and met an interesting Japanese guy who appears to be single handedly responsible for the global financial crisis, at least judging by the number of ex-banks he’s worked for, we realise that there is not going to be any live music. Probing fellow patrons reveals that the main event of the week was yesterday. Damn.

We follow a couple of other people for a walk up the beach to another bar called Barbouska, which may be more lively. The tide is coming in and on the way we have to negotiate a stretch of beach that is being intermittently covered completely by freak waves. Unfortunately we catch one, and we’re not dressed for the beach, causing Nick to complain that water is going in his shoes. When we reach Barbouska it’s slightly busier than Fatima’s, but still no live music – just a DJ playing western stuff.

We leave at around midnight and trek back along the beach in a fine rain, and against the wind, eventually reaching the car quite damp, but at least it’s still warm.

Back at the house at around 1am, Vasco and friend are installed under the deck. We say hello as we lock ourselves in for the night, just as it starts to rain more determinedly. I select a couple of new books from Paul’s mini-library: Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, and a biography of Michael O’Leary (CEO of RyanAir).