Guinea Bissau (part one)

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well here goes,Firstly i am sorry that these posts have taken a little time to post and still after speaking to several parties i am not totally convinced that certain aspects have been sorted to every one's satisfaction and so there are certain points that i feel its not fair to mention at this time which although some what bugs me and i always like to think that i post a fair and accurate report the words innocent until found guilty and there is always two sides to every story come to mind so please be patient ladies and gents as i am sure that even when these posts are completed there may be more to follow and by the reaction of just posting one sarcastic remark on WSF and the amount of private messages and telephone conversations that i have had it wouldn't surprise me if this post rolls for quite some time.In fact this is probably the most uncomfortable feeling report that i have ever had the displeasure to write and the more i think on it the more i feel that i must leave out until things get resolved (I AM A MUCKING FUDDLED SIMPLE MAN)

On Friday the 11th of November i headed of to Gatwick south terminal for what was going to be my 2nd trip to the paradise island of Acunda a very small approx 300mtre by 150mtre beautiful island which i think is about 70-80km of the mainland coast of Guinea Bissau and situated in the biggest archipelago in the African continent,This place really is a little piece of paradise where turtles still come ashore at night to lay there eggs,eagles seem to soar where ever you look,flamingos and pelicans seem to be on every other sand bank,manta rays hang around certain rocky marks leaping right out of the water just feet from your boat and dolphins just doing what dolphins do best and swimming alongside your boats and just generally showing of for all to see,and although i don't know the name of the island it is the only place in the world that has salt water hippos,The archipelago itself contains about 90 islands of which only 20 odd are inhabited by man and i would guess only been visited by a very small amount of outsiders,It is a UNESCO world heritage site amongst others and because you can be out on a boat with no land in sight and still only be in 3-4 metres of water and sand banks everywhere the commercial fisherman cannot get near the place so apart from the local fisherman who only fish for the table and two small fishing camps one run by a French outfit and the other by a English one there is really no pressure on the waters at all hence the fishing can be at times mind blowing and tackle busting,This place really does hold monster fish that will beat you up
This time there has been quite a significant change in the travel arrangements you see last time we flew to Gambia and then drove in two mini buses into Senegal and then on to Guinea Bissau being stopped by the army,police,and customs 85-90 times hhhmmm TIA this is Africa,but now Richard at worldsportfishing has managed to get the visa issues sorted we can avoid all this nonsense and fly to Portugal (Lisbon) and then direct straight into Guinea so making the trip a lot more easier and cutting out all the nonsense of having to drop a euro here and a quid or two there just to get to the next checkpoint which on some occasions might be 20 metres down the road,So i arrived at Gatwick and headed straight to the TAP desk to check in my luggage,nobody else there so bag checked in extra leg room seat issued and i am now heading back out of the terminal for my customary last fag or two as four guys come round the corner loaded with there bags and rod carriers and i ask Guinea and they reply yes,i ask if they have been before and they say no so i tell them what a great place it is and after i have had my ciggy will meet up for a chat,After a hour or so i return back through the terminal heading towards the security gates and to my surprise these guys are still at check in and seeming some what agitated so i go over and ask what the problem is,and they tell me that the airline will not let them fly as they have no visa to enter GB,I go and speak with the lady at check in and explain that we get them on arrival in GB and tell her that i have already checked in and show her my boarding passes and she asks for my passport and promptly tels me that now i cannot fly either (wtf)i have heard of people having trouble getting in the UK but now you have 5 guys who cant even get out,A further 90 mins passes with all sorts of airline officials and travel agents being phoned spoken to one more lady comes down and although i am not proud of it i told a little white lie and showed her my visa from my previous trip and stated that i flew with them before and picked up my visa on arrival in GB,I don't know whether this helped or not but after a few more phone calls they agreed to let us board on condition that we did so at our own risk so without further ado we head straight through security and i don't suppose this will surprise you guys to much and head straight for the bar and as we have now wasted so much time at check in we only manage a couple before we have to board but hey ho at least we can go
On arrival at Lisbon we only have an hour or so to make our connecting flight so we head straight to the gate and WTF now the Portuguese wont let us fly so now we are all back to square one but now we have the added problem of the language barrier,so we are all told to stand to one side like a lot of naughty boys and the telephone and radios start to come out and with no idea what is being said we just stand there like headless chickens waiting to be plucked stuffed and roasted in front of all the others,suddenly a lady beckons me forward and yes i am through followed by another and then another until we are all through (lets get the hell out of here) and to be honest the guys were still not happy until we had taken of and only then could we start to relax
On arrival at Guinea and all of us wondering what the hell was going to happen next,we expertly filled out our immigration cards (not a word of English to be found)and got through passport control where our trouble shooter was waiting for us so passports handed over plus 85 euros,visas obtained,bags collected and after getting through all the hustle and bustle of a typical African airport we are in the bus for a 45min drive to the mar azul which is going to be our accomodation for the rest of the night,As we didn't arrive until 03.00 it was a nice surprise to find the bar open yyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss so after a quick beer i took my case to my room here's a piccy of it,a typical African round house

two single beds,a WC and shower and then headed straight back to the bar and because of the heat i was then joined by Rick and Phil and although you guys might find this hard to believe and it has been said that i like a beer or three it is now 03.15 and we have to be up for brekkie at 08.00 it really seemed a pointless exercise going to bed so much to the annoyance of our barman we stayed up all night and yep you guessed it by 07.45 had drunk the place dry well come on chaps it is a bloody holiday
well sorry i havent yet got onto the fishing guys but as you know i am a one fingered typist and its taken me 4 1/2 -hours just to get this far so part two to follow soon
tight lines guys and sorry its taking so long

[SIMPLE MAN]

bump

[jasonh]

Your one fingered typing is very much appreciated John !!

We had a similar issue with 2 of our guys that hadn't been given the initial visa copies as well, seems like a pretty simple thing like ensuring that everybody had these would have avoided a lot of drama !!!

Keep going mate, I'm looking forward to reading the rest !!

[fishypaul]

looking forward to part 2

[pingu]

awkward start, looking forward to the fish

dave

[MRG2000]

Sounds like an "interesting " start to you adventure , hope the rest of the suprises were fish shaped ...... .Did the y manage to restock the bar for the second evening

[Greenheart]

Glad to hear you got there eventually SM. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip & seeing a few pics...

[Fishing Forum Admin]

love the read mate

[lazy hooker]

awkward start at the airports but so far sounds great...drinking the bar dry

just waiting for you to burst my bubble!!

[Richard s]

John

TAP are unbelievable , I was stood inside the TAP office in Bissau , whilst you guys were checking in , i was talking with the girl on the desk and she saying , Oh yes its all fine we have all the visas here { in portugese by the way } . I was telling her that she may well have them there but their office in london doesnt know anything about it and shes saying oh no they have had the info for 4 days .

Most of these bloody airlines dont even know there own rules , if you travel via dakar you dont need a visa to board the plane , but if you travel via lisbon you do . How does that make any sense .

Beleive me guys I have been around and about this problem for 3 years and no one ever tells you the same story twice . The 4 guys who travelled this week had no problem at all .

I spoke to the woman at their head office and said that we would be holding TAP personally responsible for any delays to the clients holidays because of their inability to even work by their own regulations and they said they have the right to refuse anyone , even if their own office in Bissau has a pre-registered visa , so i presume thats , "we have got your money so we dont care" . Normal airline level of service.

From now on I have my own person in Bissau who does the visas and faxes them through ahead of the flight .

Richard