2/10/14: ZANZIBAR
Looking back at the buildings on the waterfront
The ferry was a big boat, with three levels, KILIMANJARO III. It was pouring buckets when we arrived, so we hung out in the port, partly because Marshad had said the wifi was strong at the terminal.
Entering the Zanzibar ferry terminal
The ferry ride itself was uneventful, with no dolphin sitings or whales, just some wind and rain droplets.
After the rain abated we walked into Stone Town to check out our rooms for Thursday eve, had some food, then bargained for a taxi to take us to the far northern part of the island, Nungwi. The price at the ferry terminal would have been $60, but we were immediately solicited outside by a driver who said he'd take the 2 of us for $30 and shortly lowered it to $25 when we showed no interest.
The receptionist at the hotel got us the same price with a driver they work with. Yehudah has been trying to change our reservation to different dates. At first they just wanted us to send an email. Then they wanted him to go online to the booking company and pay for it so we wouldn't look like no-shows. It got too complicated and his blood sugar started to drop, so he asked the manager to just work it out himself. We'll see if he managed when we return in a few days. We are staying at a backpacker's place owned by Marshad's cousin, funky and hippy, with rooms painted with underwater scenes.
After the rain abated we walked into Stone Town to check out our rooms for Thursday eve, had some food, then bargained for a taxi to take us to the far northern part of the island, Nungwi. The price at the ferry terminal would have been $60, but we were immediately solicited outside by a driver who said he'd take the 2 of us for $30 and shortly lowered it to $25 when we showed no interest.
The receptionist at the hotel got us the same price with a driver they work with. Yehudah has been trying to change our reservation to different dates. At first they just wanted us to send an email. Then they wanted him to go online to the booking company and pay for it so we wouldn't look like no-shows. It got too complicated and his blood sugar started to drop, so he asked the manager to just work it out himself. We'll see if he managed when we return in a few days. We are staying at a backpacker's place owned by Marshad's cousin, funky and hippy, with rooms painted with underwater scenes.
White sand beaches, turquoise water
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| young girls gathering small mussels |
The men rally to right a boat and get it back in the water
We took a long walk on the beach. The shallow areas are all deep turquoise, with boats dotting the shoreline. We gathered some more shells, observed a bunch of girls gathering small mussels. We walked in the water but there is currently no electricity or water in this area because yesterday there was a violent storm that took wires and trees down. Hopefully this will be restored by tomorrow.
We found a great place for dinner right on the beach, and sat eating our fish dinners with rice pilau, French fries and carrots with great pleasure. The sun set in dark pink and the moon rose as three quarter with Venus below. Yehudah had a whole red snapper, very large and I had fillet of tuna, so we were both happy. They brought us a bowl of warm water with lemon to wash our hands at the conclusion of the meal. Best service we had at a restaurant in quite awhile and deserving of a tip and compliments to the staff. One of the waitresses helped us find our hotel in the dark.
We are in bed at 9 pm and Yehudah is fast asleep.
Hopefully tomorrow we will go snorkeling if the weather cooperates!
2/11/14: ZANZIBAR, THE NORTH: SNORKELING
Yehudah woke at 3 am bathed in sweat. The electricity hasn't returned, so no fan, no air movement, and the dampness of the sea combined with a very big dinner no doubt contributed to his discomfort.. So he updated some of last night's entries and added to this one. No power means no water and there doesn't look like any back up water jugs to use for a "birdbath" type shower.
The latter proved not to be true as when Joanie insisted on getting a bucket of water in the morning it came with a great pouring ladle. Once we took the bucket showers everything felt better. Yehudah went off to talk with the dive shop we had been introduced to by our driver yesterday, and he signed us up on a boat leaving in 45 minutes for a full day of 3 hrs of travel by boat to and from the island of Mnemba for diving and, for us, snorkeling for two 45 minute sessions plus a snack and light lunch - chapattis with cream cheese and veggies in a wrap plus fruit. This island is now entirely owned by none other than Bill Gates and, when he's not there, his six bedroom home rents for the modest price of $3000/night!
On the way back Yo took some photos of Muslim children in front of their school:
We had a quick breakfast of fruit, rolls and tea/coffee. The French fellows had also had a bad night like Yehudah, too hot, with a bothersome mosquito, and hadn't requested any bucket of water and so looked unhappy.
Three couples were suited up for diving, plus four crew members on board. It was an hour and a half very bumpy boat ride to the island, and, unfortunately, I, Joanie, got sea sick. Yuck! Seems to be all about the stomach! I learned later that one of the seasoned diver couples from Conn. always take Dramamine as a matter of course. Good idea! We have two motion sickness pills left, but they are back in the Dar luggage.
Anyway, we did two 45 minute snorkeling sessions in perhaps the most beautiful place I have snorkeled since Hawaii in my 20s. The water was very clear, very blue. Fishes galore, of all shapes, sizes and colors, swam around in their coral environment. The first was in the midst of the shelf and the second on its edge, where many schools of fish congregated. We will need to get a list of names from the owner.
After the first session, most everyone came out of the water with small welts on their arms which turned out to be stings from tiny jellyfish. We had felt the stings, but didn't realize where they were coming from until we went in again and could see, this time, tiny orange jellyfish in great numbers all over the place. The German woman broke out in a rash and the owner poured some vinegar on them which seemed to neutralize the swelling. She was a nurse, but, like Yehudah, didn't come equipped with what we were carrying in our suitcases.
After the first session, most everyone came out of the water with small welts on their arms which turned out to be stings from tiny jellyfish. We had felt the stings, but didn't realize where they were coming from until we went in again and could see, this time, tiny orange jellyfish in great numbers all over the place. The German woman broke out in a rash and the owner poured some vinegar on them which seemed to neutralize the swelling. She was a nurse, but, like Yehudah, didn't come equipped with what we were carrying in our suitcases.
The couples were from: Shanghai, China - one guy from Switzerland and his friend from Germany who owns a home on Lamu - and the couple from Connecticut, who used to live in Seattle. Two of the three had also gone on safaris. We spoke primarily with the couple from Conn., Julie and Russ Wood, who spoke of seeing copulating lions and wildebeest giving birth on their safari.
Their kids are all doing wonderful things. One son, Brian, is an infectious disease doctor at
UW and has been to Africa four times. The middle daughter is a public interest attorney in Brooklyn and just married an Ecuadorean in Quito. And the youngest is a social worker in LA. Proud parents!
The owners of the Poseidon Dive Center are from Austria and bought the business two years ago and got all new equipment. Yehudah went with them because he had a lot more confidence in them than the locals. We think we got good value for the $35 pp we paid.
Their kids are all doing wonderful things. One son, Brian, is an infectious disease doctor at
UW and has been to Africa four times. The middle daughter is a public interest attorney in Brooklyn and just married an Ecuadorean in Quito. And the youngest is a social worker in LA. Proud parents!
The owners of the Poseidon Dive Center are from Austria and bought the business two years ago and got all new equipment. Yehudah went with them because he had a lot more confidence in them than the locals. We think we got good value for the $35 pp we paid.
We also saw dolphins swimming on the trip to the island but no dolphins happened to be around the snorkeling place. There were several other vessels with people diving and snorkeling, but not over the top like sometimes at the safari spotting sites, where 20 jeeps congregated to see, e.g. the leopard in the tree.
Just as we landed power was restored plus water pumping, so, when we got back to the room we put the fan on full force and took showers!
Then napped for a bit. Now we are sitting outside in a large open area under a big awning. There are quite a crowd of sparrows near us in a flat basket so we think they are feeding them.
Tomorrow Yehudah is thinking about exploring some other beaches. We could rent bikes but we will investigate the cost. Right now, we are back at the same restaurant we enjoyed so much yesterday. We shared a fish curry dish with cashews plus a stuffed red snapper, both delicious, with chapattis, rice and veggies. Here are some photos at sunset:
We were either going to search for good wifi or price stuff at shops, and, since the shops were closer we went over to look. Prices are high here, but we wound up getting into good conversations. The first was with a young Masai from Arusha, an artist, jewelry maker, about politics. The second was an Ethiopian guy with octopus hair who sang a gorgeous song for us at the prompting of several Canadian women who had volunteered at an AIDS orphanage in Ethiopia with whom we had a conversation. We found water at the local shop and returned to our room, only for the electricity to go out for a few minutes. Now it is back on, it is 10 pm and we will go to sleep with the fan on full blast.
Our room has a large painting of a dolphin on the wall, so I will call it Dolphin Room.
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