"Swimming" with the dolphins!

When in Zanzibar we had heard from friends that we had to go swimming with the dolphins. I was of course game! We spent like $40 usd to get a ride to the beach in the south of the island (2 hours away) earrrrly one morning, then we got in one of these might fine boats (see below) and sped away (on our 15horsepower engine) 1 hour in hopes of chasing down the dolphins. Soon we realized that our swimming was more of a hunting/scavenging. It was a race against the other boats- each with their own navigator who wanted to please their boatload of paying tourists. Once we saw dolphins they would shout- "JUMP IN JUMP IN THERE THERE LOOK DOWN LOOK DOWN KEEP YOUR FACE DOWN! and sure enough there were the dolphins swimming like hell away from us. Then it was "GET IN GET IN HURRY GET IN WE'RE GOING GET IN!" and we were off on the chase, putt putt went our lil engine lol and we were scowling at the other tourists- somehow becoming competitive for OUR dolphin experience. Again, we would wait for a peek of a fin then race their, "JUMP IN JUMP IN THERE THERE LOOK DOWN LOOK DOWN KEEP YOUR FACE DOWN!" -As you can imagine, we kept popping our heads out to avoid the other boats!! It was miraculous to see 30 dolphins swimming underneath you at great speed. It was exhilerating and worth it, but not the open-water Sea World experience we had expected :)

Sunset leads to full moon

Shops like this one with arts and crafts were everywhere 

Moon coming up 

We just didn't want to leave our mega big cabana-- we were under such a large hut this time b/c many had horrible sunburns- not me thank god!

Picture Perfect

Pictures can try to come close to the sites of Kendwa beach, but of course, they don't do the whole experience justice. The sights, sounds, smells were all part of the moment. Here are snaps from the walk on the beach at sunset. The reason we picked Kendwa is because it doesn't have quite the low-tide that the other beaches on the island have. Some of the beaches have the water recede way, way out. Ours was just a very slight difference between high and low tide. 

Christmas Continues!

 Crew heads back to beach restaurant, led by a pathway of paperbag luminaries. Everyone had their gifts for their secret santa. We planned 2 gift exchanges-- one with a real gift, and then a grab bag give-away of something that you had in your house and wanted to get off your hands.

Everyone wearing my "give-away" (I can't afford to get rid of anything at my house lol so I just got everyone a garland to wear :) Here is Arianna reading my gift- she exclaimed, "A message on the beach!!" And, I had to explain it was "massage"! Yes, this beach had massage places all along the beach. I treated myself to one, it was heavenly. 

Tine and Anna share a laugh-- Arianna gifted her with "skin lightening cream" on accident, not the lotion she thought she had purchased. 

Tomasso dons his new santa hat- complete with flashing stars that light up- and turns out, there is no off button :)  

Ana suburnt and heat stroke, after day 1! but still a good sport to make it to dinner and wear her reindeer antlers

A give-away, the Ugandan Flag tie!

Not sure who Arianna traded for these

Isabel glad to have gotten rid of her Ugandan tie- forgot who stole it from her.

ZANZIBAR!!

ZANZIBAR HERE WE COME!!

Precision Air (not sooooo 'Precise' by the way) carried this happy crew of internationals (Arianna, Anna and Tomasso from Italy, Isabel from Germany and Tine from Belgium) to meet up with those awaiting us (Charles from Karamoja, Uganda and Zahid from Congo/Uganda). It was a hot day of travels--   we stopped at Kilimanjaro and then Dar es Saalam. The flight from Dar to Zanzibar was 15 minutes. Quick flight over the ocean and we were there! Then a one hour drive to the north of the island where the beach was awaiting us!

Tomasso and Ana

Me, Isabel, Tine

Precision We arrived hungry, hot and ready for paradise!! So, a quick bite at the hotel restaurant and swoosh- we jumped in the ocean and all of the troubles of the past couple months washed away 

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning we awoke and were ready to go to the beach- this time with proper swimsuits :)

Group walks to the breakfast on the beach from our bungalows 

View from the restaurant/lounge - those cabanas were ours :)

Thatched beach huts- the view from my lounge chair

The other view from my lounge chair :)

Washed up and ready for Christmas dinner, Tine, me and Isabel- you can't tell, but it was like 100 degrees and soo muggy!