Sheer Bliss

On Friday we made the trek from Nungwi back through Stone town, over the water and back to Dar Es Salaam. But first an update from the last few days.

We left the Karibu Inn in Stone Town and traveled at Mach 2 by minivan taxi to the small beachside village of Nungwi on the northern most point of Zanzibar. We settled into our bungalows and enjoyed some pizza at an open air restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean. The afternoon consisted of the laborious task of lying on the beach, chasing sand crabs and swimming in the incredibly clear water.

Unfortunately, the evening was not as relaxing. Katie awoke at 4:30am the next morning convinced she was being bitten by bugs. Unable to find the culprits, we went back to sleep. The next morning, the bites on her arms and legs combined with bed bug sightings by our fellow travelers meant that we were all moving to new bungalows. We settled into the aptly named Paradise Beach Bungalows, applied the SPF 85 and hit the beach. I dug a hole and made myself comfortable.

In the afternoon we walked a few kilometers down the beach past the dhow builders and local fisherman to the turtle sanctuary. We got to feed the turtles and hold some baby turtles that had hatched the previous day. Very cool.



The sky was largely cloudless and we were treated to an awesome sunset that turned the sky red. We watched the sun fall into the ocean and snapped a few pics. Make sure to check out the photo gallery to see me holding the sun.

The next day was a 7:30 am wake-up to meet our dive boat. Despite the light drizzle, we traveled the one hour down to Mnemba Island. We moored just outside the marine sanctuary on the south side of the island. The drizzle turned into a complete downpour while we pulled on our wetsuits, and strapped our tanks to our BCDs. Katie snorkeled on the surface while the divers rolled off the edge of the boat and went down to 20 meters. Despite the rain, the visibility was still quite good. We completed two dives, the first at Kichuani and the second at Wattabomi. My ears were really sore from equalizing and the rough seas on the way home didn’t help.

We're now in Arusha on our way to the Serengeti.