Rose earlyish at 5.45 to try to catch sunrise. Sadly my blurry eyed experience was marred by both a cloudy horizon and a burst of rain. I fiddled with my GPS box which now though I was 7m under water -- I'm thinking that the barometer feature is causing more problems that it's solving. Went back to bed for half an hour and got sweatier quite quickly. Yuk!
Back up the bumpy bumpy road and to the south of Zanzibar for some snorkelling and dolphin watching. First stop was to take your pick of beaten and broken masks, snorkels and fins. Then to the boat -- a larger fishing vessel with a simple canvas roof -- avoiding the sea urchins in the shallows.
A 15 minute gentle ride out to the other dolphin boats and we're under orders to get ready to dive in -- no-one tells us why, how or anything, just get ready to go. I man the camcorder instead and out of nowhere small groups (up to three) dolphin appear -- apparently trying to feed amongst the boats. A shout and half the passengers dive in without a clue [as to] what they're doing. Big Heiko, a decent swimmer, gets the best chance of the day, only a metre away from touching though it's a bit hard to tell with dolphins whether they're teasing you or don't want to be touched. The others [swimmers] were just getting tired. I then discover that one of the crew had nicked my fins! On the other hand the 1.5m swell that was hitting us broadside had made Katja seasick so I didn't make my own foolish attempt to swim with the dolphins.
After dropping Katja off we went only a few tens of metres back out to a small reef where we all plunged over the side for some snorkelling. Lots of fishes including some wierd ones I don't remember from any aquariums (though that's not saying much).
After an hour we went back in for some lunch, octopus in coconut sauce etc.. I then got a bit of stomach cramp but hoped for the best. The hour long trip back including 30 minutes over atrocious potholes was quite uncomfortable, it must be said [but I held on]. Much relief on final arrival back at the bungalows! I took to my bed for the rest of the afternoon while Helen went up to the nearby PADI centre to see what was on offer. She came back quite enthused about the US$70 for two dives deal.
Only then did we discover how burnt you get while snorkelling. A large number of the locals roam around the bungalows (outside, not inside!) [offering various services]. A number of people appear at tea with henna tattoos!
Dinner was at the restaurant over the road. Not a bad affair, King fish with some vegetables and garlic bread, a cardoman flavoured sweet (a bit like Indian gulab jaman). Marcus turns out to be a bit sharp with his flavours -- not just a physics and music background. The restaurant appeared to be run by some Europeans as did the beach bar where we took in a beer whilst foolishly sitting where the smoke from the fire blew. A hint of hippy-dom culture in the bowels of Zanzibar. I guess it keeps the tourists happy.
Gomani Inn S6.34104 E39.55651 Elev. 17m!
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.