Adventure is out there!

8/21

Internet access on this island is terrible so, dedicated readers, I apologize I have not been able to post in a while. Unfortunately, I am unable to post photos yet due to unforseen circumstances. And yes, I can get more vague than that. So I do not bore you with the details, I have decided to make this post succinct but (hopefully) interesting.

DAY 1:
After getting through immigration, we dala dala'd over to Demani Lodge in Paje, a  very laid-back village known for great kite surfing. Demani Lodge has a very chill atmosphere and is only a 2 minute walk from the beach, a small price to pay considering a dorm room is $12 a person. Upon arrival, I spent the evening at the beach, soaking in the beauty of clear turquoise waters.

DAY 2:
I attained snorkeling gear and explored the tide pools and sea grass beds closer to shorte. I saw many sea urchins and bristle star fish. Highlight of the day, I swam alongside a puffer fish! I spent all morning and most of the afternoon swimming. The water was so shallow, you could swim for a good 10 minutes and still touch the floor. For lunch, I enjoyed a seafood pizza with fresh octopus and shrimp. The food is good, but everything is much more expensive than on the mainland (figures).

DAY 3:
The mosquitoes here are TERRIBLE. I was eaten alive and counted over 35 bug bites on my arms and legs. I took benadryl and passed out on the dala dala ride back to Stonetown, the main city on the island. Apparently, the only ATMs on the entire island are in Stonetown, so we had to pick up more money before continuing our adventure. We ate at a Chinese restaurant and returned to Paje in time to watch the sunset. Highlight of the day, we got sushi!! It was an incredible 20-piece sashimi dish for the reasonable price of $15.

DAY 4:
You know you have a bad sunburn when Kevin asks, "Amelia, why is your back so wet?" and Nik responds "That's not water, those are blisters".

DAY 5:
Highlight of the day, I went snorkeling at low tide and saw a sea anemone that shone bright blue and orange with black and white striped fish swimming around inside. Not sure if they were clownfish, but still really neat! I also saw a very thin fish pretending to be seaweed, a very funny but useful defense mechanism. The tide was out far enough to walk halfway to the reef, since the east coast of Zanzibar has very temperamental tides. In Zanzibar, there are many expensive hotels with pools overlooking the ocean, so naturally I found a hotel and swam in the pool to rinse off for the day.

DAY 6:
I couldn't get enough of the swanky hotels, so I spent the entire day at the pool enjoying the benefits of the 1%. There was much swimming and sleeping to be had, but I also was productive by doing some chemistry reading in preparation for the upcoming year. Hey, I got bored.

DAY 7:
We travelled to Baby Bush Lodge in Kiwengwa, on the North Eastern coast of Zanzibar. This was a new and exciting change since we were able to see the ocean quite clearly from the hotel. Kiwengwa was nice because, unlike Paje where the reef was a little over a km from the shore, the reef was only 1/2 km out from shore in Kiwengwa. Unfortunately, food is very pricey and so we had limited places to eat. After jumping over massive waves (massive for Zanzibar standards), we went to a shady restaurant and I ordered a plate of calamari and octopus.

DAY 8:
After waking up to watch the sunset and pass out again, I was lucky enough to eat breakfast with a clear view of the ocean later in the morning. The tide was so far out in the morning that I was able to walk all the way out to the reef and explore the tide pools (and even see some coral!). The tide pools were littered with sea urchins. While I was walking on the beach, a man walked up carrying a monkey on a leash. Interested, I approached him and asked him about his monkey (named Freddy) who then  proceeded to jump onto my shoulder. Ecstatic, I got the man to take a picture of me and Freddy. As if the day wasn't awesome enough, Nik, Kevin, and I went to an all-you-can-eat buffet at a swanky resort, and then went to a beach party later that night at "Obama Bar" on Obama Beach. I cannot explain how weirdly awesome it was to be dancing with Maasai to "Waka Waka", line dancing to "YMCA", and watching a gay Italian man rock out to this song (Caution: the video contains explicit language).

DAY 9:
For our last day in Kiwengwa, we went on a snorkeling tour at Mnemba Island, THE place to go snorkeling and diving on Zanzibar. On our drive over, it was pouring rain. Then out of nowhere, the sun came out just above the island. We took a dhow out to the island and geared up. The coolest creatures I saw were parrotfish, clownfish, sea snakes, eels, puffer fish, and a sting ray (really cool!). AND THEN... our guides told us to "hurry up and get back in the boat". I sprint-swam over and got in the boat to discover dolphins were less than one hundred feet away from us. Our boat gunned it and sped past the pod, and we watched a few dolphins breach and even leap out of the air. Our guides then told us to "get out of the boat now". Yep, that's right. We were going to swim with the dolphins. This was no Sea World, however. As we swam in the middle of the ocean, we looked down and saw around 18 dolphins swimming right under us and on both sides of us. I looked to my left to watch a dolphin breach no more than 6 feet away from me. Swimming with dolphins was unreal- I still am not sure it really happened. What was even more unreal was that we got a two-for-one deal, snorkeling and swimming with dolphins, all for under $20.