The best stories need to have some kind of ordeal or conflict to grab the reader’s attention and hold on to it, which is why there probably aren’t very many good ones about tourists who spend 10 idyllic days on a sun-drenched tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
Zanzibar is such a place and we are, for now, such tourists.
Born from the same coastal Swahili culture as Lamu, Zanzibar is like the version of Lamu that Disney would concoct for an “Experience Africa!†park. Similar stone buildings and early morning calls to prayer, but lots of cars and muzungu tourists on every walkway. It’s nice to be more anonymous again.
We’re staying in Stone Town, the heart of Zanzibar Town and near the ports that ferry passengers and vehicles from Dar es Salaam to the island and back.
Back around my birthday, Michelle had a fantastic idea for gifts that we could give each other that would be memorable and would perfectly complement our trip: scuba diving lessons! We’ve both always wanted to learn, and an extended stay on a tropical island was the perfect opportunity. We wrapped up our pool lessons yesterday and hit the water this morning.
It was amazing.
I think I was too mesmerized by the feeling of being perfectly weightless underwater to even notice the fish or coral, but our instructor did draw my attention often enough for me to notice spotted rays and a huge school of cuttlefish. I think I’m hooked. We have our final two open-water training dives tomorrow, then we’re official. We may try to head to the depths again when we visit the northeast part of the island next week.
In the meantime, take a minute to absorb the cuteness of the following video. It’s a month old, but I haven’t had the bandwidth to post it until now. (Warning: you many need to watch in installments to avoid a cute overload.)
That sounds amazing Ryan and Michelle, great idea for a gift for each other! When you are all back, we can set up scuba diving in BC. It is equally impressive – but slightly colder.