There's nothing quite like waking up on a tropical island to make you feel like you are really on holiday! No cell phones, no email, no contact what so ever...a good way to start our break!
Hubby and I decided that our first day should be spent relaxing and exploring our hotel and beach. The one curse of being a dairy farmer is that it is physically impossible to sleep in anymore, so we were up and about by 6am, eager to get the day started! Of course, no-one else was up, so we had the whole place to ourselves before breakfast. Bliss.
When you look at postcards of Zanzibar, the first thought that crosses your mind is "photoshop". There's no way that the water is THAT blue and the sand is THAT white, right? Wrong. It really is. It feels like you are looking at the world with permanent Polaroid glasses on. The water is so clear its like a swimming pool, and the water temperature didn't get below 27degrees while we were there! It is quite spectacular, and all the fishing dhows and local fisherman with their nets and baskets make it so picturesque.
After a lovely beach stroll, we headed back to the hotel for a breakfast of the freshest, tastiest fruit in the world, Spanish omelets and fresh pineapple juice. The food in Zanzibar is so fresh and organic that you never feel uncomfortable after eating, and after a week of holiday, Dale and I had actually lost weight! Divine...
The rest of the day was spent doing typical tourist things, aka drinking cocktails and behaving badly. Being the social animals that we are, we were soon chatting away to other guests (all of whom were couples from RSA on honeymoon) and ended up corrupting a fun, young, newly wed couple into drinking with us. This inevitably led to a gin inspired glass-bottom boat expedition (where Dale and I almost sank in our titanic!) and a jolly time in the shallows, wallowing in the tropically warm water and exploring the local fishing dhows, followed by drinks in the Jacuzzi before dinner time. We had a terrible time I tell you....
So our first day was successfully spent winding down and forgetting all that work stuff. This meant that by day two, we were already feeling relaxed and excited to do some exploring around the island.
First up on the itinerary was a Spice Tour - a must do if you are planning on visiting Zanzibar. We got to see and taste nearly every spice you can think of - Ginger, Vanilla, Cardamon, Cloves, Nutmeg (pictured below), Pepper, Turmeric, Cinnamon, and an assortment of tropical fruits, coffees and perfumes! What an adventure!
And then it was back to the hotel for more relaxing and tropical cocktails.... where we convinced our recently acquired holiday buddies that they should definitely join us on a snorkel safari the next day. Being newbies to snorkeling, we were so excited for what was in store for them under the sea that we spent half the evening regaling tales of our undersea adventures - diving with sharks and turtles, getting engaged on Aliwal Shoal amidst a hurricane - thus further convincing them that it would be worth their while to join us. Who knows, maybe we could have the chance to swim with dolphins after all?
So, the next morning, bright and early, we all climbed into the hotel's dhow and headed off to Mnemba island atoll - the most beautiful place you have ever seen in your life. WARNING: If you are an avid fan of diving in RSA, do not go here - your life will never be the same again! You will never be able to dive in RSA again (yes, even Sodwana) without thinking "OMGee, this cant even compete with Zanzibar!"... The abundance of fish life on the reef is breath-taking. In water that is crystal clear and less than 2 metres deep in places, you will see trumpet fish, fire fish, scorpion and stone fish, emperor fish, giant starfish (cushions included!), leaf fish, octopus, pipefish, coachmen, and, and, and.... it's ridiculous! We took about a billion videos on the GoPro (watch this space...) and kept coming up every 10 mins to laugh at each other and exclaim "this is amazing!"
WOW.
And just as we though things couldn't get any better, the dolphins arrived. We had the opportunity to swim with dolphins in water that was so warm and clear that it felt like swimming in a pool, or an aquarium, and got so close to them that we could almost touch them. The photos below are some stills taken from the videos that we captured.
can. you. believe. this ?????
No comments:
Post a Comment