Days of rest?

At 5 am just before leaving on Wednesday the 2nd.

Daniel:
The alarm was set for 3:50 because surely we would be able to get ready and into the car in 40 min right? But for some reason we only left at 5am. When I shared my disappointment about not leaving at 4:30 as planned, I was told that we are on holiday. Anyone traveling anywhere in Africa would agree that pole pole (slowly slowly) is the right attitude to adopt. And so the pace of my internal clock started to get challanged. And that was just the beginning.  I know some of you fully agree with Jessica. I should relax. I'm suppose to be on holiday. Easier said than done. But luckily I have 9 weeks to get that right.The first hour and a bit driving in the dark was not fun. Would not recomend that to anyone. Too many trucks without tail lights and too many pedestrians coming out of nowhere. But we made good progess and it felt great to get so far so early in the morning. Jessica took the wheel as soon as we got of the main mombassa road onto the dirt road. An that is when I realized two things: 1) I would never be able to be a navigator for a rally driver and 2) Jessica missed her calling as a rally car driver. Enough said.

Jessica:
We arrived around 1 pm at the Ocean Village Club, where we are to decompress before starting our journey south. We were upgraded to a deluxe room because this was the second day they were open. They had been closed for remodeling. We went for lunch and then napped for most of the afternoon. We took a brisk walk on the beach and then Danie jumped in the too-cold-for-me pool for a few minutes. We napped a bit more and then had a nice dinner. As near as we can tell there are only about 7 other guests at the resort. We love it that way!

Multitasking - writing blog while drying clothes at our nearly empty resort.

On Thursday morning we got up early and went for a day long snorkling trip near Wasini Island. The tour company is called Pili Pipa. We were picked up from our hotel and taken to Shimoni where we boarded a dhow (a swahili boat). There were 22 of us in all. We were taken to two different reefs and snorkled for about 40 minutes at each one. This was the first time I had ever snorkled and once I got used to it, I loved it! Of course,  I wanted to talk to the pretty fishes which one can't be very successful at when breathing through a tube!

Getting the hang of swimming with the fish!

On the dhow after snorkling!

Daniel:
The snorkeling was amazing although I ended up with 5 blisters on my feet from the flippers. Still can figure out if they were too small or too big. On the way back to our hotel, I happened to think about the Carnet de passage. I wasn't able to remember where I packed it. Jessica claimed she didn't pack it and I knew I didn't, so we decided to look for it when we returned. We turned the car and the room upsidedown, but it was nowhere to be found. I called Calvin, who is staying in my house while I am away. He was able to locate it. Luckily he had planned to come to Mombasa the next day and so was able to bring it with him. The important lesson learned is this: you are only allowed to check items off the packing list if you have packed them yourself. One benefit of the experience for me, was that I was finally able to take the ferry across to the south coast, and did not have to endure Jessica's rally driving.

Jessica:
On the way home we visited some of my friends in Ukunda. I had worked here many years ago for an NGO and have stayed in touch with a few people in the area. I am the only overnight house guest Sauda has ever had. Yesterday I brought her photos that I had taken of her family 7 years ago. She had no photos of her older children when they were young, she kept repeating, "Now we have memories."

With Sauda and her family.

It's Saturday morning and we have headed Rhino in the direction of the Tanzanian border. We left a bit later than planned because we were trying to upload this blog in the parking lot...this will be our first border crossing, we now have all the necessary paperwork so we are actually exited...Tanzania here we come.