Kenya: Mombasa
Nov. 13th, 2013 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riontelIn Mombasa we stayed on Diani Beach at the same resort, Leopard Beach, as last time, so we barely took any pictures. Parts of the resort were recently renovated and our particular room in a cottage got upgraded to a honeymoon suite, so the place was even nicer than we remembered. The grounds look something like this:
I look all squinty because the sun is shining right into my eyes, for some reason that's N.'s favorite way of photographing people, but at least you can see a bit of the Indian Ocean in the back. We were on our way to a dinner cruise on Tamarind Dhow. It's a lovely experience, they make the best lobster ever (if you like lobster). Unfortunately, it was a bit cool and breezy and they had some computer problems on the boat so they were late setting off and the whole thing was not as smooth as on our previous visit. Of course, we almost didn't get to go at all, the cruise was nearly canceled because the attack in Nairobi caused some people to pull out their reservations.
We once again forgot to take pictures of the boat before it got too dark, but we later went snorkeling, also on a dhow and made sure to capture that. Tamarind Dhow is, of course, larger and fancier than Monsoon here.
We used the same company to go snorkeling (and diving, some people in our group were avid divers) as last time: Pilli Pipa. N.'s friend from school works there and we knew these guys were pretty good. As part of the full day trip they take everybody to the Wasini island for a delicious Swahili lunch.
We got to see dolphins on the trip, they weren't around last time, and I even saw them under water!
Terribly exciting, except that was the only thing I got to see on this snorkeling outing. I ended up with an individual minder, my equipment kept malfunctioning and taking on water, and he guided me to the dolphins. But overall, it's a really good thing that I naturally float like a buoy or we would have had a water rescue. I finally figured out what the issue was but by then I was so cold (in a wet suit, too!) I stopped caring about fish and corals. I skipped the second snorkel for the same reason. I am a total wimp when it comes to the cold, and cold is anything below 80F.
The rest of the time was spent hanging around the pool or on the beach, which is fun to do but boring to read about. And then, before we knew it, the vacation was over and we were back in NY.
Though we now have a small bit of Kenya hanging on our living room wall, a present from N.'s step mom: View of Mount Kenya from Sweetwaters.
I look all squinty because the sun is shining right into my eyes, for some reason that's N.'s favorite way of photographing people, but at least you can see a bit of the Indian Ocean in the back. We were on our way to a dinner cruise on Tamarind Dhow. It's a lovely experience, they make the best lobster ever (if you like lobster). Unfortunately, it was a bit cool and breezy and they had some computer problems on the boat so they were late setting off and the whole thing was not as smooth as on our previous visit. Of course, we almost didn't get to go at all, the cruise was nearly canceled because the attack in Nairobi caused some people to pull out their reservations.
We once again forgot to take pictures of the boat before it got too dark, but we later went snorkeling, also on a dhow and made sure to capture that. Tamarind Dhow is, of course, larger and fancier than Monsoon here.
We used the same company to go snorkeling (and diving, some people in our group were avid divers) as last time: Pilli Pipa. N.'s friend from school works there and we knew these guys were pretty good. As part of the full day trip they take everybody to the Wasini island for a delicious Swahili lunch.
We got to see dolphins on the trip, they weren't around last time, and I even saw them under water!
Terribly exciting, except that was the only thing I got to see on this snorkeling outing. I ended up with an individual minder, my equipment kept malfunctioning and taking on water, and he guided me to the dolphins. But overall, it's a really good thing that I naturally float like a buoy or we would have had a water rescue. I finally figured out what the issue was but by then I was so cold (in a wet suit, too!) I stopped caring about fish and corals. I skipped the second snorkel for the same reason. I am a total wimp when it comes to the cold, and cold is anything below 80F.
The rest of the time was spent hanging around the pool or on the beach, which is fun to do but boring to read about. And then, before we knew it, the vacation was over and we were back in NY.
Though we now have a small bit of Kenya hanging on our living room wall, a present from N.'s step mom: View of Mount Kenya from Sweetwaters.
