Finally we have the tropical sunny weather I have been longing for. No trace of clouds. Better one day than none!
We arranged a boat trip for snorkelling at the coral gardens near Nyali & Mombasa Beaches. They are part of the Mombasa Marine Park. One of the porter's of the hotel arranged it for us.
The boat picked us up from Nyali Beach, just in front of our hotel. How convenient! Jimmy is the Captain and Ali his right hand man. The boat ride is worth it as one can see Mombasa coastline, dotted with hotels along the beach. In some parts there is a small cliff instead of beach and big houses on it, so close to the edge it's scary. As the water continues to erode the rock, these houses are going to eventually disappear. They look great and have an amazing view but I wouldn't want to live in them.
The boat has a glass bottom so we can see some sea grasses and the bottom of the sea when it's not too deep.
Ali picks some star fish and sea urchins for us to see.
A spearfisher hunts octopus near our boat. He shows me he has already caught 2 and takes them out of his bag to show me. Luckily I am used to cleaning octopus before cooking them or else it could be quite an alien experience. Their skin is slippery, their head is squishy (one of them leaks blood from the spear hole on his head) and their tentacle suckers still suck to one's skin. Wonderful picture, isn't it?
The trip lasts for about 1h30 and we are left to snorkel as much as we want. Ali shows us the best spots. Although I am a scuba diver, I have not snorkelled before. Laughable, isn't it? It's ok but I keep wanting to go deeper to see better and flood my snorkel. As Manuel and then Jorge leave the water, I get that time is up and finally leave my preferred environment, the sea.
We decide to make the most of the day by using the swimming pool and working on our tan.
It seems the crows have decided to do the same!
As it gets to lunch time we leave the towels and head to the hotel's cafe. We're having a light lunch today so we have space for dinner!
I learn that pawpaw is the Swahili word for papaya and have a pawpaw smoothie which was quite good. The main fruits in the last days at the buffet are watermelon (which must be in season because that, along with banana, were the fruits we were given on the safari accommodations), pineapple (which has been tasteless in the last few days so surely not in season) and papaya (very ripe and delicious).
Yesterday, when I was scuba diving, Manuel and Jorge went to the beach and were on the sun for about 1h. They both got burned and I was making fun of them: white boys turned red. Today, as I decided to be on the sun without sunscreen, it was my turn to burn. My back hasn't seen much sun this season and didn't resist the UV's. Beware of midday sun in the equator. It burns!
We ended the day on the bigger swimming pool for some jumping in the water and messing about.
A walk on the beach before dinner to say goodbye. We haven't really used the beach much. Firstly it has too many seaweeds (No, it doesn't get cleaned like the European beaches!) and secondly, there are people trying to sell stuff during the day and they can be very annoying. They don't cross the little wood fence to the hotel so the tourists tend to remain inside the hotel, using the pools.
We discover small crabs on the beach, same colour as the sand. They seem to be active at sunset because we haven't seen them before and they are really small (about 1cm) and really fast. Later we find bigger ones. I think the biggest we saw must be around 5cm. They make holes in the sand, which must be where they live. The bigger the hole, the bigger the crab.
Have I mentioned that the sand is less like granulated sugar, as the majority of beaches we know, and more like icing sugar. So fine and so smooth!
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