Indian Ocean

Over to the Marine Park at 9 am, hopeful for a fun day. Paid for the trip in full and looked around for fellow boat travelers. Actually there ended up being 14 of us in all. Ten were Italian, one Frenchman, an African woman and of course Daniel and I. Since the water was way out due to low tide we walked to our boat. About 15 minutes after we set out the boat stopped and we watched some small fish through the glass bottom. Several of us got into the water to snorkel a bit. I had a piece of bread in my hand and it was fun to have the fish come and eat right out of my hand. They tickled and nipped my fingers. We pulled the anchor and traveled on another 45 minutes or so. The further we got away from shore the clearer the water became. When we finally stopped we found ourselves on a small island that was created due to the low tide. The boat crew jumped out and started setting up to grill our lunch on the beach. Daniel and I snorkeled around some coral and saw many, small colorful fish.

All that swimming and fun in the sun made us hungry. We were not disappointed with lunch. Tuna, barracuda, shrimp and lobster! The next course was a platter of fresh fruit including mango, pineapple,papaya and banana.

I think I explained earlier about local merchants who desperately want to sell their crafts. I found out that they will go to all lengths to get a sale. Today, here they were in what seemed like the middle of the ocean, coming up to the side of the boat to sell us jewelry,various carved pieces and cloth. They had gotten out there in old wooden boats!

Daniel got to see marine life up close today and held a highly poisonous "Pufferfish."

We were especially glad to have a covering on the boat on the way home due to the hot sun beating down on us. Not sure we used enough sunscreen :-( As we sailed back to the shore, we were served fresh coconut. Yum, one of my favorites.

Tonight, as if we hadn't had enough seafood we decided to check out the "Old Man of the Sea" restaurant. It has one of the best reputations in the area. Ernest Hemingway, who penned the story from Cuba, apparently traveled twice to Africa and wrote many stories about it. The food was delicious and we enjoyed the quaint ambiance. It was advertised as air conditioned but keeping the front door open doesn't really help. It was okay though as the balmy breeze from the Indian Ocean kept us comfortable.

At the end of our very full day it was nice to relax back in our room. We were surprised to find both our beds covered with a design of flowers from the garden outside.