We had breakfast and got to take in the full beauty of the place. The water was blue green and the beach was beautiful. There was some seaweed, but it was still great! And the resort had one huge pool with a waterslide and a smaller quiet pool. The dining area and bar areas were nice and expansive.
We booked a city tour for that afternoon. We all piled in the van and joked that it would be funny to pop the roof and explore like we were on safari. Our guide was a guy named Richard and we scored again being hosted by another wonderful and friendly person! First stop was the crafts village. This little community is a government-created area for artists to carve, sand, paint and gloss the figurines that are sold to tourists throughout Kenya. You could even request a custom piece with exactly what you want. The people are given the wood, which comes from Tanzania and they sell their pieces to each person up the chain. Then the adjacent store tracks the final artist number and that guy gets paid. The people seem happy and were more than happy to chat. The prices were fixed and reasonable. It was the best quality we had seen over the entire trip. This is definitely the best place to buy all your souvenirs. Just skip all the other shops along the way! The city tour continued visiting the port. We also stopped for coconuts as we drove to our next stop…yum!
Next, we headed to Fort Jesus. This was built by the Portuguese and was a military base. It was later controlled by Oman and Britain and after that, used as a prison. In the 1960s it was converted into a museum and tourist attraction. It offers nice views of the Ocean and town. I ran into a little boy that was smiling as I took a picture at the top of the fort. He shyly gave me a high five. And I asked him if he'd take a picture with me. He scooted off to his mom's side. Then his older brother came up to say hi and I put out my hand to get a five from him too and he wrapped his little arms around me and gave me a huge hug. I almost melting into a pile of sugar…he was so sweet!! He snuggled up to take a photo with me and the little bro ran over to be in the photo too! His mom and Tan both took pics of us. Their names were Francis and Teddy and they were so sweet with their little British accents! I'm in love!
One of our highlights was an art display by children around the world. They were all told to do a self-portrait. We shouldn't have but laughed our tails off at these kids, but we did! Here are a few children's artwork WINS!
We drove through the old town next. It was filled with narrow streets and shops. There was a large outdoor market too. We kind of wished we had walked this by foot…but it was still nice to see from the car too.
The city tour continued through their downtown area and to the elephant tusks over the main street (not actually made of ivory) that were built to honor the Queen's visit in the 1960s.
After the tour, we went to clean up for dinner…on a boat! We went to the Tamarind Dhow, a sailboat that hosts a dinner cruise and dancing. We started with dawas and reminisced on the trip throughout dinner. The band was fun, but the food was the highlight. We expected it to be okay, but it was fabulous!! I had mixed seafood salad, tomato soup, lobster and fruit. Delish!
I couldn't stay awake at the end of dinner…not sure if it was the Dramamine or just being exhausted, but I was ready for an early bedtime. Tan and I agreed to try one more time to catch the sunrise and planned to meet at 5:30 am. I was skeptical both of us would make it! A few people in the crew went to the Nakkumart…the Kenyan version on Walmart then headed to bed.
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