Granny Morris decided to come visit us here in Kenya and after weighing her vacation options decided that the beach might be a nice escape from the harsh realities of a fast-approaching Canadian winter. After my week in Kisii I was desperate for an escape of my own and the four of us packed up our things and headed to Mombasa, East Africa’s biggest port. After a plan, a taxi and a ferry we were in Diani Beach at Warandale Cottage (www.warandalecottage.com) – a gorgeous white-walled, thatch-roofed cottage that was footsteps from the Indian Ocean. Our cottage included a chef named Ali who pampered us without restraint cooking amazing seafood concoctions at night and creating beautiful fruit salads every morning so that our entire job was to sit out on the patio and watch the tide of the jewel-blue ocean come in and out with the warm, salty seabreeze on our faces. It was tough but we all managed to survive it.
The first day we just relaxed at the cottage – sitting on the patio, taking a dip in the pool and walking on the beach (although Cian was not a huge fan of the tide and we weren’t huge fans of the beach boys that harassed you for money smelling of marijuana). Mostly it was just a beautifully delicious day of nothingness garnished with fresh calamari and red wine.
The second day we decided on a little more adventure and booked a tour with Pilli-Pipa (www.pilipipa.com) to ride on a dhow boat and do some snorkelling on the coral reef. To be on a dhow boat is sort of what I imagine what it would be like to sail a small, old, pirate ship. We set sail for Kisite Marine Park – it was a gorgeous day with clear skies and impossibly blue water. On our way to the coral reef we followed a wild dolphin pod around the bay jumping and swimming under the boat. It’s difficult to get a 9 month old to focus on anything outside of his immediate environment (i.e. “Ooooh look at the rope”) so getting him to see the dolphins was a bit tricky. The shipmaster’s solution to that was to HOLD HIM OVER THE SIDE OF THE BOAT. Somehow in the immediate moment this didn’t seem that ludicrous – the shipmaster wanted Cian to see the dolphins, Cian needed to get closer to see the dolphins – but after the fact I’m thinking “that random guy I just met held my kid over the side of a moving boat in the Indian Ocean!” I try not to dwell on that fact – all was well and Cian saw the dolphins.
We got to the coral reef and Keith and I did the first of two dives that day. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go as I’ve been snorkelling in salt water in the past and not had a great time but that’s what going with a good outfitter will get you – amazing guides and excellent equipment. From the moment I put my face in the water it was like I was transported to the real-life location of “Finding Nemo”. It was other-worldly and the water was amazingly warm and we sailed along together pointing out different types of coral, crazy amazing schools of fish, squid and stingrays – the time flew by and all I could think of was how much Cian loves the aquarium and how I couldn’t wait to take him snorkelling when he was bigger. Meanwhile the same guy that held Cian out of the boat said he’d gone for a swim and saw the fishes that he wasn’t a particular fan of the swim. This seemed very odd because anyone who knows Cian knows how much he loves the water. When we got back to the boat I pushed Granny Morris into going on the next dive and I would watch Cian. She was hesitant to say the least but I was not taking no for an answer so she put on one of Keith’s math T-shirts so she wouldn’t burn in the water and one of the guides took her around to see the coral holding on to a life preserver. Yes I took pictures. During this time I decided to try out the whole swimming thing again with Cian and wouldn’t you know the reason he didn’t like it the first time was that the guy hadn’t put him in his life jacket and he’s only gone swimming in his life jacket so once I put his life jacket on he was happy as a clam. Especially because the captain attached a rope to the ladder of the boat and Cian and I could hold on to the rope and swim out. He learned how to sort-of paddle on his front and he had a great time splashing around in the Indian Ocean. Granny had a great time snorkelling too.
After that we went to Wasini Island to have a fantastically decadent seafood lunch and then back to the cottage. It was a terrifically beautiful day.
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I hope it was the "don't drink and derive" shirt. that's a classic.
ReplyDeleteAnd now Cian and Blanket Jackson have something in common!
I don't know how I feel about people other than Nelle going by "Granny Morris." We don't call my mom that, because she's the only "Granny." Maja's mom is "Babcia." What does Kieth think?
We just call her Granny too but for people reading this that might get confused by which "Granny" it is I thought I'd include the last name. My mom is Oma. Don't worry Granny Morris is also Nell to me too :). And I would venture to say Keith has probably never thought about it :P. Also, Margaret wore Keith's "Be Real, Be Rational" shirt that Mark and Leslie got him and he had to explain it to his mom which was awesome.
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