Escapade 10-Snorkeling and Clothing

In Katherine Hepburn's autobiography, Ms. Hepburn mentions that she took a cold shower every morning of her life.  She felt that these showers contributed to her long and healthy lifespan.  If cold showers equal long life, I prefer to live a short one.  Every shower I have visited in East Africa does in fact have two nozzles or two knobs.  They are actually there.  I haven't taken any pictures of them as of yet, but trust me they are there.  Possibly they exist as ornamentation, I don't know, because they surely don't differentiate hot vs. cold water.  I do long for a nice luke warm shower, and I know one day I will find one somewhere out there in the world.  I maybe extending my life by taking these cold showers, but the price is just too high.

I left Stone Town at six in the AM in order to catch the boat going out at Nungwe, about an hour and a half drive. The clerk attempted to charge me for four days instead of three (I believe an accident) and wouldn't budge, even after I showed him my airplane ticket, proving that I hadn't even arrived in town until three days earlier.  Eventually, after a few calls to the boss, I was allowed to leave, but I still think he believe I was cheating him.  In Nungwe, I dropped my laundry off at the hostel, before learning I would be moved to a different hostel called James Guest House, run by the first African male I had met in dread locks.  He had a very laid back, Jamaican feel, and even spoke English with a Caribbean flavor.    I then and there realized I had officially arrived at a beach town.

Nungwe is an area filled with resorts and is known as a party haven for vacationers, and as everyone knows, I live to party.  (I hope you realize this again is sarcasm).  I jumped on the boat, and away we went across some of the bluest water I had ever seen, crystal clear with various shades of blue and aqua all the way to the private island of Mnemba.  As we rambled along, breaking down several times along the way, I sat there visiting with the European passengers, mostly from Italy, while listening to the best of Queen, the perfect music for the moment.  Why you may ask was Queen the perfect music for the moment?  Because Freddy Mercury, the lead singer for Queen, was born right there on Zanzibar in Stone Town.

We arrived at the gorgeous island, where a variety of other boats awaited us, they apparently having not broken down as often as us.  A very small island with bright white sand and shrubbery encircling and guarding the very private interior, Mnemba truly is the picture perfect island paradise.  I spent my time there divided between snorkeling on the pretty nice reef and jumping off the roof of the boat into the blue water.  I made the decision long ago that if there was ever a chance to swim in a natural body of water, I wouldn't pass it up.  Likewise, if there is every a chance to jump from on high into a natural body of water, I take it.  I am not sure if it is because I like to prove my manhood to myself, a simple enjoyment of heights or a death wish, but I pretty much have jumped off every roof, cliff or rock into water for the past twenty years.

After waiting around the island for a while, while our guides and passing boat captains attempted to fix the engine of our boat, we left for lunch on the main island very near Mnemba on a beach with the softest white sand I have ever touched.  I just walked back and forth along the beach as my feet thanked me over and over again for the treat.  On a side note, I should not have eaten the fish, knowing that I had an hour and a half boat ride back to Nungwe.

I arrived back at the hotel and was cordially invited to the city's full moon party that night by James.  People come from kilometers away just for the party, and now I had the opportunity to dance the night away.  I joined a group of people from the hostel for the ride to Kenwa, a nearby area where the party was to be held. In the coach with me were, two English women, one a teacher and one a fashion designer, who was taking a year off to travel the world, three South African guys who were spending nine months cycling from Cape Town to Cairo, and had come up to Nungwe just for the party, and two Austrian girls, who I never had the chance to meet.

We arrived, and I immediately walked over to one of the dance areas to watch a pretty good Michael Jackson impersonator dance to many of his greatest hits.  I seriously thought about joining him up there, but I didn't want to upstage him as I had done to the Thai Michael Jackson impersonator so many years ago.  It was just a fiasco.  I then walked along the nearby beach for a while, away from the crowd, spoke with the two English women for a bit and left the party at midnight, just as the party was really beginning to swing.  And no I didn't leave one of my crocs behind for a future princess charming to find.  And, okay, I may prefer a nice book and a cup of jo to a raging party these days, but at least I can say I have attended a full moon party on Zanzibar!!!!  Can you?

As I left, James came over to me to take the party band from around my wrist, telling me I was not allowed to leave with it.  Too bad, it would have made a nice conversation piece.  The next morning the three South African guys laughed with me over this story as we ate breakfast.  They had stayed until 6 am at the party and still wore their party bands as reminders of their stamina.  The astutely deduced that James had probably just sold my party band to another person, since I left the fiesta so early.  Oh the price of a good nice sleep.....is apparently a full moon party band keepsake.