Bongoyo Island Beaching

This weekend we loaded up the snorkel gear and jumped the boat to the Bongoyo Marine Park and Reserve. The launch is conveniently located right next door to our hotel and the island itself lies only 2.5 miles off the coast of Dar Es Salaam. Twenty bucks and a thirty minute boat ride gets you there. 

Dhow that took us there. After we got to the Dhow.

I had talked to a few people around the hotel about this particular destination and no one really had much good to say. With little else to do and not a lot of investment we decided to just give it a go. Plus, we really wanted to get in the water and snorkel.

What awaited us was this little piece of paradise. Our own private island!

The ride out was easy enough, but upon arrival the water was a little rough for snorkeling. We then jumped on a skiff to take us out to a shipwreck off the coast, but after diving for thirty minutes and not having a sighting, we gave up. Too much sediment in the water today. But that water was nice and warm!

Got our spot under the "Banda".

Returning to terra firma, we quickly got ourselves sorted underneath beach umbrellas, and got down to a little relaxation. Enjoyed a delectable lunch of grilled octopus, calamari and beef before attempting dive number two off the leeward side of the island.

Much calmer, but still no visibility

Five hours on a deserted island sounded sublime. We enjoyed every minute of it, and the last part of the day decided to go explore the trail to Shark Lagoon. The interior of the island is severely overgrown and jungle-like, with a volcanic rock floor, so walking in sandals was a little tricky. I DID step on a thorn, and it does still hurt today, but I won't subject you to photos this time.

As we headed down the path we caught sight of a bunch of eels swarming all over themselves at the shore. Glad I saw these dudes AFTER our snorkeling.

There's two there, but there were probably about 20 all together

This one got beached by the wave and was especially ugly

The guys up by the cooking area invited us up to visit the two monitor lizards that were hanging around by the fire. 

Cute, eh?

Sitting in the shade on the beach with a nice breeze allowed us to forget how steamy it really is. The twenty minute walk to the lagoon reminded us quickly.

Very pretty cove, but after seeing the eels, I couldn't bring myself to get wet.

Then, on the way back, what did we encounter? This fellow.

Chilling in the sunshine. Oh, to be cold-blooded!

I was walking point, and as I mentioned, the ground is quite rocky and was taking a lot of my concentration. By the time I saw the monitor, we were almost upon him. TJ threw a rock, which didn't seem to faze him much, but he did eventually wander off the path and we crossed without incident. A little shocking to see, though. Probably about five feet head to tail.

Back out to the beach. Sun getting low. Time to go.

The ferries do run on time, here, surprisingly, and the helpful employees at the Reserve make sure you know the boat is coming and to get your poop in a group. Makes me wonder what kind of fun happens out there once all the Mzungo (swahili for white people) beat it off. They had plenty of beer, booze and BBQ!

Last view up the beach before we pull out.

Made it back to the hotel just in time to see a beautiful sunset. Between the snorkeling and the hiking, we felt as if we had a fairly productive day. We all managed to obtain pretty good sunburns despite the protection, as well. We all agreed it was a great way to spend a Sunday in Dar.

Just another beautiful African sunset. Taken from the roof of the hotel

First Impressions

Africa welcomed me back with a big hot, wet hug at 3:00 AM Wednesday morning. After flying 18 hours, I really didn't care where we landed, as long as we were on the ground. Now. 

Flying into Dar in the dark gave me absolutely no vista of the city or coastline, and a 20 minute drive to the hotel in the quiet blackness of the early morning did not provide much more intel. FM did come through with a welcome present, however. 

Let's just say it was the prettiest thing I saw all day.

It's warm here. Very warm. And the rainy season. Which means it rains. Spontaneously. I need to remember to bring my umbrella on my daily morning walk. This type of rain gives new meaning to "pop up showers". Because they truly do just pop-up. There's cloud cover and a slight ever present breeze, which may be the only thing keeping me alive.

There's no beach here at Oyster Bay. Just Oyster beds. 

Honestly, I can't get over how desolate it all feels out here. Obviously, I've been nowhere outside of a mile radius of the hotel. But there is not a lot going on. Next door is The Slipway, which is a small outdoor mall with a grocery, bank, pharmacy and requisite souvenir stands. I saw a necklace I bought in Senegal there today.

That's the Hilton looming in the backdrop. The SUV is from selling Kangas to tourists for $10/each.

There is a casino down at the end of the peninsula. And a bowling alley. Two guesses as to which one I'm more interested in. I'm sure we'll get down there this weekend. Also planning a little island hop on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the weather, for some snorkeling.

The nice man in the bungalow at the end of the pier will sell us tickets to Bongoyo Island.

Our hotel is, of course, very pleasant. The people we've met are extremely friendly and outgoing. As an added bonus, they all speak English (thank you British colonialism). They do, however, drive on the wrong side of the road and the car. I must remember this when crossing streets. If I ever see any traffic.

My picture of the VERY empty road is blurry, so enjoy this gratuitous picture of the painted eaves at  The Slipway

Things are cheap (meaning beer), and we dined on some fine Mexican food at a hole in the wall restaurant last night. Seriously. My first meal in Tanzania was Mexican food. And decent Mexican food at that.

Two large telecom cables were cut in the Indian Ocean last week, which means our internet access is sporadic at best. Thought I'd take the time to make this post while it was working.

So, I've been here an entire 35 hours. Seems like a lot more. I think I'll take a nap.

Lonely boat on the Oyster beds.

Getting High

Most of us live at a reasonable altitude. Our sea level rarely crosses our minds. On a few occasions, FM and I have visited some cloud observing places where the air is thin. 

Living at high altitude can pose some difficulties. There really is less oxygen. Fortunately, we've never suffered any altitude sickness (outside of some frighteningly bad gas attacks!). 

Here's our top eleven highest spots.

Denver, Colorado - 5200 feet

Mile High Stadium. Looks like the freeway ends in it.

Boulder, Colorado - 5430 feet

Danced in the mall at Pearl Street after a few cocktails

Mount Fuji, Japan - 6600 feet

We went up to the 5th station

Machu Picchu, Peru - 8000 feet

Really thought this would place higher in altitude, but we were in the clouds!

Cochabamba, Bolivia - 8450 feet

Hard to believe we flew 25 minutes downhill from La Paz to here.

Bryce Canyon, Utah - 9100 feet

Digging the Hoodoos at Rainbow Point

Monserrate, Bogota, Colombia - 10300 feet

Such tiny little buildings

Cusco, Peru - 11200 feet

Hopping off point for all things Incan

Monarch Pass, Colorado, Continental Divide - 11300 feet 

Majestic.

La Paz, Bolivia - Let's say 12000 as an average

Fly into the airport at 13300. City at 12500ish, goes as low as 10,000

Lake Titicaca, Peru - 12500 feet

Some clean, cold water and fresh, thin air. Good place for a sunburn.

Chacaltaya Glacier, Bolivia - 17,785 - The HIGHEST I've ever been

Walking the old ski hill here almost killed me.

Granted, it's not Mount Everest (29000 feet), but we've gotten pretty high. 

We've also made it to the lowest navigable place on Earth at 1370 feet BELOW sea level. Do know where it is?

I'll give you a hint. You can get your float on there!

Five Places I Need to Revisit

You've decided to travel, go somewhere new. To immerse yourself in history. Or culture. Or food. Or sea and sun. Then you choose where and when to go. And when you arrive at your dream location? You have bad weather. Bad, BAD weather.

Good travelers don't let bad weather get them down. But it is obvious when better weather would have made for an improved trip.

FM's job takes much of the choice out of our travel. We are told where we are going and when. We are obliged to go when the work is ready. Which means we often end up traveling to places during off-season. We're pretty adaptable, FM and I. We enjoy traveling to new places and meeting new people. So even when the time is not the most opportune, we pretty much handle it. And sometimes the timing works out perfectly.

However, there have been a few places we missed out on a lot due to anticlimactic weather conditions. Places I really want to go back to and see and do more.

Dubrovnik, Croatia - FM was working in Macedonia and our trip was cut short by a month. Instead of changing our tickets, we FedEx'd 40 pounds of stuff home and looked for somewhere close to go. It was late February in the Balkans. The warmest place within reasonable cost/distance was the Adriatic Coast of Croatia. We choose Dubrovnik. For a month. And it snowed for the first time in 60 years. It was an amazing trip and an adorable city, and I really don't think I'd want to be there in the craziness of August, but the cold weather did inhibit us from traveling around the coast as much as we should have/would have/could have.

Rocha Coast, Uruguay - We arrived in Uruguay the end of their summer. For hanging out in Montevideo, the cooler temperatures really didn't bother us. But over Fourth of July weekend we rented a car and headed up the Rocha Coast. Most of the hotels and restaurants were closed (we scrambled trying to find places to stay), but the scenery was gorgeous! Many other activities were also weather prohibitive, including a boat trip to see the seals and an ATV ride around the dunes. 

Budapest, Hungary - Three months in Vienna allotted us much time for train travel around the area. We visited Bratislava, Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Budapest and Prague. But the four days we spent in Budapest were pretty much in the rain. We did our best, but at some point you get tired of being soggy. Another four days would be wonderful. Or four weeks.

Kiev, Ukraine - What a beautiful city. But not when it's 30 below Fahrenheit.  Six weeks in January/February last year, during record low temperatures for the region. Snot freezing cold. Roads closed, schools closed. Scary driving conditions. Even scary walking conditions as snow and icicles fell from 8 story buildings onto the sidewalks. Brrrr.

Bali, Indonesia - On the other side of the equation we finally made it to Bali when it was sooooo hot even the locals were complaining. A walk along the beach at 10 pm caused us to break a big sweat. Our luxurious hotel room's air conditioning could not keep up with the energy sapping heat. When the weather finally broke, it was the Nyepi Holiday. We were told this was basically a 24 hour period of no power (in order not to attract bad spirits). It turned into more like 60 hours of sequester in a five star hotel. Blew our budget on food and drink and did not get to experience a lot of what we wanted to do. I need to return to experience the beauty of the Bali highlands and tolerably warm temperatures of the coast.

I would never say I regret any of these trips. As always, we had an amazing time and experienced much. Weather and timing do not have to be perfect in order to enjoy a destination, but when extremes are factored in, it does make you long for a re-trip. 

The question then becomes, do I want to go back or do I want a new experience? Tough call.