Snorkelin

On Saturday, we went “snorkeling.” The only other time that I have been snorkeling (that I can remember) was in Mexico at Xel Ha. Snorkeling at Xel Ha was heaven because there were no waves and the water was crystal clear. I guess a very controlled environment hence a very controlled experience. Xel Ha is featured on the left.

The guy we decided to go with had already rent out his glass bottomed boat and our choices were a) a motor boat b) a mango tree. We voted for the motor boat and we waited for 30 minutes while they tried to find the motor.

The beach was beautiful that day. Tons of people were out at the resorts because it’s high season now. While we waited for the motor, we tried some madafu (not sure if that is the correct spelling). It is basically an unripe coconut that they cut the top off of and you drink coconut water. We had to pay the tourist price of 40 bob rather than the 10 bob you would pay in town but we decided the extra 30 was needed to complete our beach experience. I kind of wished I had just taken a picture with it rather than actually drinking it. Maybe I’m picky, but this stuff was gross. It makes me sick just thinking about it. It needed some sugar and maybe some flavor besides wood. But, Andrew convinced me that it was super nutritious so I guzzled the whole thing. This was a bad idea. Madafu basically looked like this, but a lot less ripe. Sorry Cliff, I know I didn't ask for your permission to post you on the web. You can beat me up when you come home.
The guy comes back; they can’t find the guy that owns the motor? So we take the mango tree. The boat is as skinny as a kayak but really deep. Apparently they import all their boats from Tanzania for about ksh75,000 or a little over a 1,000 bucks. The 4 of us waded out there to join our 3 captains. 7 people in that boat was a little ridiculous but to my surprise, we never actually tipped over. We had paid 15 bucks for this snorkeling excursion which included our fees into the park (the government has claimed any snorkeling anywhere in the ocean as entering the park). We didn’t really know where that was though. After going through amazing turquoise blue water, we got to not so turquoise blue water, threw out the anchor and well that was our time to shine. The trip out there made both Blair and I a little seasick. The tide was coming in and the waves were getting bigger and bigger. Andrew and Sam taught me to spit into my snorkeling goggles so that they didn’t fog up and we jumped in, fins and all.

It was weird because when I got into the ocean that was when I got more sea sick. You are looking down for anything that moves but you keep getting really close to the ocean floor and then really far away then really close then really far away. Andrew and I tried our best to stick together although I slowed him down because my snorkel kept allowing me to drink cups and cups of salt water.

By the end, we were exhausted. The madafu, the seawater, and the waves were not my favorite combo. But, really you just have to remember Safari Kenya. Nothing ever turns out the way you expect it to. We saw some really cool schools of fish, star fish, and some sea anemones. In the distance, you could see a ship that had ran into the reef. I think it was a cargo ship from Singapore? That would have been cool to see, but they told us no. Rarely has that word been spoken to us when we’ve asked to do something.