June 19th
Roy Safari’s dropped us off at the Precision Air offices in Arusha where we waited for about an hour before the shuttle arrived and seven of us plus suitcases cram into a mini-van for the 40 minutes ride to the airport. During the ride, we began to better appreciate the careful, safe driving done by the Roy Safari people. This driver was going up to 120 kph (70 mph), swerving around things, and bottoming out the minivan on each of the speed bumps.
At the airport we find we have 44 kg of baggage but they don’t complain (20kg per person is the published limit). It is 1:15 pm and our flight is not scheduled until 3:30 pm so we sit around the airport, watch CNN news, and eat our box lunches. Scott and Amy whom we met at the tent lodge place on the first day of our safari arrive and we talk while waiting for the plane. The plane boards late and is delayed taking off because there are some UN officials arriving.
We arrive in the Zanzibar airport at about 5:30 pm. We find our driver with his FATCHERIC sign and then go back to get our luggage. The baggage handling is the worst. Bags are unloaded from trolleys onto a long low counter where everyone is crowding to get their stuff. And there are loads of locals trying to take your bags in order to get a tip. We get into a minivan with AC for our 1.5 HOUR trip to the Ras Nungwi hotel. For three quarters of the trip, the roads are fine. Then we hit dirt roads that are worse than any we saw on our safari. They are just a series of potholes that the driver must weave around. Very tiring and anyone with a bad back would be in agony. Finally arrive at the hotel at about 7:15 pm. Scott and Amy have had their own minivan and arrive at about the same time. At the reception desk, we are all invited to sit down in lounge chairs as we fill out various papers and have resort things explained. We are on ‘half board’, which means breakfast and dinner is included. We are led to our room, which is half of a thatched roof cottage overlooking the water. There is a front porch. The room is nice with a double bed (with mosquito netting), AC (first one we’ve seen), and a bath with a shower.
We unpack a few things and then go to the front desk to call Amy as there are no phones in the rooms (so our guests won’t be disturbed). Call Amy for less than 5 minutes. Go to the bar/lounge area outside the dining area and find a seat. The place is very crowded. Andrew from the water sports group stops by and explains the scuba program. I decide to do a refresher course tomorrow morning in the pool and then do a dive in the afternoon. Amy and Scott pass by and we call them over so Andrew can go through the explanation for Scott. Scott only has tomorrow to dive as they are flying out the next day. We go to dinner at about 8:15 pm. It is what seems to be the African standard: soup, starter, choice of two entrees, and dessert. Margi has roasted chicken in tarragon sauce and I have tilapia with parsnips. Dessert is a lemon tart. The food is very good.
June 20th
We get up around 8:45 am and I go to the dive shop with my NAUI card and dive log. I see Andrew and Nicollet (Nick) about the checkout in the pool, which turns out to be a full PADI refresher course. Nick gives me a booklet to study before I return at 10:30. I go back to the room to get Margi and we go to breakfast. Have the standard omelet station, cereals, toast, juice, etc. After breakfast, we go to the beach and find lounge chairs. I read my PADI review book while Margi walks the beach and collects some fabulous shells.
I go for my checkout. Have to take the multiple choice test and then Nick has me suit up and we go into the pool. I have no problems and feel better about going for a dive in the PM as it had been 2 years since my last dive in Jamaica. It started to rain while I was doing my pool review so I find Margi in the open air lounge near the bar. It stops raining and we go back by the pool.
In the afternoon, I don’t have lunch and go for my dive. I buddy with Scott. Have to swim out in the surf to the native dive boat. The dive boat is small and cramped even though there are only 7 divers. The seas are a little bit rough but it only takes 15 minutes to get to the dive site. The dive is good. Visibility is limited to about 30 feet but the reef is excellent with lots of fish. I saw a moray eel. Along with two others divers, I have opted for only one dive this afternoon. We pass the hotel on the way to the next dive site, so they ‘drop’ us off which means we swim through the surf to get to the beach.
I wash off at the dive center and return the wet suit. I left my mask and their fins on the boat. It is about 3:15 pm and I find Margi back at the room. We read, relax, and drink until 8 pm dinner time. We have asked Amy and Scott to join us for dinner but Amy arrives alone. Scott is not feeling well so Amy orders toast and yogurt in the room for him. We wait until Amy returns and have dinner with her.
June 21st
We awake around 8:30 am and exchange happy anniversary cards as it is our 36th wedding anniversary. I go out to stake out a place on the beach but most of the ‘good’ places are already taken. When Margi arrives, we decide to locate by the pool. The day is partially cloudy and we are driven away by a passing rain shower at lunch time so we have a lunch of quiche and pommes frites. The sky clears after lunch so we return to the pool for more sun, reading, and listening to tunes on the iPod. Late in the afternoon, we watch a couple swim out to a native sailboat for a wine cruise. Cruise sounds nice but the swimming out doesn’t. Go back to the room and clean up. Go down to reception around 6 pm and book a $120 round trip taxi ride to Stonetown as we are bored silly sitting, reading, and sun bathing.
After some Internet emailing, we go to the bar area where they have a band before dinner. Dinner is beef or tuna and dessert is a lime meringue tart. Almost at the end of our dinner, we are told that they have a bottle of champagne for us. We ask to see it and find out that Amy and Scott who left earlier today, have ordered it for our anniversary. We ask them to hold it until tomorrow.
June 22nd
Get up around 8:15 am. I drop my Jimmy Buffet book off at the dive center for Andrew. It’s a hardcover book and I’m glad not to have to carry it back to the US. At the dive center, get recommendations from James (a Kiwi) about Italian restaurants in Stonetown as I know Margi needs a pasta fix. After breakfast, we wait for about 10 minutes for our car. It takes a full 1.5 hours to get to Stonetown. The driver stops in town to arrange a guide for us but we decline. He drives us around as we spot landmarks on the map. He drops us at the Stonetown Serena hotel and we ask him to pick us up at 3:30 pm. We set out on our own.
Stonetown is small with many narrow, twisty streets lined with shops. We ask a man where Gizenga Street is and he instantly becomes our shadow, giving us directions and unwanted information. He continues to follow us until we enter an upscale shop and by chance find the manager of our hotel. We explain our problem with this guy and he comes outside but the guy is gone. He recommends that if it happens again, we simply ask a guard at any of the better shops to make the person go away.
Other than our unwanted guide, the walk through the town is fun. We stop at various shops on Gizenga Street and then go and visit a museum (which is kind of lame). But at the museum is a large group of young school children who are fun to watch and very friendly. We walk to our recommended Italian restaurant where Margi has, guess what, pasta. I have a pizza and we share some wine. We walk and sightsee some more. The day was threatening when we arrived but has been pleasant while we were walking. But the sky gets darker so we head for the Serena figuring we can hang out at the bar until our car arrives. Rain holds off as we have a coke and a beer on the patio overlooking the Stonetown harbor. At 3:25 pm we go outside and find our driver waiting. We take our 1.5 hour ride back to the hotel and pay him his $120.
We go to our room and clean up. We go down to the front desk with our laundry that wasn’t picked up. We get on the Internet and check our email to find that Matt’s car has been stolen from his work parking lot (just off of Rt 280 in Livingston). It apparently happened just a few minutes before. We decide to call Amy to tell her about Matt’s car theft and that he will be taking our Audi.
After the Internet, we go to the bar and have our champagne from Amy and Scott. Dinner at 8 pm is calamari or lamb pot roast. Dessert of pineapple gratin is NG. Back to the Internet. Matt has gap insurance so he shouldn’t get hurt too bad.
June 23rd
Up around 8:30 am. Go and stake out chairs by the pool even though the day is starting out cloudy. After breakfast, I go shell hunting with Margi on the beach. Margi already has lots, so we are being “selective”. I failed clairvoyance so I am just along for the walk. Back at the pool at 10 am and the sky has cleared to a warm sun. Have a few brief clouds, one of which drops a few sprinkles but we raise our umbrella and it passes in a few minutes. Have lunch of sandwiches and pommes frites. Spend the afternoon lying around reading, listening to iPod, and swimming. Watch young British couple where the male has the odd habit of taking a swim, then wrapping himself in a towel and removing his bathing trunks so he can lay them out on the chair to dry. Very strange. We nickname him bathing suit boy.
Back at the room at 4:45 pm, clean up, and go to the bar area for beer and banana daiquiri before dinner. We select a 2001 Warwick Three Cape Ladies South African wine for dinner as this is our last night in Zanzibar. We are looking forward to going home. Dinner is coq au vin or dorado (fish).
June 24th
Margi wakes up around 4:30 am. As she is using the bathroom, I decide to open the safe in the room to get an idea of how much of our cash we have spent on the trip. I try to open the safe but it won’t open. It displays “Call Service”. So, we both worry about getting the safe open as we are leaving by 11:30 am today and our passports and tickets are in there. We try to sleep until about 7 am when I figure I can go to the front desk and get help (remember – no phones in the rooms). At about 7:10 am, I walk up to the front desk and explain our problem. The man at the desk says that someone will be down shortly. I am relieved that he doesn’t seem too upset. Larry arrives about 10 minutes later with a palm computer, saying this happens all the time. He has it open in a could of minutes and we breathe a sign of relief. I remove everything from the safe (money, passports, tickets, cameras, binoculars, etc.). We pack and arrange our carry-on’s with all the valuables. Then we go to breakfast. At breakfast, we see James and Andrew from the water sports group and say goodbye.
We stake our chairs by the pool for our last few hours of sun and then take a walk on the beach. Shell picking is bad as it is high tide. We spend the remaining time at the pool but are driven to our room a little early by the now typical quick morning shower. So, we go back to the room and get ready for our long journey home.
We go to the front desk to check out. They have a problem using our Wachovia Visa so they call some local outlet. They confirm that the card is good but still can’t get their machine to accept the card. So, they finally fall back on doing a manual credit card slip. The bill is $397.
Our car comes at about 11:15 am and we start our long journey home. After the 1.5 hour ride to the airport, we check-in and find that our baggage weight has increase by 1 kg which I conclude is related to Margi’s shell collecting. The check in person doesn’t charge us for extra weight so I slip him a few bucks. The Zanzibar airport is very small and has very smelly bathrooms. We buy a coke lite and wait for our 2:20 flight to Kili airport. Boarding goes quickly as there aren’t many people getting on but there are already people on the flight (presumably from Dar es Salaam). We get seats together on the side of the plane where we should be able to see Mt. Kilimanjaro. Plane is hot inside but we take off quickly. Trip is uneventful and we do see the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro sticking up through the clouds.
We arrive at Kili airport and go to baggage claim for our luggage. Our luggage comes out shortly and we go outside to find our driver who will take us to a day room at the KIA Lodge just a few kilometers away. We have a six hour layover until our KLM flight arrives. The KIA Lodge is very nice with beautiful gardens. After a short walk around the beautiful grounds, we shower and try to rest a little. Back to the airport, check in, fill out exit forms, and go to the business class lounge to wait for the plane. The lounge has drinks, food, and CNN to pass the time. Flight to Amsterdam is uneventful. On the layover in Amsterdam, Margi insists on making another $100 donation to the Dutch economy by visiting the Casino. The flight to Newark arrives on time in Newark. We are tired. Based on New Jersey time, we left our hotel in Zanzibar at 4:15 am on Friday morning and arrived in Newark at noon on Saturday. It’s good to be home.