It still felt like a grief, leaving the Namiri Plains so I wanted to fill up my time in Zanzibar I felt I couldn’t waste such an amazing opportunity in this beautiful jewel of a place overlooking the Indian Ocean. So I’d planned to go straight from my diving, shattered as I was, into a sailing trip for 2 hours The hotel blurb said it was a short excursion to a fish market it sounded great.
I was only half board here and my American dollars were getting pretty low, not because there was anything to buy but Tanzania is a poor country work is scarce with even lower wages so I found myself tipping everyone who helped me I was really conscious not to offend anyone but I could sense their real gratitude. So it was a long gap from breakfast to dinner which was so graciously served but not a patch on the chef in Namiri Plains.
I had about a 5 minute turnaround to change from wet diving togs, whizz back to my amazing cliff lodge and put some dry clothes on. The boat could only pick me up at high tide when it would pull alongside the steep steps down onto the only jetty to the hotel. Then I heard Munisee outside,
“Hello Mama Carol, are you ready?”
He had a big round smiley face, immaculate in his uniform shirt and trousers. So we trotted off through the lush irrigated flower beds and onto the jetty.
When I said yes to the sailboat, I thought…sailboat..but this was something else.
The boat was a typical fishermans one. It was made of mango about as wide as my hips. It looked like an old hardened empty banana skin with only space for the width of one foot at the bottom….which was full of water. The solitary triangular sail was small but looked as though it had been stitched together from about 3 men’s shirts and as there were three men in the boat waiting for me I did wonder if there was room for me. Two sailors and a cheeky chappie that I guess was there as a translator.
I was shocked and looked round to Munisee and said,
” Am I safe? Is this ok.”
Well I needn’t have fretted about remembering all about halyards and sheets, knot protocol and all the day skipper theory….. this was me in a boat with 3 black sailor boys in a line and a bit of old rope with a loop on the end.
It was calm and beautiful and I listened as cheeky chappie rolled on about a Spanish girl he had met. He would love her but he had no money and she wanted him to go back to Spain…I am a teacher for three days and the I am an electrician when I don’t sail ..and I have trouble with my eyes you see…I like your sunglasses. You can give me them if you like but I don’t mind if you don’t ..it’s just my eyes you see.
It was the only time I have felt uncomfortable but by then we had sailed out to Mnemba island and had drifted round the back of it. It suddenly dawned on me that I had become invisible. There was an uninhabited island on one side of me and the Indian Ocean on the other with nothing except….India…miles away. I’d gone out of view of everyone. Me, complete with own sunglasses and three black sailors all in a row.
But we did head back to the beach as the tide had turned and I had no need to worry….but whatever happened to the fish market remains a mystery…if ever there was one. So there I was back with Cha Cha who once again left his bar to ricochet me back to the hotel in his banger.
What a day….and I knew tomorrow was already set out for the Spice boys!,
Omg ?