Friday, 6th August 2004
Up early to make our way to the pool at the Zanzibar Serena Hotel, which is a rather high-brow place looking out onto the beach. Arrived before our instructor, so sat by the pool as the warmth of the day started to develop.
Our instructor and equipment then appeared - the instructor for the pool session was Gary, an Aussie, who part owns the whole OneOcean operation. And it soon turned out that he was a very patient guy. After all the setting-up and checking (remember: Beryl Warburton joined the RAF) we finally entered the water. Very cool!
We played around with our buoyancy for a while, then sank ourselves to the bottom of the pool....we’re diving! Ha! Spent the rest of the morning practising a number of simple actions, although some were harder for others - I could not get the hang of clearing my mask while under the water, and Kate really struggled with buoyancy.
But we made it through, and “passed” that part of the course.
All this activity makes you very hungry, so after yesterday’s poor dinner, we decided to get some local advice on where to get lunch. The OneOcean people suggested the seafood restaurant next door, whose name I can’t remember.....Artemis? Alchemy? Something beginning with ‘A’. And it was excellent - really fresh seafood curry and delicious smoothies and cake!
In the afternoon, it was back to the study-room to watch more irritating videos and complete more tests for our PADI. It seems a little bizarre to be sat in a dark garage watching videos when the sun is shining outside, but never mind - I’m sure it will be worth it.
We also managed another wander around the winding alleyways looking for bargains, as well as finding ourselves another (cheaper) hotel for our last couple of days in Stone Town - the Coco de Mer. Ended up in a bar overlooking the beach on the way out to the port - Mercury’s, named after Zanzibar’s most famous son, Freddie (it’s full of Queen memorabilia, which is quite bizarre). Cold beer in hand, we sat and watched the locals playing football on the beach as the sun plunged into the Indian Ocean! Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
We then made our way back to the hotel to change for dinner! Made our way to the Two Tables restaurant (directly, this time) which is really just two tables! The venue is a veranda of an enterprising local’s house, where we joined the only other guests, another English couple. It was a great experience, munching our way through 5 or 6 courses, while a little boy sat in the room next door with one eye on us and one on the cartoons on the telly! And the food was pretty good - a mixture of indian-style nibbles, fish curry and fruit. Definitely recommendable, as much for the experience as for the food.
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