Saturday, 7th August 2004
Made our way down to the beach early, to board the boat out to the off-shore reefs and islands! Today’s the day for our first ever open water dive!
After a few delays, we set off on a large wooden dive-boat, out to one of the closer reefs (Pange Reef?). The scene was superb - back to the exotic skyline of Stone Town’s waterfront, and out across the deep blue sea to the turquoise and gold reefs. The nerves were really starting to set in as we moored up and all the more experienced divers got on with kitting up. Kate and I took things more slowly, under the watchful eye of Sébastien. Even though we had watched the videos, read the book, done the pool dive, it was still quite hard to remember all the checks and double checks, but we eventually got there. We were not alone as beginners, although the other two had done one or two dives some time ago.
So...here we go....
Once in the water, our initial nerves soon washed away! We slowly descended using the mooring rope as a guide, and remembering our hand signals as we descended. We then reched the seabed (at about 12 m), where we proceeded to practise a few tests, such as mask clearing (which I have eventually got the hang of) and ‘Buddha’ buoyancy (although the drifting sea-urchins on the seabed made things a little more tricky).
And then we had a little time to swim along the reef. Totally amazing! Millions and millions of fish! Flashing shoals of tiny blue fish, big yellow and black stripy fish, long bright yellow trumpet fish, angel fish, frog fish, fish, fish, FISH! Wow! I got a little carried away, which made Kate distinctly nervous, as I didn’t “buddy” properly.
Sadly, after about 30 minutes, my air got low, so we made our way back to the surface, where we floated awhile waiting for the boat to pick us up.
Back on the boat, we had lunch (samosas, chapatis and fruit) and settled back in the sun for a while before we made our way to the second dive site (Bawe Island?).
Again, we descended slowly after everyone else, before reaching the seabed for a few more exercises! I was a little more controlled this time, and stayed with my Buddy! Even more fish (a massive Napoleon wrasse, and huge shoals of long silver fish), sea cucumbers, and some amazing coral. Again, my air ran out quickly and we had to ascend after about 35 minutes (carrying out a few more tests on the way up). But we made it down to about 18 m - our deepest so far!
Do you know what? We’re divers! ha!
Anyway, we ploughed back to Stone Town (getting rather wet and cold in the process) where we watched the final installment of the PADI video and sat a couple more mini-tests.
It was still quite early once we finished, so we went to explore the old town again, and ending up wandering out to the cathedral, which stands on the spot where the slave market used to be. It was quite moving, as we were given a tour of the only remaining cells, which were really just tiny pits underground, dug out of the rock. Just 10 minutes in there unshackled and with only 4 people was oppressive enough - slaves, brought in from central africa to be shipped to Europe and wealthy Arab nations, sometimes spent weeks in there, with dozens of men, women and children cramped and shackled, unable to stand or lie down. Unimaginable. Outside, there is a memorial to the dreadful events, with some simple stone figures, linked together by some of the original chains and shackles. Very moving.
Afterwards, we wandered back towards the old town, stopping off for a couple of glasses of delicious fresh passion-fruit juice in a small, tatty shop (that didn’t quite expect custom from a couple of mzungas!) before making our way back to our new hotel (Coco de Mer, where we have a small dark room with a rather small “double bed”, but for a good price!).
Then out again, to Forodhani Gardens, on the harbour-side. As we arrived, the food stalls were just setting up - a long row of tables, each with attendant barbeque chef, and each over-loaded with superb sea-food: tuna, shark, marlin and kingfish kebabs; massive octopus tentacles; crabs; lobsters; prawns and crevettes on skewers; clams; giant whelks..... heaven! We got ourselves a big plateful for just a few quid, doused it with chilli sauce, got a couple of Zanzibari chapati and a glass of sugar-cane juice with lime and settled down to munch! Mmmmm-mmmm! I cannot recommed this experience enough!
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