Happy Anniversary!

What a way to celebrate our fourth anniversary! We woke up at 6:00 to watch the sunrise over the Indian Ocean while enjoying coffee and tea that the staff set out on the beach. As the sun was rising, many local men were setting out in their wooden boats called dhows for a day of fishing. Local women began collecting seaweed that they dry and sell, and adorable naked children were playing and singing in the water. After numerous pictures we made our way over to the front desk to schedule massages for later that day and a spice and Stone Town tour for the next day.







We ate breakfast looking at the ocean and the local children playing on the beach -- we had tea, fresh passion fruit juice, tropical fruit, toast, eggs (making it the 10th straight day of eggs...yum!) and sausage (beef, no pork, of course!). We hurried back and managed to snag the beach cabana right in front of our room.




We read, napped and relaxed for hours in the cabana. I walked around the beach taking pictures, and once the tide went out past the reef, I decided to go in the water. I could walk at least 200 yards out to the reef in water no higher than my waist. I'm glad we brought some of those water shoes because there were numerous spiky sea urchins. Before long, I was approached by a local kid wanting to assist me as I walked out to the reef and tell me about the crafts he was selling just down the beach.









We noticed that Zanzibarians were much more aggressive and persistent than the mainland Tanzanians. We think it's because they are used to white tourists and they now have expectations from us.

At 5:00 we headed down the beach to the massage hut just steps away from the crashing waves. We each got one-hour massages, which cost $15 each!! It was more of a rub down and less of massage therapy, but again, it was $15 and we were in a hut on the beach. It was interesting because modesty is not really a concept there -- Allison had to strip down in front of the two massage therapists (thankfully both women), flip onto her back with no cover and feel generally uncomfortable. Overall though, it was relaxing and nice treat.

We headed back to our room, showered, and walked to the pool where dinner was being served. The resort has dinner in different locations a couple of nights each week...tonight it was poolside. We enjoyed a bottle of wine surrounded by hundreds of candles to celebrate four years of marital bliss.



Dinner was a buffet of all finger foods, including samosas, kabobs, Zanzibar pizza and grilled octopus and beef. The desserts were tasty, especially the peanut brittle. We washed everything down with fresh sugarcane juice they made right in front of us. Once we got back to the room we used the SteriPEN again to purify the tap water. It's nice not having to always buy bottled water to drink and brush our teeth with.

It was a wonderful day and a perfect anniversary, probably like no other we'll have again!