Snorkeling in Zanzibar

So Joe came to Tanzania finally!! We traveled all over the northern part of Tanzania; starting in Dar es Salaam, then to Kigoma in the west, then by 14 hour bus ride to Mwanza, safaring across the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha, flew to Zanzibar and finished up on the beaches there.

Nungwi, the northern tip of Zanzibar

We had so much fun, but I have to share a silly travel story from Zanzibar.

Joe and I spontaneously decided to sign up for an all day guided snorkel trip 1/2 hour south of Stone Town, where we were staying. Joe was trying his hand at driving and we had a rental car.

As we were packing our day bags at 9 pm we realized we didn't have our sunscreen in any of our bags. It must have been left behind somewhere during the safari. Oh no!

We got up early the next morning to get ready and decided to try to find a pharmacy on the way to get new sunscreen. We start driving an hour ahead of the meeting time and the map we were using tried to lead us down a one-way road! We turned around and took a different route but there was a ridiculous amount of traffic, so Joe decided to veer off to find a different road. Well... that veering off took us deep into the narrow winding streets of Stone Town, going down roads that were barely wide enough for the car, possibly one-ways, possibly not roads. I was having an anxiety meltdown at this point and Joe was yelling at me to find us a route. "Just stop the car so the map can pinpoint us and we can find a route!" "I CAN'T STOP"

Along our frantic route through Stone Town

We finally emerged onto a legitimate road, running little by little out of time of course, and found a pharmacy. I jumped out of the car at a red light to go into the pharmacy, grabbed the one with highest SPF, and ran out to find Joe. I walked up and down the streets for 10 minutes and couldn't find him. His phone doesn't work except on wifi so I have no way of getting ahold of him.

I finally walked back to the store and he was parked out in front!! We take off at high speed to meet with the snorkel group. We are about 5 minutes away according to the map when our gravel road just ends. WTF?!

I call the snorkel guy and he says we are on the wrong road, turn around, try the other road. Oh gawd we're so late!! We back track at high speed, race down another dirt road, finally find the highway, and zoom to Fumba. However, the hotel we are meeting at does not appear to be at the location listed on the map. Luckily, a man in a van pointed us to the way.

We screech into a dirt clearing, jump out of the vehicle and run to the beach! 30 people turn to look at us.

"Okay, we can go now!" says the snorkel guy, and they all start walking out to sea. I'm dying of embarrassment and stress at this point.

Gorgeous sandbar!

Such happy campers

We finally settle down on the boat and put the sunscreen on. We go snorkeling and it's so fun. Lots of little fish and some alright corals.

Hopping off the dhow

Hello!

I think this is a crown-of-thorns starfish eating a coral. When these starfish have a population explosion they can decimate coral reefs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown-of-thorns_starfish 

At lunch my legs were hurting where I was sitting on the bench, so I look and I am roasted from my ass down. I check the sunscreen. It's not waterproof.

So, I suffered from the worst sunburn I've had in YEARS. I had to take advil on day 2 of the burn because I couldn't sit on anything. 6 days later I was still hurting!! But, don't feel too sorry for me. I was snorkeling in Zanzibar after all ;)

Poking sea cucumbers

Unfortunately the guides feed watermelon to the fish to get them to swarm

Starfish and urchins on the coral