We had basically one free weekend left between our pack-out and when we flew out and we decided that one last view of the Indian Ocean is what we needed. We had aspirations of going up to Lamu--a once forbidden destination at the beginning of our tour due to a spat of kidnappings by al-Shabaab militia men and pirates--but given that it is currently the low season for tourism, the place we'd hoped to stay was closed, so we decided to skip it for a more tried and true destination.
I'd noticed a place called Hemmingway's in Malindi, a beach town further South from Lamu, on Watamu Beach. We didn't know anyone that had stayed there before, but it is managed by a company we know well and seemed to be exactly what we are looking for; our travel agent also had a great deal going, so it was hard to pass up.
We took Friday off, flying out from JKIA to Malindi airport, which is basically a hot, stuffy waiting room, found our driver, and headed to the resort.
Everything was perfect, minus the beach itself, which was covered as far as we could see with approximately one to two feet of seaweed.
(the brown is the seaweed; the white is sand)
We found out that the low season in Watamu is tied not only to the air temperature but also the tides, which bring the seaweed onto the beach during the winter months. While I would have been livid had we traveled across the world to come here to play in seaweed, given that we still are residents and have a one year old, looking out at the water from the patio was more important than physically being on the beach. We went to the pool, enjoyed a nice happy hour, then enjoyed dinner out on our patio after putting Aliza down.
The following day we took a little adventure. Before dinner the previous night we spoke with the activities director to see if we could find some kind of ocean activity that would be suitable for a baby. After hearing the options, we settled on a boat ride across an inlet to an Island owned by the hotel where we would eat lunch and come back. Total trip time would be a little over an hour with only about 20 minutes on the water; completely doable. However, there was a slight miscommunication between Kerry and the director at the end of the conversation that led to a small extension to the boat ride: an hour-and-a-half! Armed with that knowledge and sitting inside a boat that appeared less than seaworthy and gliding across choppy seas, the boat ride ended up being anything but a pleasure cruise as the pictures will show.
Upon arriving at the Island and getting one fussy baby on dry land, we had just begun our lunch, when several young fisherman made their way across the channel to the Island and hovered around our lunch area. Needless to say this didn't add the experience. One of the crew members came and kept them away form us, but we ate quick and got out of there. Luckily, the return ride was just across the narrow channel to a car that was waiting to take us back to the hotel. On the way we got a coconut for the three of us to share.
(I appreciated this one)
When we got back to the hotel, the hotel staff chopped up the meat of the coconut--half regular and half they fried in oil and salt--and we enjoyed our little treat by the pool.
That evening we went to happy hour at the bar where Aliza made a friend and we enjoyed some drinks before putting her down and enjoying another evening on the patio for a delicious seafood dinner.
The following day, and the excitement of the previous day still fresh in our minds, we decided to take it easy until checkout. Still craving more fresh seafood, I did a little research and found what TripAdvisor claimed was the "best seafood restaurant in Malidi," called The Old Man and the Sea, an homage to the Hemingway novel. We decided to eat around noon before heading to the airport for our flight and even though we knew the place would have no customers during this time of year, we made reservations anyway.
The town of Malindi is about a 30 minute drive from the resort. The restaurant was by the water and was an old Swahili-style building. As expected, we were the only customers. We ordered grilled prawns, two Indian Ocean lobsters cooked two different ways, and a large plate of fries. The food was fantastic, just what we wanted. We finished up and headed for the airport.
We'd been warned by some friend of ours that the wait in the Malindi airport is awful, and our experience certainly proved that true. It was hot, stuffy, and the plane was delayed for no reason. I finally had to go back to security to complain to the manager to get things moving, which he finally did, thankfully. Once we finally boarded and got some cool air on us, Aliza and Kerry fell asleep and we sailed back to begin our final few weeks in Nairobi.
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