The Coast...part 3

Although it may sound like we spend the whole of the vacation diving, we did get out of the hotel once in awhile. One of our first excursions was to Arabuko Sokoe National Park. This is a forest that has very diverse plant life and very distinct boundary lines where one part of the park vegetation starts and one ends. We took a quick morning hike around the nature preserve and scrambled up a tree house to get a bird's eye view of the forest. Being scared of heights, the tree house definitely tested my fear. Normally I am fine with heights as long as I feel secure. The missing steps, rickety wood and wobbling tower definitely did not omit that security. Although we didn't see many animals it was nice to get out of the hotel and stretch our legs a bit.



Josh and I uptop in the treehouse.

Besides the forest we also made it to the neighboring Milda Creak. This is a small inlet off of the coast that is a combination salty and fresh waters. The combination provides the ideal environment for mangrove trees and the creek is home to 4 species. Here we took a short nature hike again not seeing many animals. We did see a few crab and snails even though they were quick to hide in their holes. From the banks we crossed one of those swinging bridges (again playing with my fear of heights) to a lookout over the creek. Since the tide was out, we had to cross about 1 km of sand banks to board our canoe and go into the creek. After the short ride we retreated back to the camp for a cold one before heading back to the hotel. Next time we vowed to come back during high tide so we could canoe among the mangrove trees.




















A lizard in the Forest

Even though we initially flew into Malandi we spent the majority of our time in Watamu. For this reason we chose to take a quick trip to the city to see if it was worth moving up there for the last day of our trip. The city was quiet and had an Italian flair. We stopped at "I Love Pizza" for lunch and enjoyed a little taste of home. After lunch we ventured to the pier to enjoy the ocean and take a few quick photos. Malandi we decided couldn't really compare to what we had in Watamu so we headed back.




















Low tide on Mida Creek.

Besides the diving the hotel also provided many other ways to keep busy. Of course for those who's idea of vacation was laying by the pool and ocean there was definitely plenty of that, but the staff also held daily water polo games and gave free windsurfing lessons. I didn't partake in the water polo (Josh did) but I did try my hand at windsurfing.















Josh and I on the lookout on Mida Creek.

Wind surfing is where you use a normal surf board with an attached sail to propel yourself across the ocean rather than wait for a passing wave. It does require a bit of instruction as the way you hold the sail, stand on the board and even position your body has an effect on the movement of the board across the water. At first I had a hard time balancing on the board but I quickly got the hang of it. The hardest part, and probably the most important, was learning to turn around. Definitely don't want to keep heading off to sea! My only regret is not trying this sooner in our trip. We got the lessons the last day and were not able to continue our instruction after that.

All in all the coast was amazing. Between the forest, ruins, scuba, and surfing it is definitely a trip that I will not forget anytime soon. Besides our adventures it was also just great to get away and relax. A perfect ending to a birthday!