03FEB2007 "A full Saturday - Snorkelling & Scottish Line Dancing"

On Saturday, we got up early to go to Watamu where there is a national marine reserve. We caravanned with Caroline, Nathan, Eddie, Alice and Mario (a visiting scientist). We snorkeled right out from Ocean Sports Hotel for a few hours at low tide. It was spectacular. There were so many different kinds of parrotfish, some of them over 18 inches long. There were puffer fish and angelfish. There were curious fish dressed in prison uniforms who followed us everywhere and would pop up every time you turned around. My favorite were the 12 inch long silver fish with a yellow stripe down the back who hung out in groups of five or six at the edge of the reef like the bad kids smoking in the school parking lot. Caroline & Patrick saw a small ~4' reef shark (from the roof of the boat) and we saw a beautiful ray with iridescent blue spots. We enjoyed every minute of it, but regretted the sunburn.

As if one cross-cultural dancing experience per weekend was not enough, on Saturday evening we were invited to a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), a Scottish dancing party. Jay and Annie hosted it at their beautiful home that overlooks the creek from a small bluff. We arrived in time to watch the end of an incredible moonrise over the creek. Shortly after, Annie herded us from our comfortable chairs onto the porch where Pete (a geneticist and immunologist) and Alun (an HIV epidemiologist) were warming up on the fiddle and guitar.














They churned out some proper-sounding Scottish music (to the admittedly untrained ear) and Jay, Annie and Kate attempted to give us a crash-course in Scottish line-dancing. The beat was easy to pick up and it turns out that the specific steps don’t matter as much as to keep hopping and spinning in the same direction as all the other dancers. Everyone had a blast. Kevin looked notably more comfortable as a Scotsman than a salsa dancer. He was of course buoyed up by the British rugby victory earlier that evening and several Tuskers. Even though Patrick and I are newcomers, we felt very warmly welcomed.














Patrick tried to drum up some participation for the upcoming 10to4 mountain bike race down Mt. Kenya. You start at 10,000ft and drop to 4,000 ft over 70km. To give an idea, the winner last year covered those 70km in less than 2 hours! This is clearly a race where your downward momentum could be more important than your overall fitness level. Alas, Patrick could not find anyone who wanted to commit to the race, but he did find several bikers who were keen to get some cycling in around Kilifi and were very enthusiastic about it.