Pre-dive meeting (did we mention the shop owner bears an uncanny resemblance to Magnum PI!?)
The 4th dive was by far the best. We went back to the Anthias Reef (where we did our first open water dive), but this time we could go to 18m and explore the entire reef shelf rather than just the top of the ridge. An extra 6m makes a big difference in what you can see. Just as last time, we saw huge lionfish hovering about the coral and schools of tiny orange anthias. We also saw another sea turtle, this one old enough to have attracted a few barnacle passengers. Along the edge of the reef where it dropped off to the ocean floor, the big fish lingered facing into the slight current that happened to be moving toward us. It gave us the feeling that they were watching us. Huge snapper lurked just at the limit of visibility, moving in and out of view wearing their distinctive under bite. There were also large schools of red-tooth triggerfish. They are flat and round like an angelfish but with one pointy fin on the top and one on the bottom. When they swim, they turn on their side and shimmy like a flounder, then pop upright again for a look around. They have red buckteeth that look like little red mustaches from a distance. Crawling along the precipice were huge mantis shrimp and there were also butterfly fish, emperor angelfish, trumpetfish, well-disguised scorpion fish and clownfish with their colors carefully matched to their anemone. There were many other schools of fish: big silver ones with a bright blue stripe and smaller purplish ones with fins like a Japanese fighting fish (obviously, we don’t know enough about ichthyology to be able to notice the features that would help us identify them after the fact). You should see the blank stares of the instructors when you ask them “what was that silver fish about yea big with the blue stripe and the thingy and the other thingy??”
After the dive, we met up with our buddy Harrison at the super-duper fancy hotel next door. He is the head gardener and a local nursery recommended that we contact him about getting herb seeds. A few weeks back, he gave us nearly a dozen different types of herb seeds. Now we needed compost. Our inability to communicate effectively with Joseph (our gardener) had led to complete befuddlement about where all of our food scraps have gone over the past two months. It may take us a few more months to actually arrive at some kind of composting agreement, probably involving a summit, some UN translators, and a few bribes. In the meantime, we did not want to delay our fresh basil waiting for our own compost, so we bought some of Harrison’s compost made from his choice of the pounds and pounds of food scraps generated by the Hemmingway’s Restaurant daily.
We continued north of Watamu to visit Malindi for the first time. We sought out a restaurant that was highly recommended called “I Love Pizza”. Cheesy name aside, it was a breath of culinary fresh air. For an appetizer we had a plate of cheese and charcuterie, including olives stuffed with fennel, spicy salami, proper prosciutto and real arugula. Mmmm…. Patrick ordered penne with broccoli and gorgonzola which was fabulous. The penne was homemade and it was the first time I had broccoli since we arrived, one of my most favoritest foods. I ordered seafood pasta with prawns, fish, octopus etc… it was pretty good, but not great (not as good as Patrick’s penne anyway).
After lunch we went to the local tourist craft market where I bought a pair of beaded sandals and Patrick bought a pair of tire sandals. It took about 20 minutes of haggling about the price and then another 20 minutes to find someone who could make adjustments to the straps followed by some very precision fitting and more haggling about how much extra the adjustments would cost. When I had nearly lost my mind, I herded Patrick out of the market and we tried to find the nice grocery store. Unfortunately, they had decided to close until July. We did some very rushed shopping in a tiny grocery and then jumped back in the car to make the long trek back before sunset. About a third of the way home, as I was trying to wrangle the sun visor into a better position, it broke off in my hand! This was very serious indeed since the sun was directly in my line of site and making it very difficult to see the potholes. Patrick tried to hold it in place over my head, but it was difficult to get it in the right spot and his arm got tired. End result – we hit a lot more potholes on the way back than on the way there and are now shopping for window tinting…
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