Wendy and I hired a random tuk-tuk near the hospital. On the way, we picked up some things Wendy had secretly packed earlier: a cooler (hhhmmm), the camera and tripod, and a little backpack with some more surprise goodies. Wendy directed the tuk-tuk to the old ferry stop on the Kilifi side of the creek, where we met the infamous Captain Hassan. As he directed his helpers around in Swahili, he led us to the water’s edge where 4 of us stepped into an 8’ dugout canoe. We nervously squatted in the bottom of the canoe, balancing precariously (the water threatened to leap over the edge and soak our new camera), as they poled us over to the waiting dhow.
The dhow is a traditional Arab-influenced wooden fishing boat ~25’ in length and with a distinctive sail/mast combination. The dhows, according to Captain Hassan, last ~10-12 years with good maintenance, but are finally destroyed - not by water damage, but by insect damage! The insects in Kenya are special (as you may have guessed by now) and some are constantly feeding on the wood at a rate to rival the women cutting it down for fuel/charcoal! The maintenance is mainly to slow the insect damage…wild, huh? Sailing a dhow is also tricky business as the sail is attached to a front mast, which leans back into the boat and is secured to the rear of the boat by another pole. This configuration forces the crew (in our case, 4 men) to actually pass the sail in front of the mast to change directions during tacking. Now that I am writing it down, it seems a rather strange design, but at the time I did not think much of it - probably because the configuration was quite powerful and not only got the boat moving pretty well but also would pull the top of the mast pretty strongly towards the water, too!
After we had adjusted to the movement of the boat and were on our way, Wendy told me to close my eyes and open my mouth …then she fed me magical homemade hummus! For those unaware, hummus was the staple of my diet in DC, but it had thus far been missing. Wendy had secretly (and with difficulty) gathered the ingredients and mixed up a batch, even properly adding the extra garlic of which she knew I was most fond – wow! It went very well with the bottle of wine she also brought along. It was a little weird eating hummus and drinking wine while 4 dudes watched us from the back of the dhow. Not super-romantic, but we tried to forget about the oddness and instead enjoy the tranquil and peaceful sail up the creek. There were birds all around us, eagles by the dozen, and fish jumping up out of the water to eat insects.
Captain Hassan answered all of our questions while puttering around to cook a fish in the front of the boat. He was arranging charcoal in an old car wheel, drizzling it with gasoline siphoned out of the outboard motor, and then lit it – right on the deck of the wooden dhow! We were a little alarmed, but he was unfazed and it took us a little while to realize maybe it could be safe to cook a fish over an open fire in your wooden boat…maybe like cooking with a burner in a nylon tent?...um yeah, we don’t plan to be that desperate. Anyway, the fish was great and we ate it with our fingers, while moored at the far end of the creek watching the sun set over the hills. It was incredible – the colors of the sun setting, the half-dozen eagles watching us from the trees nearby, and the fact that there was zero noise pollution.
We slowly sailed back, tacking 3 times before Captain Hassan decided it was getting dark and time to continue under motor power. These dhows do not really have running lights (unless your fish grilling went awry!) and the many tiny dugout canoes would be impossible to see in the dark, so he was making a wise choice. It was a great birthday surprise and we definitely can recommend it for visitors! We are even considering a longer overnight trip by dhow, but that one might take some more hands-on research…
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