Water Water Watamu

We have been back in Kapsowar for about a week now and I think it is due time for a post about the lovely town of Watamu. After spending a week on Lamu island we made our way to the ocean front town of Watamu. It is a coastal town in eastern Kenya nestled between Malindi and Mombassa. (Yes I sound like a guidebook, I am at work with nothing to do but write lengthy e-mails and blog posts. Oh and play spider solitaire. Rough day!)

Marc’s parents have a time share that has resorts worldwide so we were able to book one here for a week. Both Marc and I, nor Carlynne had been on a beach vacation before and although I had my reservations about laying around all day (why I would have reservations about that I am not so sure) we loved every minute of our beach vacation. While we did do a lot of laying around, we also did a lot of swimming, walking, reading and eating.
Our hotel had 3 (yes you read that right, 3!) pools. Unfortunately we only made it to two since we also had the ocean to swim in. The ocean here is a lovely shade of aquamarine and looks like something off a postcard.
Caption: “Dear family and friends. We are having a lovely time here in Watamu relaxing on the beach. Wish you were here! Don’t get too cold in the snow. Love, Marc, Kylie and Carlynne.”

Pool #2. #1 was right in front of our room. We had a great view of the ocean from this one!
Pool #1

One of the days we tore ourselves away from the pool and the ocean and headed out to the Gedi ruins. It consists of the ruins of a fifteenth century Arab-African town that went undiscovered until the 1930's.

A crazy spider we saw on our walk through the ruins.

We also took a morning to go snorkeling. While it was extremely enjoyable I think we were all thankful that it was just a morning and not the whole day. Both Carlynne and Marc got quite sea sick in the water (Marc even puked, the fishies ate it up really fast though) and I felt a bit ill on the boat ride back. That being said the snorkeling was amazing and we saw coral, and so many amazing coloured fish.
Being the ONLY women in the resort who did not own bikini’s (well besides two old grandma’s) Carlynne and I went on a shopping trip and suited up like the rest of the Italians at the resort. Oh! I have not mentioned this yet. For some reason this area of the Kenyan coast is a vacation hot spot for Italians. We were one of maybe two or three guests that were not from Italy. All the staff spoke to us in Italian, all the signs were in Italian and even the local children said “Ciao” to us all the time. I really love the way people from Italy say “Ciao.” It sounds so much more refined than my “Chow!”.

Enjoying a fun beach drink.

After some major relaxing we headed to Mombassa for a day. Carlynne and I got a marathon manicure and pedicure (4 hours long!!) and Marc got an extended massage. (3 hours long. I am not sure how we are going to afford to fuel Marc’s new habit when we get home but I’m sure he will find a way.)

We stopped at an amazing antique shop where Carlynne bought quite a few souvenirs.

At Fort Jesus, a strong hold built to defend Kenyan from a variety of invaders.
I'm sure the defenders of Mombassa were as relaxed as we were when watching for enemies.

Last Thursday we saw Carlynne off and now are back in Kapsowar until next week. Then we head to Zanzibar, back here for two weeks then away for good. For those of you who we haven’t told already, our plans include meeting Joshua in Egypt in December, then to Israel, Turkey, back to Holland, Norway to visit the ever elusive Fraser, London and finally home in March. We are excited about our upcoming adventure!!!