July 18-23 we went to Diani Beach, and we were so excited! Ajali and I were excited for the beach and the girls were excited for the pool, as both of them don’t like getting sand in their toes (eye roll) lol. We flew on Jambojet, a common domestic airline in Kenya. We flew out of the big airport that we arrive to Kenya at. navigating the airport was easy and the person at the ticket counter was very nice and did not make us pay extra for my overweight bag lol. The plane was not tiny, but smaller than a regular size plane. The flight lasted about an hour to get to Ukunda airport. We arrived, deplaned and watched the spectacle of the ground crew loading the bags from the plane to a cart and then pushing the cart. Yep, they manually pushed this big ol cart AND it looked like one of the tires was very low on air. This was a huge bin with lots of luggage in it AND it was hot outside! We got our bags, looked for our ride and off we went to the resort. The resort was maybe a 15 min ride from the airport.
We arrived, were offered drinks, which we accepted, and then were going to head to our room. Before we did one of the employees told Jasmine to put her chips in her pocket because the monkeys would try to get them. Now, we’ve seen the monkeys in action, but I didn’t know they snatched packed snacks as well! The woman was like- they know what the packaging looks like. NOTED! Lol. This resort was pretty large in size, was a combination of 3 hotels, had 3 reception desks, multiple restaurants, bars and pools and also an amphitheater for shows. We walked to our room, which happened to be connecting suites with a view of the beach. WOO HOO! Before we knew it, our monkey friends were at our patio door lol.
Ajali and I went to bar craving a frozen drink. We ordered pina coladas, as they don’t have strawberry daiquiris. We got the pina colada and OMG is was awful…it was make with milk ha ha ha! It also had a light greenish hue. No thanks, we will have a Coke instead lol. The food at this place wasn’t the greatest, by far, but there was a pizza shop that also made French fries, so that was helpful. French fries at this places were only made from 2p-10p I think. We walked around the resort to explore and also met with our wedding planner to figure out final arrangements.
The next morning we were picked up for a snorkeling excursion in Wasini Island on a dhow about an hour away. The van picked up 2 couples from another resort who happened to be on their honeymoon. The sky was cloudy and the rain drizzled every now and then, but we enjoy snorkeling, so we didn’t care. We got the rules, boarded a taxi boat that took is to our dhow which was about 5 min away. The fun was just beginning…or was it???
Once on the dhow we were offered watermelon, Kenyan donuts, coffee, tea and soda. I didn’t take anything, Jasmine didn’t either, but both Ajali and Sanaa had soda. In addition to the two couples from the van, there was a family of four who were on our dhow as well and were planning to scuba dive. As we made our way through the bumpy waters the family of four (parents and a son and daughter) became ill. The daughter started vomiting over the side of the boat. Then the mom was doing the same. Not much longer dad was hanging his head over the boat. They were doing this on both sides of the boat. The water continued to be bumpy, i mean, not horribly horribly bumpy, but it was bumpy. The staff gave them what we thought at the time was a piece of a lime peel, but it was actually a lemon- it was green. As we continued we started seeing dolphin pods which was so beautiful! They were jumping in and out of the water as we rode by. As some of went to one side of the boat to look, Ajali stayed on the other side. I turned around and noticed dolphins on his side too. He was leaning over the side of the boat looking closer, I thought. Nope he was throwing up! I went over to see the dolphins on his side and that’s when I realized. Oops, bad wife lol. He was the next to get a slice of lemon peel. As we rode I was nauseated but didn’t throw up. The girls were fine too. Ajali threw up one more time before we got to where we were going. The two new married couples held it together lol.
The vomit family still managed to scuba dive and the rest of us managed to snorkel. Honestly, the sites in the water were very underwhelming, which we all agreed on. In our travels we have seen some amazing things while snorkeling, BUT, at least we can say we snorkeled in Africa! We all got back in the boat and there was one more snorkel stop but everyone on board agreed there was no need to stop and we could go to lunch. We rode in the boat, got in a smaller boat taxi, that drove us most the way to shore, we all got out and walked through the the water, the sand, up some steps and into a restaurant where food was waiting for us. They had crab, other seafood, fish, chicken and I think a beef dish. The had yummy potatoes AND the best chipati we ever had! It was hot, fresh, and had a little crisp to it! The waiter told us since we ate all of our chipati that meant we wanted more (which actually wasn’t true lol). He insisted making more, as that would show we had eaten until we were full and could not eat anymore. OK! He brought me, we ate it and also made sure we left some to prove we really enjoyed it.
After lunch we had the option to go back to our starting point to meet our driver back to the resort or walk through the village and learn about the locals there. Our family and the to newlywed couples decided to get back to the resort, but the vomit family wanted to tour the village so we had to wait about an hour or so for them to do that before going back. Once they got back we walked down the steps, through the sand, in the water and into the taxi boat which took us to our dhow and then to the shore were our taxi was. We then headed back to the resort to relax.
The next day we all slept in and almost missed breakfast. The girls literally ran at 0958 to get some and breakfast ended at 10a. One thing I didn’t like about this place is that breakfast ended at 10a. What if I’m not up and dressed by then??? I mean, I am on vacation! You are allowed to get anything from the bar, including sodas until 10am AND at midnight, all inclusive ends and you must pay for alcohol. WHAT??? I mean, I’ve never had restrictions while on vacation! How rude lol. Lunch didn’t start until 12:30 and the pizza and French fry place didn’t open until 2p, so I just felt limited on some things. It wasn’t the worse BUT I would’ve preferred not to have to watch the clock for food and drink times. There were snacks available at times.
We hung out at the resort all day, and lets just say that I fell asleep by the pool and got a great tan! Lol. It actually looks a little weird because my body is about 5 different shades now, but its still beautiful AND I’ve been kissed by the African sun! Ajali was laughing at me lol. Our favorite bartender was named Washington. He made us his signature drink called the “Obama”. I have no clue what was in it, but it was yummy! They had the best fresh juices and even though there was a shortage on passion fruit juice, he made sure he had it for our drinks. They love President Obama over there. They would often compared Ajali’s dad to Obama’s dad after hearing his story- they left Kenya to go to the US and didn’t come back to live. Ha!
The following day was our vow renewal ceremony, and you will hear all about that in a separate post.
At meal times sometimes animals (monkeys or whatever) would come inside to steal food. One night Sanaa noticed a strange looking monkey at dinner. It was bigger than normal and seemed muscular. It freaked me out lol! People were staring and some even came up to take pics of it. The waiter didn't sho it away like they normally do the monkeys…you know why??? It was a bush baby! Whatever the hell that is! Lol. Who cared, just get it away lol. The waiter said they can be agressive so they just leave them be. Hmm, ok! This muscular animal cam down from the ceiling and the wall and grabbed a big piece of pizza or whatever and ran back up to the ceiling. At that point I was ready to go lol.
Friday we all got up early for the pool, knowing it was our last full day at the resort. Ajali and I also got massages and they felt amazing! The dinner we had the night before was SO good, we decided to go back to the al a cart restaurant and order again. This place didn’t have great food and it was pitiful that we had to pay for the al a cart food in order to have good food.
That evening Jasmine and I went to walk on the beach for her to see hermit crabs, again lol. Of course we were bombarded by vendors along the beach (they are not allowed to come closer to the property than the sand on the beach to bother people). I called Ajali because I wanted to do the glass bottom boat tour and him and Sanaa came to meet us to get in the boat. It was just the four of us getting in the boat while the tide was a little low. It wasn’t low enough to see the sand in the middle of the ocean, but very close. There were three guys on the boat with us, one driving the boat, one explaining things to us and the other one (poor guy lol) who was made to snorkel and pick up creatures and put them in the boat for us to see. We saw sea urchins, red and black starfish (the were really cool), fish, coral, and some other things. The boat had a glass bottom so we could see into the water. After being out for about an hour, we headed back to land. One of the most coolest thing was seeing the low tide and high tide in action. This world is so amazing. It was like, in the night time, the waves were high and rough and crashing onto the steps (the resort was up on a hill -sort of) and in the morning the place looked like nothing was done lol-the water receded and you could see the sand. Hard to explain, and the pics don’t do it justice.
While in Diani we also ate at the Cave Restaurant. It’s an upscale restaurant in a cave with a beautiful ambiance. The food was pretty good, but I don’t think we will be back. Long story, but we just didn't feel welcomed there. The funny thing about the night was that we saw one of the newlywed couples from snorkeling.
The next day we packed up to fly back to Nairobi. None of us wanted to leave. The beach was so beautiful and peaceful. The only thing that wasn’t peaceful was those darn monkeys lol. They literally were throwing their bodies at the window of our patio trying to get it. Who does that??? Jasmine was outside when they initially came and to be honest I almost didn’t let her in the room LOL. Ajali opened the door for her and thank goodness she’s thin because there may have been a monkey come in lol.
Monkeys!!!! NOPE.