Wasini Island

Today we put on our tourist hats again and took a trip to Wasini Island, about an hour south of Diani. We generally like to do things on our own without tours, but in this case, since M wanted to dive, we went with a tour. Kisite Marine National Park is off the coast of Wasini Island, and is regarded as one of the top diving and snorkeling sites in East Africa

They picked us up early and we boarded a dhow, which is a traditional sailing vessel borrowed from the Arab traders [the photo below is an example. The asymetrical sails make them tricky to navigate but it also requires less sailcloth which was very valuable]. We traveled out to the marine park where M was fortunate to be the only diver. This meant that he got a private dive with the dive master which was really amazing since that’s usually a very expensive luxury. We dropped him off and then motored away to the snorkel site so he got to see a much more protected part of the reef. He saw tons of fish, two turtles, beautiful coral, and when he was surfacing some dolphins swam up and he got to swim very close to them. They were actually circling and playing with M and the dive master!



Meanwhile, I went on a snorkel trip above the reef and saw octopus, several eels, and some very large reef fish. The reef is amazingly close to the surface in places which makes for great snorkeling. I also saw a hilarious tourist sighting: A very large man wearing a life jacket was clutching a life ring being dragged by a tour guide through the reef. At first I thought he had become ill or tired while swimming but it turns out that he just didn’t want to have to exert ANY energy. This was made stranger by his attire: a blue and white striped cotton long-sleeved button-down shirt (I’d put money on it being from Brooks Brothers) and khaki shorts. I actually swam closer to be sure I was seeing him clearly. Bizarre.

After our swimming adventures, we went to lunch on Wasini Island. While we were sailing in, we spotted some of M’s friends [see below] who played in the water for about 10 minutes before moving on.



Lunch was a delicious mix of crabs, fish, roasted coconut, and of course, Tusker beer. It was a really nice trip and nice to get M’s first Kenya dive under the belt but we both agreed that we prefer the non-tourist approach to our excursions.