Today was one of the coolest days of my life (I've said this phrase so many times since I moved to Africa, I know). Instead of beginning the journey back to Malawi today, Kelly and I were convinced to stay another day on the island by our newfound traveling friends. (We also decided to stay because so far we had only had one chill day and three full travel days!) This morning, we got on a boat at the dock on the island and headed out to sea. After maybe 20-30 minutes, we began to see dolphin fins on the water! We got our snorkeling gear ready and when we got close enough, we jumped in the water and swam to find them. I (and two others) caught up to them and swam quickly after them. At this point I was DIRECTLY above them in the water, and I could count all 10 of them as we swam along together. It was the craziest feeling ever just swimming along with these dolphins-watching them flip over and swim upside down and couple up and swim in pairs. The water was bright turquoise and you could see the sand below them the water was so clear. At times they would swim up to the surface and then they would only be like 3 feet away from me. I could see their shiny gray skin and kept thinking of when I was shark diving in South Africa...except these guys won't eat me! It was such a surreal feeling. Eventually I got so tired from swimming along to keep up, the water changed to a darker blue where it was harder to see them, and we came close to our boat, so I came up for air. Getting back in the boat, I was shaking from adrenaline, and my arms were tired from swimming!
At that point, I was satisfied with our trip already. But THEN, we took the boat over to an old wrecked ship and got out to snorkel. There wasn't SO much coral, but there were plenty of brilliantly colored fish in amongst the super old ship remains. I'm so sad I don't have an underwater camera because I couldn't capture the beauty of it all to show you all at home! So after that, we hopped back on the boat and road to a giant sandbar in the middle of the ocean. It looked like a little baby beach in the middle of an intensely azure ocean. We got off and wandered around for a little bit-finding sooooo many starfish and shells and taking loads of pictures.
By the time we got back on the boat, we were all sufficiently sunburnt and tired. It took us a little over an hour to get back with Kelly and I laying on the front of the boat lounging in the sun but wrapped in our zitenje to protect our shoulders and faces. Rinsing off all the sand and salt in a cold shower back at the place we're staying at was super refreshing, but I still can't get all the sand out of my hair!
Now we're just sitting back, enjoying the sunset and some beers, and hoping to enjoy some more fresh seafood again for dinner.
