Day 4: Zanzibar

The last two of our group arrived this morning. I pushed so hard to have at least 10 here but now I realize 6 was the perfect number, perfect for vans, perfect for dinner, perfect for splitting up. Keeping track of 6 is a trick, can't imagine more. Today we took a small mahogany boat over to Prison Island, Zanzibar’s version of Alcatraz. We rented snorkeling gear and they dropped us over the reefs to swim. It didn't take me but about 10 minutes to realize I just wasn't strong enough to battle the waves and was exhausted getting back to the boat. The others did a bit better than me but it was rough and the ride back to the main island later resembled the log flume ride at 6 Flags. The Indian Ocean is not the Caribbean. Prison Island was interesting though and the highlight was feeding giant land tortoises. They can live up to 100 years and they were huge and very prehistoric looking. Wide mouths eagerly took the spinach we offered and we kept a close eye on our pinkies. Collected seashells and pieces of coral, back for showers and more wonderful seafood.