Christmas on the beach

24 December Having got to Paje and found my comfy little bungalow, I had a good night's sleep and woke up to a familiar sound: Rain! I had been tipped off (on the 7 hour ferry corssing) that there was a tropical cyclone somewhere near Madagscar and that the weather system could be heading north.....

Anyway, the rain did ease off and had gone by late morning and although the sky remained overcast for the whole day, it was warm and bright and the sea was beautiful.  Went for a swim once the tide came in (sea is several hundred metres away at low tide) and generally relaxed.....

There was a lovely atmosphere on the beach as it's not hugely built up.  There are a few hotels consisting of bungalows and bandas, but iut is primarily a fishing village where the locals go out fishing as well as harvesting sea weed from the beach and from 'nurseries' where they culticate it.  On the beach there was always football going on, involving tourists, locals and the Maasai - a wonderful sight for an onlooker!

25 December Another rainy start, but it cleared earlier this time.  Quite morning - very strange spending Christmas morning sitting on a white sandy beach - I was genuinely pining for a cosy house with open fire.....

Anyway, we had planned to go snorkelling and did so at about 11:00am.  Having never been before I was rather nervous at first, but after getting used to breathing through my mouth (and not swimming too far underwater that the snorkel filled with sea water!) I thoroughly enjoyed it. The shoals of fish darted around near me and the sea snakes slid around on the shallow sea floor amongst the coral.  We saw a beautiful jade coloured clam and many bright fishes, including angel fish and zebra(?) fish (black and white stripey!)  Looking back, I have to keep reminding myslef that I actually swam around the coral and saw the fish, and that it wasn't just a wildlife documentary!

After over an hour out in the sea, we dragged ourselves back into the wooden fishing boat that was our transport (easier said than done) we headed back to shore for lunch.

In the afternoon we generally lounged around on the beach.  The sun even put in an appearance later on and I chatted to family whilst paddling in the incoming tide.  Once the tide was up higher we swam again before an evening meal.

26 December The first bright morning in Paje!  Spent the day doing almost nothing - had a massage which was rather lovely and then lounged all day in and out of the water!  Was very glad to have a good breeze as the sun was ridiculously hot  -I think I was quite lucky that I was only  there for one clear day - I'm not sure I would have managed longer!