We woke up with only loose plans for today: visit one of the nearby islands. But which one? And how should we get there? We were faced with a familiar decision… Pay a premium for a guide so that we don’t have to plan anything and have a full day of entertainment delivered to us, but run the risk of feeling trapped. Or find a local boat taxi to take us to an island and explore on our own, but run the risk of not making the most of it.

We walked out to find a tour company and got accosted by guys trying to get us onto their boats. It was overwhelming and hard to know who to trust. In moments like this Nick and I can’t even talk to each other without someone butting in offering to “help”. We will not miss this part of East Africa.

We walked back to the hotel to regroup. Nick got the good idea to go into the dive shop next door and to ask them what they’d suggest. They didn’t have a vested interest in selling us anything, and know the area well enough to help guide us to the right place.

The kind lady at the counter gave us great advice and ultimately talked us out of any of the options. We had hoped to find a good snorkeling spot for Millie but she said that the visibility would be too cloudy near the shore, and that it wouldn’t be safe away from the shore. She told us the water was extra choppy today and it wouldn’t be a fun outing. She told us the large sand bar island we were considering would be packed with loud partiers. I appreciated her honesty.

So instead, we spent the entire day hanging out on the beach digging a huge hole, and then swimming in the hotel pool.

It wasn’t a big adventure, but it was a good day.

Now we are all attempting to go to sleep at 8PM before our 1:45AM alarms go off tomorrow. The only flight we could find out of here is at 4AM. Woof.