now…this feels like vacation

We spend the rest of Thursday swimming in the Indian Ocean which is as warm as bathwater and as peaceful. On Friday we decided to hire a boat to take us out snorkeling around Bazaruta one of the five islands off the coast of Vilankulos.



I try to suspend any fear I might have about being in a tiny rubber power boat out in the sea and enjoy the amazing beauty around us. The power boat is at least the better of the options.

Our other choice is a “dhow” – small sail boat whose travel time to the islands can vary from 25 minutes to two days depending on the wind! No thanks.


We see dolphins playing and twice Paul jumps in the water to be with them but they swim off. We climb a huge sand dune and have great views of most of the other islands (but not Paradise Island where the latest episode of Survivor was filmed, it is too far away). We spend the afternoon snorkeling and Paul goes for a dive (I haven’t been scuba diving in 25 years so I didn’t feel confident doing it without a refresher course).

The snorkeling is amazing. The best I’ve ever seen and I feel like I’m in my friend Doug’s aquarium. We hold hands and swim through this amazing paradise. The coral reef is stunning with brain coral and green finger like coral and patches of purple. We see clown fish, a giant grouper, angel fish, electric blue damsels, zebra fish, box fish, trumpet fish, sea cucumbers, purple and green star fish, and many fish I can’t even identify.

My favorite is the parrot fish. He is quite large (~18 inches long) and the most amazing combination of purple and green. If you stop breathing as he approaches the coral you can hear his pink lip-sticked beak like mouth take a crunch out of a piece of coral. Very cool!

While Paul is diving, our guide Paulino and I have an interesting conversation about HIV/AIDS and common beliefs about it in Mozambique.

He asks where the disease came from and explains that he heard it was the result of sailors being on boats for a long time and having sex with female dogs (what?). If not that, he is fairly convinced it came from God. He tells a story of an aid truck delivering condoms that were “contaminated” and how everyone who used these condoms got AIDS so now people are resistant to using condoms at all (because they believe condoms can actually give you AIDS). Sadly, this is a common “urban myth” I’ve heard before. I’m not sure how one dispels it but I’m sure it is a huge problem in terms of getting people to practice safe sex.

In any case, it was quite a fascinating conversation. When Paul finished his dive we went back in snorkeling for a second time. Unfortunately, given my fair skin, even SPF 45 couldn’t protect me on the water all day and I got totally fried on all the parts facing up while swimming and exposed to the sun (ouch!).

We spend Saturday relaxing and reading and generally staying out of the sun. We leave only to go out and eat prawns for lunch (and dinner!) and to visit the local market where we pathetically try to negotiate (in Portuguese) for a few things.

While we could stay and eat prawns (large shrimp) forever, we decide we’d better start heading back on Sunday.