Chilling back in Shela

View of the beach from Emily's feet
      Upon returning to Shela, Emily and I went to spend some quality time relaxing on the beach.  There was plenty of shade and cool ocean breezes.  Nice!  Here, people were not shy about wearing swim suits.  We lay around and watched the boats come and go.  There were many boats out in the channel, of various sizes and functions.  Most were water taxis or dhows, but there were also a few larger power boats.  I only saw one sloop-rigged boat, but it did not look like it had been sailed in a while.  Yachts, on the other hand, do not come here because of safety issues, as the northwest corner of the Indian Ocean is notorious for piracy.

      That evening, Joan and I headed down to the beach for a moonlight stroll.  Only there was one small problem:  the beach was gone!  It seems that the tide had come in.  Man - these tides are something else.

Restaurant on the waterfront in Shela
      Lamu Island had lots of great food.  Fresh seafood, fresh fruit and veggies galore!  On our last day there, we went to a house that Emily and Kate had found via AirBNB and stayed on their last visit here.  Their home featured an indoor atrium with a beautiful garden and a small swimming pool.  There, we had an amazing meal of crab cakes and fish ceviche.

Beautiful atrium, garden, and pool
      Shela was a fascinating little town, but it's really easy to get lost.  Everything looked the same in the maze of narrow alleys down at street level, and there were no street names or guideposts.  But the locals there were always friendly and helped us find our way.





      A one-hour puddle-jumper flight took us back to Nairobi, where the temperature was a glorious 72° F.  Lamu Island was lovely, but I will not miss the heat. 
      We spent the night at the home of Stephen, another one of Emily's British pals.  His mom, Liz, has one of those lovely lake-front homes in Naivasha.  Liz was there at Stephen's too, and we had many stories to tell and pictures to show.

      Tomorrow we start the third and final leg of our Kenyan vacation:  the Maasai Mara reserve for a three-day, two-night safari!

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