Watamu Beach, Kenya, Africa

Robert's second trip home to Alaska occurred while the boys and I were in Kenya. Our original plan was to fly to Egypt and spend time there exploring along with Mom and Frank and Aunt Laurie. Airfare had been booked and were looking at tours when the Egyptians revolted against President Mubarak. We watched and waited for about 10 days as to the status of the county. With things getting worse much to my chagrin we canceled our trip. Airfare was refunded too.
Destination change. Same continent different county. Mom and Frank could no longer join us but Robert's Aunt still could. Africa is practically her second home as she has been traveling there for the past 25 years. Through email, we discussed what we would like to do and where to go. She had never been to the coast and I can always go for beach time so the east African coast is where we decided to land - Mombassa, Kenya.

The boys and I arrived from Jakarta an hour before Aunt Laurie so we waited for her arrival at the gate like the "good ole days". She arrived, we all went through customs, grabbed Aunt Laurie's luggage and met up with her friend-travel-guide-coordinator Joe.

We love Aunt Laurie.

 Since we arrived at night we chose to spend that night and the next in Nairobi before heading to Mombassa. That one day was spent taking care of logistics and miscellaneous things for our trip to the coast.

Our new friend Daniel at the Kenya Comfort Hotel.

Our flight to Mombassa was an easy hour flight. We were met by our driver who was holding the all so handy hand written in black marker SHELDON FAMILY identifying sign.
The drive to our condo was a quick half an hour. We pulled in and based on what I saw, 100 questions began running through my mind. Is this the right place? Was this like the photo I saw? Where's the beach? The view?
The place itself was lovely, brand new construction but the entire complex of 8 units was not finished. In fact the only completed unit was the one we rented. The pool was done and empty but not a lounge chair in site, construction equipment was everywhere and the yet to be elevator was only a wide open unfinished shaft just waiting to swallow three rambunctious boys.
The condo site was at the edge of the main highway with nothing around. No grocery stores, no restaurants and the beach, which was supposed to be close, was more than a quarter mile down the road. The general contractor who was onsite when we arrived was SHOCKED to learn that anyone was planning on vacationing here.

Aunt Laurie called her travel agent friend Joe to complain. He was appalled to learn about the situation since he was also told the complex was totally finished. He said he would see about getting us a refund.
Two days before leaving the states Aunt Laurie was contacted by her friends here in Kenya and they offered her the use of their private beach house in Watamu. She declined since we already had accommodations. They told her if anything happened and we needed the place after all please don’t hesitate to call the local housekeeper. We both decided that our situation warranted taking them up on their offer. Aunt Laurie pulled out her world phone, called the housekeeper to say we were coming.
The general contractor who Aunt Laurie befriended during all this called a taxi for us and told the driver to give us the "Kenya Price". We dove an hour and a half up the road to Watamu Beach Plot 32 - Floyd and Fiona's house.

When we arrived, Acarn the housekeeper greeted us warmly and got us settled. The house was lovely and was right on the beach!! It was perfect.

Acarn and his family

Acarn took good care of us. He had coffee ready when we woke, cooked us breakfast, made our beds, did our laundry, cleaned up after us, helped hire a cook for dinner and helped us buy local fresh catches. And, that was just a little bit of what he did for us. I was not used to all this personal attention and at times I felt really weird that knowing that he was there to meet our needs.

Our week was spent hanging out, relaxing, getting the boys caught up on school work, scouting for crabs, swimming, taking long walks on the beach, digging giant holes at the beach and even burying a time capsule in the sand. Oh and how could I forget the morning games of Dogopoly?

In the late afternoon, if you sat totally still on the beach the crabs would come out of their holes.
The minute you even moved one baby toe they would all scurry back into their holes.
It was so fun messing with them.
The house is off in the distance.

Me relaxing at the waters edge. It was high noon and so HOT and BRIGHT, I had to lay with the
waves rolling over my body just to endure.
The photo is so washed out thanks to the high noon sun that was straight overhead.
That's what you get when you are on the Equator.

The monkeys would come out every morning and watch us eat our breakfast on the patio.

Dogopoly begins!

The most excellent totally private outdoor shower ever. Didn't even take one shower inside.

Plus, we visited the local Watamu Turtle Watch and Protection Organization (Watamu has thousands of sea turtles that lay their eggs on the beaches. During this time locals come out and ensure the hatched baby turtles make it safely back to the ocean), attended church on Sunday with Acarn and his family, attended a local grade school vocal concert and browsed the local artisan shops.

It was more than any of us could have asked for or planned. It was absolutely perfect!