Sun 11th I left Lamu. On a 4.5 hour journey to Malindi, I could cope without a/c on the bus…esp as Mombasa Raha was only 700 vs 1200kes of Tawakal. Went for a snack then checked into the Comfy Palace; I always seem to get the same room..2 4F. I stayed an extra day because Abdul in Lamu was supposedly fixing a room for me in Watamu and was also coming to Malindi to draw money from a bank and reimburse me 1,000. In the end neither of those two things happened and I was out of pocket by 2,200kes. I’ve tried to contact him but….hmmm…nothing. Not a fortune, but very annoying.
My restaurant of choice for the 2 days was Shukriani. At least on Mon I had the fun company of Faiza. I treated her to a pizza; made a change for me to have something other than beans and chapati.
Tues 13th. I caught a matatu to Watamu for 100kes . Had a tea on arrival. A guy said he knew of a nice room for 2000. Not far..just over 10 minutes walk. Seemed ok and I didn’t want to pound the streets. And I negotiated a reduction with the doddery Italian whose wife actually owned the place, to 1500 per night. And it was only 200mtrs from the beach. I suppose the lodging location was at one end of Watamu Bay….not sure if there is another name for it.
I was surprised by the big coral rocks. So another ‘beach’ variation in the Kenya coast. Sandy beaches, sand dunes, palm trees, and now some coral too. There are sandy beaches in Watamu as well. I walked around the bay on day 2, and over to the next beach. Got as far as Turtle Bay hotel; it was from next to the hotel that that we as a family went on a snorkeling trip many years ago..at least 22 years I think. We had driven up from Nyali for the day.
My lodging was called Krabella. The nearest bar to me was One Love. The only bar I ever went to…well, I was only in Watamu for 2 days. I liked the proximity of the village to the beach. The street down to my lodging was packed with souvenir shops.
I had maharage and chapati …of course …the first afternoon, and later I discovered the African pizza. Thin pastry in a square shape wrapped around mince meat and egg mix. Very tasty. Day 2 I had the same again as well as some meat samosas. Earlier in the day I had half a dozen potato samosas…again, very tasty. Well, I wasn’t impressed with Watamu when I first arrived…a lot of seaweed on the beach, mixed with a lot of rubbish. I guess the seaweed is a seasonal thing. Watamu was growing on me. The only major irritation was the assumption that I was Italian and boda drivers, tuk tuk drivers, shop keepers all calling it in Italian. I lost my cool a few times, I have to admit.
So that was the first time I’d stayed in Watamu; I know what to expect next. The next day I was only headed an hour’s drive to Kilifi to meet up with Mark, so I could take my time in the morning.