Whitesands…

We arrived in Mombasa an hour early, at 5am, and were picked up by one of Humphrey’s friends – a cab driver in Mombasa. He drove us to the Sarova Whitesands Resort on Bamburi Beach. When we arrived at 5:30 am to this ridiculously beautiful resort, stowed our luggage with the concierge and sat out by the beach watching the sunrise. This entire trip has been an amazing adventure, but also a hectic one. We have been on the move for over a month now, and it was nice to be able to take a deep breath and just relax. The palacial hotel boasts of 4 restaurants, 3 bars, 5 pools, a waterslide, a spa, and a host of beachside activies. The Hotel was architecturally eclectic - the main restaurant had distictly Arab / Persian features. Beside the open air lounges was a huge Japanse Pond and two traditional Chinese Wedding Beds facing the beachfront. The bedrooms were modern, and relatively unadorned, as the true treat was the amazing view from the wall to wall sliding glass doors. Each room either had a direct view of the beach or of the beautiful gardens.

Over the next three days we just enjoyed being together in a Kenyan Paradise. We took most of the pictures in Mombasa on the underwater camera, so I will update this entry with images after we have the pics developed. We rode camels on the beach, rode on a glass bottom boat and went snorkeling at the Reef and Marine park, we stood in shallow center in the middle of the ocean, played on the waterslides and swam in one of the quieter pools, had massages at the spa, and jet skied in the Indian Ocean, the food was great – thematically linked Caribbean, Arabian, Parisian, and there was live music and dancing each night. Marcus and I are both sporting great tans and were a little sad to check out of the Sarova this morning.

We are staying in Mombasa another day {but had to check into another hotel because the Sarova is booked to capacity with two conferences this weekend – though it would have been nice to extend the stay one more day} and moved a few kilometers north to the Indiana Beach Hotel. Which in all fairness didn’t have a chance at winning my heart after the majestic stay at the Whitesands. This hotel is undergoing renovations, so there were work crews, construction noise, and stretches without electricity or air conditioning. I also was ill the entire day at the Indiana Hotel, so we never went down to the beach. This was a fairly unremarkable hotel, with the exception of a very good 5 course dinner served in a regency era dining room, at the front of the Horel's property.