…on a dhow in the Indian Ocean under the moonlight…
By the time I was in Pemba, I had become a completely different person, and I don’t mean spiritually or any of that crap, but I was definitely a different person than any of you have ever known. For at least a good month prior I hadn’t woken up past 7:30am. 5:30 or 6:00 was quite common. Between early buses, sleeping on the shore of the Zambezi River waiting for the ferry, or just camping in a spot where the sun caught my tent and started to roast me, I was up and at the day with the sun…sometimes before.
I enjoyed my time thoroughly in Pemba without doing anything really…wake up, eat breakfast, go down to the beach for a swim and a quick read of a chapter in my book, come back and throw a few buckets of cold water over my body (i.e. shower), all while listening to the static-y broadcast over my new purchase of a teeny transistor radio – all before 9am! Of course, this also meant going to sleep early. 10:00 was a late night! Who am I?!
So, I was up and down with the sun. I was also very in tune (for the first time of my life) with the phases of the moon. When there’s no electricity and you spend most of your time (particularly nights, as I was camping a lot) living outside, the presence of the moon becomes a factor in your evening activities. With it you can easily navigate outside; without it, lay back and enjoy the stars.
Along with the phases of the moon, I also became acquainted with the change in the tide. Most of my time was spent on the coast; I’ve never lived on a coast and, while I’ve seen some drastic tide movement, I’ve never really watched how it changes from day to day. Particularly in this part of the world, people’s lives live by the tide…they fish and travel with the tide…if they are caught by a low tide, they could be stuck out in the sea for hours before being able to return home. As for me, it simply affected my swimming – can I dive into the waves or just float around in the shallow?
I was invited to a Full Moon party in Pemba, but, as I had already been there a week and have never been too much of a Full Moon Party groupie, I decided to take a free ride to my next destination – Ibo Island. I drove with David, a guy who works on a resort on the island; his truck was a huge old overlander truck (that groups use to tour Africa)…these things can pretty much roll over anything that gets in its way. It took us all day to (we went very slowly) to finally reach the docking area to get to the island. As it was, we arrived just as the tide was going out, so we had to wait until it made its way back in. While we waited we were joined by another tourist…I don’t remember his name, but he was an older fellow from the Netherlands. Let’s call him Jost.
As it got dark we set up camp and went to sleep. The boat skippers woke us up around 1:30 in the morning, just as the tide was coming back in. With the full moon lighting the sky, I was directed out and onto the boat. It was a little cold, and I was perhaps a bit out of sorts being woken from my slumber, but, to my pleasant surprise I was directed to the middle of the boat, where lay large cushions (being transported to the resort) and a wool blanket. I clambered up onto the cushions and under the blanket, looking up at the beautiful moon-lit sky above. The motor started – we were on our way, and I was back to sleep.
About an hour later, we arrived at the island. “OK. See you tomorrow. You stay here” said David. Stay here? I was still groggy from waking up (again). “Yeah, you can go to your hotel in the morning.” Well, I was camping, so I would have to set up my tent and all that, and it was 2:30 in the morning… “I’m going to head to land” said Jost, as he stepped off the boat and fell into the water, completely soaking himself. David helped him out and the skipper pulled away from the shore – with me still on the boat. We pulled about 50 meters away from the shore and parked the boat. And I stared up at the moon occasionally hiding behind a cloud; and I lay on the cushion on a dhow in the sea, with a woolen blanket shielding me from the cool night breeze; and I looked back at the shore, contemplating my location so close to my final destination, yet so far away, and I wondered, laughing to myself, how the heck did I end up here? But I didn’t mind – it was beautiful. Besides, I’ve never once in my life slept on a dhow in the Indian Ocean under the moonlight…
Tags: Mozambique, Mozambique, Tag Index
Tania