Alllaaaah Akbahr! screamed the megaphone loudly at 5 o' clock the next morning and one could hear people's footsteps in the dark alleys, still no sign of daylight. For people getting up at that inhumanly early hour I guess it would be a safe wake up call, I bet the muezzin just got up to yell his prayer and then went straight back to bed. We woke up 2 hours later feeling refreshed and hungry for breakfast. The table was set with freshly pressed juice, fruit salad and yogurt, scrambled eggs and toast, jam, banana pancake and coffee with hot milk - yummy!
After breakfast we set off for Shella beach, it would take about 45 minutes to walk there but it would be difficult if not impossible to walk there with a pram so we went down to the jetty to find a boat. After some dealing we found a "slow boat", a dhow with a motor, that would take us there safely in about 15 minutes for the price of 500 Ksh ( 5 Euros). I am sure giving tourists lift back and forth to the beach is a quite lucrative side business for boat owners here.
As usual the quay was crowded with people and donkeys and we wonder how we will manage to get down to the boat since there are only steep cemented stairs leading down, however the locals turn out to be most helpful and before we know it Noah, the pram and ourselves are on our way. Apparently a recently introduced law require boat owners to supply life jackets on board so we both got dressed up in bright orange life jackets while Noah already had his own, now we really must have looked like dumb tourists! Never mind, we were out on the Indian Ocean and the sun was shining ( I will add photos asap I get hold of a bloody cable). The engine sounded like an old sewing machine and Noah was sitting on top of it, humming a song, we passed the shores of Lamu and as we came closer to Shella the houses grew larger and more elaborate but without feeling too touristy.
We were let off at the quay of the legendary Peponi Hotel which was first opened in 1967, it does not have any of the facilities or services of a posh hotel but nevertheless manages to attract 5-star guests. What Peponi has is plenty of personality, charm & delicious cocktails. It is rumored that Andreas Casiraghi, the handsome son of Princess Caroline of Monaco comes here to dance by the bar. If you aren't very interested in the celeb gossip I can tell you that the restaurant offers fresh oysters, tuna carpaccio, grilled fish, lobster in mango sauce, food that melts in your mouth while you are sipping on a glass of a chilled South African chardonnay.
We continue on to the beach, locals are watching us curiously, they have probably never seen anyone with a pram here before or at least not on the beach...The reason for bringing the pram was because there's no natural shade to hide from the sun and there sure are no sun chairs or parasols for rent either, even if someone could have made a fortune from it.
We found ourselves a nice little spot and plunged into the green water. The temperature of the Indian ocean is just perfect, along the shore it must easily have been around 30+ degrees I am not kidding! We got home later that afternoon feeling happily burnt and with sand enough to open up a smaller beach.... in our room.
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