Turtle Island Field Trip

 Let me be upfront - I have a hundred other photos like these, it was a matter of choosing some to share with you. This was a gorgeous Easter weekend in God's creation, and we celebrated.

One great aspect of living where we live is that it's so easy to visualize what life was like in Biblical times. The fishing boats must have been so similar to these. People worked hard to live, without the amenities we enjoy like supermarkets and petrol stations to fuel our cars.

Have you ever considered that this is the same sea that was around from the beginning of Earth? How cool is that? And we love exploring it. Our school theme this week is creativity; it's so vital for children to exercise and understand theirs! We were made by the creator of creativity...and if you don't believe that, try snorkeling.

 Len taught Ruby and Henry to snorkel this year and they are constantly asking to go now. There's a place about 20 minutes from our house with a nice reef, but Changuu, or Prison Island, was our destination this weekend. It's a 30 minute or so boat ride from Stone Town in Zanzibar (which is a 90 minute ferry ride from Dar).

 I wish we had an underwater camera. We saw dozens of different fish, schools of vibrant yellows and blues and purples. I saw every fish in Finding Nemo and then some. Coral in every color of the rainbow. Len saw a moray eel and we all got stung by jellyfish, but I didn't mind because they were transparent purple.

This guy was out with lobster cages and seemed to not even notice us floating around his dinner. I wonder if he caught the amazing lobster we had at Mercury's?

 Being a holiday weekend, the island was quite busy, but still peaceful. That's our boat in the center of this photo:

The island is famous as a refuge for the Aldabra Tortoise, imported from the Seychelles in 1919. They are not found anywhere else in the world. Read more about the sanctuary here.

Baker, a friend from Zanzibar, was our guide and pointed out the extensive fencing around the island. We thought it was to keep poachers out, but Baker noted that while that is true, the main reason is to keep the tortoises from dropping off the cliffs into the sea, where they sink like anchors. No graceful sea turtles, these.

The tortoises below are about 85 years old and not fully grown. Two-year old 'babies' were about the size of basketballs.

 Graceful painted walls bordered walkways throughout the Prison part of the island. It was only used as a quarantine camp for a short while before being decommissioned.

Len and the kids are standing on the edge of what was the prison bathroom, which is a 20 foot sheer drop onto rocks.

 It seems like a lovely place to be quarantined, really.

 I thought this Zanzibar-styled door was a nice touch to the hotel that was recently built.

 Len took a photo of me, to prove I really exist. You know how I prefer to be behind the camera.

 I am really not trying to be obnoxious with these sea shots. Really.

 Ok, look at the shadows closely...the rounded shape at the bottom of these steps, and another at top right. Can you guess what it is?

 Look closely...they are massive schools of fish (not tiny ones, either!) hiding from fisherman. Henry said, "Hey, it's like Swimmy!" as in one of his favorite books, Swimmy, by Leo Lionni.

 We passed this ship on the way out and back. Not sure what the deal was with it, but we've been learning about what makes ships float or sink, and this was a great opportunity to point out the Plimsoll Line. Also, the name of this ship is the RAK Indiana. Kind of fun to see a reminder of home in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

 Headed back to Stone Town after a great day on the water. What a great use of four hours of life.