Breakfast was served between 9am-10am. We told the girls that we would meet them at
9.30am and it was great to see that they had arrived safe and sound when they
came to breakfast. As it worked out Jo
and Jess finally got to the hotel last night at 10am, 4 hours later than
planned. The poor buggers. On the upside there was someone waiting for
them at reception when they arrived and they didn’t miss out on the cold
coconut drinks and today was a new day.
As we were eating breakfast at the massive open air bungalow it started
to rain, really rain and we all just looked at each other with down cast eyes
thinking there goes paradise. Raining
weather turns beach weather into drinking weather, but while we were still
entertaining what we would do with ourselves, like a topical miracle the clouds
cleared. During the downpour the girls
decided to get massages, pedicures and manicures. I am not that type of person and have never
had a pedicure or a massage before and with a little push and not wanting to be
left out I booked in for my first ever pedicure with the draw card of getting a
foot massage which I do love and reception rang for the beautician to come down
at 11.30am. We also decided to book a
snorkel tour for tomorrow morning at 8am and we had also seen some information
on a restaurant called Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant and we decided to book in
there for dinner, when I asked about a taxi to get us there, the reception lady
smiled and said no need, the cave restaurant was right next door to the hotel. Talk about being in an awesome location. We looked at visiting the Colobus Trust that
as the name suggests taking a walk through a forest to see these amazing
monkeys, but decided to use the day for pool time instead.
So by 11am, we had booked in our mani and pedis, a snorkel
cruise for tomorrow and dinner for tonight.
Talk about being productive. With
the sun high in the sky we had set up the sun lounges by the pool, books, towels,
music and we all made ourselves comfortable.
The massage hut was located near the pool where all the treatments are
done, and it doesn’t look very big from the outside, but once you were inside
it was like the tardis with a full size massage table, some cupboards and a
chair. So we went in shifts with Katie going
first for her pedicure and then I followed for my pedicure. I was a little nervous as this was the very
first pedi I have EVER had. I was more
chasing the massage rather than the clipping, scraping and painting of the feet
and toes and when I asked the beautician whether I could just have the massage
and she said as you wish and when I showed her my feet she said I did ‘need’
the works, so I threw caution into the wind and decided to get the works. I have to say I really really enjoyed it,
even when she massaged my calf and shins and exfoliated all the dead skin I was
oblivious I had. After my toes were
painted, every time I looked down I saw my mother’s feet, as she was a big
pedicure person and the colour I chose was one that she would have worn. It was a little surreal, even though they
were only toes.
Lunch we had at the hotel and it was a massive selection of
a ham and cheese sandwich, where you could add ham or onion and the other was a
feta cheese sandwich-that’s it. I guess
when you have the famous Forty Thieves restaurant next door; you aren’t going
to have too much on your own menu. It
was enough for us, as we wanted to save ourselves for the Cave dinner and after
a few wrong attempts from the bar lady on what the 4 sandwiches were, as she
refused to write them down, it was exactly what we needed and they were delicious. We were back to our sun lounges for the
afternoon and we were lucky we didn’t go and see the Colobus Trust, as we got a
good view of Colobus monkeys in the forest next door to the hotel as they swung
from the trees. If I was to pick a
favourite monkey, it would be the Colobus.
I had a very close encounter with one when I was in Ethiopia last year
and they are very gentle animals and for a monkey that is saying
something. We were in Awaasa and we
coaxed one from the tall trees with some biscuits and after 20 minutes he came
down and took a seat in the v of the trees at head high and he held onto my
thumb and softly scooped the biscuits from my hand. It really was an amazing 10 minutes I will
never forget. You think about the implications
after, like if the monkey had of bitten or scratched me-but those details are
irrelevant at the time. Speaking of
monkeys there were also Vervet monkeys around the hotel grounds. They seemed quite nice and didn’t try and
steal any of your things like monkeys from resorts normally do. They just kept to themselves and would just
chase and eat grasshoppers around us, within 5m and if we made any sudden
movements they would be off in a flash.
So they weren’t any problems to us and it was sweet to watch them play
together, swing from trees and the occasional fight with each other.
By the late afternoon I realised that I had some
colour. Now depending on who you asked
would be what colour that thought I was, I would have like to have called
myself tan-bit the other 3 gals were more inclined to call it red, bright red,
beacon of light red-any one of them would fit what the colour of my skin
was. I always do this. I don’t apply cream on my first day in the
sun, I get burnt and then I eventually do turn brown over the course of a few
days. It always drove my mum nuts and I
know that it can’t be good for my skin.
Will I ever learn? Katie has a
skin that doesn’t really burn and Jo and Jess applied cream-of course they did,
so I was in a world of pink on my own.
We were all in and out of the pool all day, not staying in there too
long as the water was a little frigid, but it really was the perfect vacation
day and we had to keep pinching ourselves that we were in paradise. It was shame we couldn’t have done all that
on the beach, but it just would not be worth the hassle and the uncomfortable
stares from the beach sellers to make the transition from the hotel to the
beach.
We got ready at for dinner and decided to make the most
of the beach while we could with less fuss and had some pre-dinner drinks at
Forty Thieves before heading to ‘the cave’ for dinner. I really can’t tell you just how beautiful
the beach is here; to hear the waves crashing so close-it is high tide each
afternoon this time of year and-it truly is a magical place. Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant is literally
located about 200m behind Forty Thieves and as we walked through the carpark in
search of the restaurant you would never guess this restaurant was even
there. We had a security guard guide us
to the entrance of the cave and when you enter you get to look down on the bar
area and this is your first incredible impression. The restaurant is situated 10m below ground
in an ancient naturally sculptured coral cave open to the sky. The natural holes in the roof crust are open
to the sky, protected in bad weather with sliding covers, which was one of our
first questions when we got seated was what happened if it rained and the
waiter responded that they have a tarp that they manually pull over to cover
the hole so that the patrons don’t get wet.
The owners George & Jackie Barbour decided some 30 years ago to
convert the cave into a unique restaurant. All is exactly as discovered except
the chamber housing the kitchen and lavatories. In the restaurant only the
stone floor has been added together with furniture and fittings, lighting and
sound effects. Ali Barbour's Cave is
thought to be between 120,000 and 180,000 years old and situated 200m back from
the high water mark, it compromises a series of interlinking chambers at depths
of up to 10m below ground level. It
really is a truly unique dining experience, paired with magnificent food, great
service and the softly lit cave giving an amazing ambience-add lastly the great
company, the 3 courses we all had, coupled with a bottle of wine it really was
a remarkable night. If anyone is ever
staying at Diani Beach, you have to make sure that you go and have dinner
here. You won’t regret it. We were intrigued about the natural hole in
the roof as we were wondering where it was on the surface and if we could find
it to get a look into the cave and restaurant.
Well we did find the opening when we left and it was not fenced off, no
warnings, nothing. We walked behind some
buildings and then looked straight into the restaurant and the diners. You could have thrown anything down there or
slipped and there would be nothing to save you up top or the diners down
below. TIK (this is Kenya).
The tough day by the
pool had zapped our energy and with an early start tomorrow for our snorkel cruise,
we decided to head straight home at 10.30pm.
We had to walk through Forty Thieves to hook back up to the security
guarded gate back to the hotel, and we didn’t even stop for a drink-we were on
a mission to get home and home we did after seeing the biggest hermit crabs on
our path that I have ever seen, very large centipedes and also a massive spider
web with a matching resident spider that scared the crap out of us as we walked
back.
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