The next day, we had signed up for a tour of prison island.
Cost: $20USD. As usual, I woke up, wore
my pink striped bikini with a flower on it, my sun block, my kanga, and a
cotton shirt and took off to the ferry dock.
As I got on the boat, I popped in my chewable orange Dramamine pill and
set off toward Prison island. As it
turns out, prison island is a 1-1.5 hr boat ride from Stone Town. During the ride I found out from my boatman (who
was also a full time fisherman) that HIS cut of the 20USDx3 (60USD) amounted to
4,000TSH. In case you wondered that’s a
whopping 2$. Makes me think we would
have been better off approaching a random fisherman on the street so he gets
more of a cut. Since we had been lazy
tourists and just booked through the hotel, we paid a higher price.
Prison island is a private island that was initially built
to host rebellious slaves. Later, a
prison was built to be used to quarantine infectious people. Fortunately, it was neither used as a prison
or a hospital.
Today, they are busy giving it a paint job to re-open it as
an exclusive private resort for rich tourists that visit.
Our arrival had us dropped off at one of the most beautiful
beaches I have ever laid eyes on. The
sand is white; the water is an
unimaginable shade of blue with the tiniest of waves lapping at our feet. Although not huge, it was medium in size and
provided for pictures that you find in those articles about ‘’TOP 10 beaches it
he world.’’ As beautiful as it is by
day, by evening, the sand bank is eaten up by the encroaching water and what
remains is a tiny strip of sand reminding us there WAS a beach we’d spent the
entire day playing on. Prison Island is also special because it hosts a program to
re-populate this Giant tortoise population that had been driven to near
extinction by theifs and bad people in the past. I can’t lie…I chose this tour for two
reasons. 1. Because you can pet the tortoises (unlike the
Galapagos) and 2. because I had hoped to enjoy snorkeling around the island.
As you enter the island you’re led to a sanctuary for these
tortoises. With our luck, we happened
upon one extremely horsey tortoise that kept chasing all the females and mating
with them. Tortoise mating involves some
thrusting and awkward moaning noises that would make anyone blush to be a part
of their private moment. Of course, I
was a terrible tourist and videotaped this phenomenon, hehe.
Besides this, we also learned that the tortoises LO VE to be
petted. When you first arrive the
tortoises would cower within their shells.
But, if you pet their arms and legs, they’ll soon pop out and stand for
you to show u their long, graceful necks, so you can pet them. After getting my full share of petting and
posing, I left to visit the nursery with the 3-7 year old tortoises.
Now, I’m not sure if God overheard my jealousy from the day
before or not, but my little baby tortoise decided, as I was carrying it taking
a photo, to squiggle its legs, make an awkward farting noise, and let out a
stream of urine. Thankfully, the urine
did not hit me and I quickly handed him back to our tour guide mid-pee. Now that I’ve seen them in the Galapagos and
Zanzibar, I think I’ve officially had my fill of Giant Turtles/Tortoises.
Yes, we managed to catch the sucker, mid stream.
As I was saying my second reason for going to Prison Island
was for the snorkeling that was promised.
I can’t lie when I saw I was slightly disappointed with the reefs. I think I will forever compare every reef to
the one I saw in Key West Florida, and nothing will ever compare.
Over all, prison island’s breathtaking beauty and artificial
Tortoise Nursery made it worth my time to visit it.
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