Today is free time all day until our respective departures for Dar es Salaam (several of us are leaving separately from the main group), but we and two other couples choose an optional morning outing to nearby Prison Island.  Billed primarily as a swimming and snorkeling location, Phyllis felt compelled to take this last opportunity to use her new swimsuit.  Prison Island was built to hold escaped slaves, but never used as such and is now home to a resort and a land tortoise sanctuary.  Again, it is somewhat sad to see these creatures penned up, but understandable because they were otherwise being hunted to near extinction.  Some are over 100 years old, and huge.  Craig and the others snorkeled offshore as we approached the island, taking advantage of what turned out to be the best weather and tide level.  All agreed that while the fish were quite beautiful, they were somewhat sparse; however, the main star of the show, the coral, was spectacular.

After visiting the tortoises, near the end of the outing, Phyllis and a couple of others decided to go into the water (finally!), but the tide was going out and what had been a sandy beach was now somewhat rocky and uncomfortable footing.  Determined, Phyllis waded in, and found the water pleasantly warm.  After floating on her back a couple of minutes, she found herself further out than expected, and when she foolishly tried to stand up, she promptly felt the sting of a sea urchin on both feet.  Lying in wait in the rocks, they were.  Job says the best treatment is papaya or lemon juice, none of which is available just now.  Fortunately, it seems she just lightly brushed the cursed creature, the spines left in her feet are neither large nor very deep and the stinging soon subsides.  Craig tells her to cowboy up and thus, leaving them to deal with later, we return to the hotel, shower, and pack to leave.

We have decided to take a high speed ferry back to the mainland rather than the flight OAT has arranged, and Job and Ronald give us a ride to the ferry terminal.  The ferry is comfortable (in VIP Class, at least) (oddly on the website we had a choice of economy or for $5 more either First, Premium or VIP, all of which cost the same, are in the same location on the ship and have the same amenities).  A couple of pleasant hours later we land in Dar es Salaam.  Our hotel is supposedly a 3-minute walk from the ferry terminal, but about a half an hour later we finally find it.  Our sense of navigation fails us for a time.

Dar is just as hot and humid as Zanzibar, but our room is well air-conditioned.  After a rest (and treatment of Phyllis’ stings with lemon juice courtesy of Craig’s foray into the neighborhood looking for an astringent fruit juice and coming back with 5 mini lemons that look more like Key limes) we venture out to find a nearby restaurant recommended by our hotel.  Navigation skills fail us again and we go in circles for a while, but it is well worth it in the end.  A good meal of tandoori chicken (from out front on the sidewalk), with an icy cold Coke, and we retire to our room, guarded for the first time in Africa by a mosquito zapper rather than a net covering the entire bed.  Interesting.  We will be glad to leave malaria country behind.