Banana Island

SPOILER ALERT: Did not see many bananas...

Two days off in a row meant time for an overnight getaway!!

A group of girls and I decided to sneak away to Banana Island for an overnight glamping trip! It started with an hour and a half drive to Kent Beach. Mind you, none of these cars have AC...and the windows are kept down for airflow, but with all the smog and trash burning going on outside...it's not the freshest of air. From there, we then boarded a boat for a very rocky 40 minute cruise to Banana Island!! 

And straight to the bar for a refreshing drink and time to decompress. The glamping site was beautiful. Lots of trees, and a cute day bed to lay out on and relax. It was just what I wanted and needed after the constant stimulation and events going on on the ship. We dropped our stuff in the tents, and then were guided through the island on a 10 minute walk to the other side to a "swimming beach". 

Now I'm going to sound just like a spoiled brat, but after living in Hawaii...these beaches are killing me. I GET IT. I'm in a third world country. And I really can't compare to beaches in California or Hawaii. But...picture this. This is a third world country. They still burn their trash in heaps on the side of the road. I've never seen a trash can in town because you just throw things in the street. People sit on piles of trash on the road. And all that trash...goes into the ocean... So when you take me to a swimming beach, and one of the first things I see is syringes and a capped needle on the sand, you damn right I kept my shoes on while going for a dip. And then while swimming, you're swimming through plastic and bags and just..trash. It's kinda really sad. We didn't last tooooo long at the swimming beach (maybe an hour?) also because there was not much shade. So we coooled off in the ocean, laid out for a bit, then walked back to the glamping site to lay out and take cold showers instead to cool off hahahah. 

After laying out, they took us on a little island tour and educated us about the island and it's people. Banana Island was a slave trading site, where slaves were held before transporting them to the Americas. They now have 2 churches on the island, a mosque and a school! Our tour guide lives on the island, and seemed to know everybody.  Small island vibes. And we watched the sunset over the beach!

We then had dinner which was amazing! I had the fish kebobs along with my other friend who also ordered fish kabobs. Funny enough, totally different dishes and fishes hahah I loved mine! And she said, "Is your fish really fishy?" Mine wasn't, so I tried hers and low and behold...totally fishy and a different type of fish. Guess you get what you get when you're on an island! No idea what I had compared to her, and not sure if the host would know the difference either! But overall, great dinner and then off to bed. To sleep in a tent, with no AC...It honestly wasn't tooooo bad since they provided stand up fans. But come 6AM, when the generator shut off and the fan stopped working, I was sweating and so hot! Woke up, had some breakfast and then some more sun time before heading back to mainland Freetown. 

And here comes the fun part...the girl I shared a bed with woke with multiple bites on her arms. But I told her all was fine and probably not bed bugs since I didn't have any, and I'm sure it was just a mosquito or fleas or sand bites or something. But now...I woke with bites too since being back on the ship...cue the panic. And the next blog...