Limbe proper

Limbe. Limbe, Limbe, Limbe. What can I say. It was gorgeous. We actually stayed at a campground a little west of Limbe in a little sleeping village called Batoke, as there are no swimming beaches actually in Limbe. I am a girl who typically is not a "tropical beach" girl. In my head tropical paradises are equated with hotels and tourism, Hawaii, California, Florida in the States not being my places. I grew up with the salt marshes and dunes of Virginia and North Carolina, and even the wild coastline of Ireland or Great Britain, or France seeming more along the lines of my mentality or heart. Limbe was about as picture perfect as a tropical paradise on a postcard can be. And it was amazing. I loved it. The coastline is covered with trees, palm trees, coconuts, terminalia. Mosses, ferns. The beach is black sand and the water is beautiful, not clear or aqua but the beautiful silvery/blue/grey color of the Atlantic of VA and NC. With good waves! It is overshadowed by mountains which tumble straight down to the ocean, towering over you and such great heights, covered in green. Each day, the mist swirled around them, changing the sights, so that at some moments you could see the peak and others not. In fact it rained almost every day, a nice drizzly rain, and the air temperature was cool. Yet contrary to ruining this beach vacation, it came as a relief, the cooler weather a balm to our bodies. I felt as if everything was easier. It was easier to breathe, to eat, sleep. I walked around in a bathing suit (so nice not to be wearing so many clothes!) and felt so light and so comfortable. And the water was warm enough that even in the cooler air temperature we could go swimming every day.
Perhaps because we went in the rainy season, there were very few other people there. There were not tons of hotels (acutally only a few) and very few people on the beaches, other than the people of Batoke. (to be continued--just want to post photos)

Pete, Emily and Jessie at the campground

The coastline


Fisherman in the distance

pulling in one end of the seine net

my new friends

view from our tent

children on their way to church walking there on the beach

stormclouds and sunset