🌊 Dolphins, Dhow Cruises & Did I Do That?: Zanzibar Days Seven & Eight

September 17 &18, 2025 | Eat, Pray, Love: Africa Edition

Zanzibar gave me crystal-clear water, wild dolphins, and one of the coolest experiences of my whole trip. It also gave me a detour I didn’t plan for… but honestly, it made the story even better.

Swimming with Dolphins 🐬

It’s Day 7 and it’s finally time to get into this beautiful, crystal-clear blue Indian Ocean! Day Seven was all water excursions, which sounds cute until you realize “water excursion” is also another word for “fitness test.”

I went up to Nungwi Beach (north side of the island) for a swimming with dolphins + snorkeling excursion that I booked through GetYourGuide. Sounds cute, right? Well let me start with this disclaimer: If you are not a swimmer-swimmer… prepare to be humbled.

So I had my life vest on, because duh. I know my swimming capabilities/ limitations.😅 But that’s neither here nor there because dolphins are FAST and wild. Meaning they’re not performing. They’re not circling back to greet you or to take a picture. They’re doing dolphin business on dolphin time— and you just have to keep up.

The guide would say “Jump!” and you had to jump in EXPEDITIOUSLY if you wanted an up-close experience. The people who jumped in without hesitation got the magic moments, like some even said a dolphin brushed their arm. Meanwhile, I’m letting the family with children go ahead of me, and as you can image, that wasn’t the brightest idea.

I did jump in a few times.

First Jump?

Nothing. Not a dolphin in sight. But this was the trial run, so we’re going to try again. 🤭

Second & Third Jump?

By the time I got into the water and looked down, the dolphins were already deep underwater, moving like they had places to be. But if you listen closely you can hear them. 😍

Fourth/ Fifth Jump?

Chile, I stayed on the boat because:
(1) I knew the dolphins were gonna be gone by the time I got in the water and
(2) All of that in and out, in and out, in and out was exhausting! 😮‍💨

🌊 Dolphins, Dhow Cruises & Did I Do That?: Zanzibar Days Seven & Eight

Once the dolphins take off, you need to quickly get back in the boat to chase them down or find a new pod of dolphins. And of course the boat, that I literally just jumped off of, seemed to have drifted so far away in a matter of seconds. So after swimming against the current back to the boat, you have to climb up this short ladder back onto the boat! I mean one or two more rungs in the ladder would’ve been great.

And let’s talk about that part.

Climbing back into the boat while drenched, with waves hitting you, is not for the weak. And if you’re a plus size girlie (like me), just know it is a FULL-BODY EXPERIENCE.

At one point I told the boat captain to bring the boat closer to me because I was not going to make it. 😓

The guide was kind enough to take my phone and get some amazing footage for me. Clearly this is his calling. Because personally, this was not my ministry. 🥴

However, I still enjoyed myself and it was certainly an unforgettable experience.

Snorkeling: “Shallow” Means Different Things to Different People 🤿 🐟🐠🐡

After swimming with dolphins, we headed to the snorkeling spot. Everybody kept asking, “Is the water shallow?” They kept saying yes. Now for me, shallow means my feet can touch the bottom if I need to. That’s shallow. Where they dropped us? 🧐 Let me just say the life vest was staying on! 😅

Then the guide says “We’ll start here and meet the boat over there. 👉🏾”

Yall see those boats in the far distance 👀… yeah over there!

via GIPHY

I was like… “How?”
His response: “The current will push you.”

Jesus be a fence. 🙏🏾 I don’t trust the ocean to push me anywhere in the correct direction.

So I stuck with the family with the kids because the guide was helping them with a life ring and rope. We held on, tried to float forward… but we literally didn’t go anywhere. On top of that, there weren’t even many fish where we were, and then my phone died. Eventually, all of us collectively said, “Okay, we can get back on the boat now.” Y’all we were over it.

They drove us to the meet-up area where we linked back up with the strong swimmers. They told us about all the colorful fish, starfish, and way more that they saw snorkeling.

Me? I just saw ‘one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish’ and a lot of ocean. 🤣

via GIPHY

Muyuni Beach + Fruit Redemption 🏝️

After snorkeling, we went to Muyuni Beach. I was expecting Mnemba Sandbank per the booking, but the tide was high, so it wasn’t happening that day. But Muyuni was still very beautiful — white sand, clear water, very “screensaver in real life” vibes.

They also served us fresh fruit which was delicious. Zanzibar fruit never misses.

Sea Walk: 10/10, No Swimming Required 🐠

After they dropped me off, I had some time before my next excursion, so I ordered egg rolls at a nearby restaurant. And let me tell you… a little snack break between excursions is essential. Because back-to-back activities without a snack is how you end up hangry— and we’re in paradise so it’s good vibes only.

Next up was the Underwater Walking Experience with Zanzibar Sea Walk that I booked with GetYourGuide. I’m not even exaggerating when I say this was one of my favorite things I did on the island. This was the best experience. Hands down.

We took a short boat ride to a platform in the ocean, got a safety briefing, and then one by one you step onto the ladder in the water and they place this astronaut-looking helmet on you. Then you slowly descend down until you reach the bottom. The ladder is pretty long, I wasn’t sure when it was ending. And then voila you’re WALKING on the ocean floor.

No swimming skills required. At all.

Fish were swimming all around me— it felt unreal…magical. I was down there smiling like a kid at Disney World. The water was clear and calm and after the chaos of dolphins and snorkeling, that calm felt deserved. While down there, we took photos with the ‘I ♥️ Zanzibar’ sign and sat this coffee table with these really cute animal mugs. There were four of us in the group and they did a great job getting photos and videos of everyone. The next morning they had plenty of pics and videos ready.

🌊 Dolphins, Dhow Cruises & Did I Do That?: Zanzibar Days Seven & Eight

It was 10/10. The best kind of surreal.

Post-Excursion Beach Nap 😴

After all that, I wanted to just enjoy the beach. I rented a beach lounge chair, soaked in the views for a while before Mahad picked me up.

On the ride back to my hotel, I was dozing off because it’s about a 45-minute drive. So when I got back, I did what any peaceful island girly would do: I took a nap. Not in the bed — on the beach of course.

I went out to the beach, laid down, and let the breeze knock me out the way only island air can.

That night I enjoyed my last night at the hotel, had dinner on the beach, and I kept saying, “Tomorrow night I’m heading straight to the airport because my flight is at 4 a.m. Next stop: Zimbabwe.”

Which was true… but also…not exactly.

Where I Was Supposed To Be 🇿🇼 vs. Where I Actually Was ⛵️

So it’s Day 8 and the plans was: a late checkout, sunset dhow cruise, Forodhani Night Market, then straight to the airport.

The morning was pretty chill. The hotel had complimentary breakfast so I made sure I got that.

Luckily nobody was checking into my room after me so the hotel told me to take my time for checking out, which was perfect because Mahad was coming to pick me up around 2pm. I took my time getting ready for the day, finished repacking, then went down to the beach to relax and started listening to Matriarch by Miss Tina Knowles, aka Mama Tina. At one point, some very talented local guys stopped by and gave us an acrobatic dance performance. Of course for tips, so keep some smaller bills on you so you can show some support.

I also saw a super cute lounge area, built on this wall so of course I tried to do an impromptu mini photoshoot.

Mahad showed up on time and we headed out to Nungwi beach for the sunset cruise. On the way there, there was so much traffic because Zanzibar was in the middle of election season— and the current president was having a rally in Nungwi.

I will say it was an entertaining drive, seeing all the people on the backs of the trucks in their bright green and yellow, singing, dancing and just having a party down street.

Luckily we left early and I made it to the beach with time to spare before the boat arrived.

So. Here’s where the plot twist comes in.

While I’m relaxing on the beach I get a phone call from my hotel in Zimbabwe saying the driver couldn’t find me at the airport.

Me: Huh? I’m not leaving until tomorrow.

Them: We have you checking in today?… 👀

So long story short…

I check my flight ticket and lo and behold, behold and lo… they were right. I was loud and wrong. My flight was at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, September 18. Which in real life means I needed to be at the airport Wednesday night. 🤦🏾‍♀️ So yeah…I completely missed that flight.

Thinking back, I should’ve known something was off by the number of “Rest Days” I was able to fit into the itinerary. 🤔

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But the craziest part? I didn’t even panic. Because Zanzibar does something to your nervous system. It literally teaches you hakuna matata by force. Plus I refused to be stressed on a sunset cruise.

So I went on Google, found another flight leaving at 1:30 a.m., and booked it literally as the sunset cruise boat was basically undocking. Same price range. Different airline. But it worked.

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So yes — I lost a day in Victoria Falls… but I gained an extra day in Zanzibar.

Dhow Sunset Cruise + Forodhani Night Market 🌅

Mahad really wanted me to do the party sunset cruise with karaoke, but that boat wasn’t there that day. Instead, I ended up on the traditional drums boat and it was chill and honestly more my speed.

The sunset was so picturesque, the vibe was perfect, and the fresh pineapple and watermelon were delicious like always. A few people even took a jump off the boat to enjoy a dip in the water.

After the cruise I told Mahad I wanted to stop at Forodhani Night Market before leaving because I wanted sugarcane juice and shawarma. The traffic was still crazy. I couldn’t believe they were still partying in this traffic, but we finally made it. Now the stray cats were out there in numbers, so if you have a fear of stray cats/dogs this may not be the best place for you.

I got my sugarcane juice with ginger and lemon in it, and it was so refreshing. Mahad said it was really sweet, but I have a super sweet tooth so it tasted normal to me, I drank it like water. 😆

The shawarma was delicious. 10/10. I wish I would’ve gotten it spicier, but I was good nonetheless. And everything was super affordable — like $2–$3 for a shawarma. The sugarcane juice was Mahad’s treat, but I think it was only $1-$2. Then we headed to the airport, took a quick goodbye photo, and parted ways.

Airport Patience Test ⏳

I got to the airport early… so early the check-in counter wasn’t even open yet. Around check-in time a few of us started to form a line at the check-in counter. When the airline staff arrived, they couldn’t care less that we’d already formed a line or how many of us were in said line. They took their sweet precious time setting up the stanchions and signage.

By the time they actually opened, the line was legit out the door of the airport. 😬 But airport or not, remember we still in Zanzibar so it’s Pole Pole energy all day everyday and I love that for them.

I checked in, hit the lounge (you already know), and got ready for the next stop.

Wrap-Up 💜

Days 7 and 8 were a mix of adrenaline and island calm — dolphins that required athleticism, a sea walk that gave me a new core memory, and a missed flight that could’ve ruined my trip — but Zanzibar taught me how to pivot without falling apart. And that might be the biggest lesson of this whole trip.

Next stop: One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World!

– CYA! ✌🏾