Banana Island

The dentist I have been working with, Gabe, is leaving on Friday to go back to the states because his wife will be 37 weeks pregnant (she has been stateside for a month).  He will return sometime in April.

He decided to take his team with GCPN to Banana Island, just off the coast of Sierra Leone.  So what did John and I do?  Well we invited ourselves of course!

Here are the boats we took over

 Its about a 20 minute boat ride to the island

 Here is the island approaching

 Me before the sunbathing begins :)  That's right! I'm coming back tan... maybe lol!

 This was a wooden canopy/loft that you could go up to and read from or just have a wonderful view of the ocean.

 John Goes Snorkeling!

 This is Greg.  He is a neat character.  He owns the "resort" that we stayed at if you call it that.  Its a really neat place.  I wouldn't call it "nice" per se, but he has a neat vision for the place.  He charges really cheap prices ($12 per night which includes breakfast, $6 for dinner, and $3 for lunch)  And when I say its not nice I mean you may or may not have water to shower with or flush the toilet and there is most likely at least a critter up on/in your rooftop at night making noises.  I think we had both bats and mice staying with us.  But don't worry, they are the smaller bats that eat bugs!  AKA Roach killers!
He wants it to be a place for even non- well-to-do native Sierra Leoneans to stay... not just for a bunch of white people to stay.  And when he says it, it is totally non-offensive because he has an incredibly strong Greek accent.  And as all you Americans know, everything sounds better with an accent! He also teaches scuba diving.

 They are practicing some drills here before they go out into the open sea.

 And all smiles on returning!

 John had a great time!  They didn't get a 'real' scuba certification, just a crash coarse

 And here's my belly for all of you who have been wondering when it would show up :)

Banana Island Part II coming up!