Hi Melinda 
 
LOVED EVERY MINUTE! 
 
As you know we tried to extend our stay it was so wonderful - such a pity we could not! 
 
We met such friendly staff and new friends that joined us snorkeling and scuba diving, and those that just lay with us on the beach chairs and enjoyed divine massages and henna tattoos to those that just partied the night away with us - we even met the Minister of Health that came and danced to a band that the hotel had brought in. 
 
I don't have anything bad to say about the hotel - the hospitality that we received from Neil and Gill exemplified all the "little's" that did go wrong. 
 
Few pointers that I would say if you do book folk to Coral Rock is that they need to read the Coral Rock website to truly understanding the hotel and Zanzibar. Folks need to understand that this is a 3rd world country which is poor. You might not have power or water at times, you might not have a fridge or air con that works at times but that's life on the island. Should people from here want a 4 to 5 star hotel then they need to go north and pay for it.  
When arriving in Zanzibar look for your hotel transfer guys as the other porters hound you at the airport. I had at one stage 4 porters each holding a bag. Eventually my favourite saying was: "Don't touch"! 
Need the loo - go on the plane before you land as the drive to your hotel is at least 1 hour away if you are going north or south of the island and the ablutions are a sight! 
 
I don't go back to a place visited again as international travel is so expensive - but Coral Rock I will definitely go back to - it was truly great! 
 
Between V and myself and the "boys"...... we took over 3700 photo's.  
 
As SA's are paying in dollars - Scuba dive in the north of the island called Mnembe. - I rate it top class - just like the red sea but the water is just blue..r! Our vis was about 20m - 25m. To get there from the south side of the island was another long story but out of this world with a thousand laughs all the way. 
Do the island tour - we were very lucky to have one of the islands all to ourselves - truly amazing to be served fresh lobster, calamari, prawns, rice, chips, sauce and drinks from a small cooler box! 
Snorkeling - if you don't mind the walk - 2km out on the softest sand you will ever feel - truly amazing -(booties a must eventually) I have never seen so many different colours of huge sea urchins moving... V spotted her sea horse, large variety of star fish, fish life and we had eels that could be seen in water that was only knee high.  
To those that don't feel like the walk - Caption Chicken will take you in his dhow at a price of course..... 
We did not go to the Jozani Forest, but were lucky as our drivers drove very slowly along the road where the forest was and we managed to see the Columbus monkeys 
Dolphins we didn't do but a pointer here - take a speed boat not a dhow 
Stone Town - wish we had more time as we decided to do that before our flight home 
 
To top off our last night there - we went to Kizimkazi - they had a 3 day Cultural Musical Festival - where we "raved" on the beach listening to the local music, danced with the locals, drank the local cocktail that had a major kick, you could even see Dar es Selam in the distance to only having 3 hours sleep before we had to get up and catch the hotel transfer to Stone Town. 
 
What an awesome trip! 
 
Loved it. 
 
Ang