We were awake around 05:00, and it was quite cold.  It had been the coldest night so far, and we hoped that would mean Detwah wouldn’t be too hot.  At breakfast we hung out with the birds again, who were hoping we’d leave some leftovers or scraps for them.  Some of the starlings had gray heads, and we found out that those are the females.  We also took note of a starling that seemed to be missing its tail feathers [we found out later that this is a different species].  Breakfast was an egg scramble with peppers and onions, like fried rice but with scrambled eggs instead of rice.  

Muhammad wasn’t around, but we did see his son, who we found out was the teenager who had greeted us in English a couple times the past couple days.  There was a cucumber on the ground that a goat wouldn’t eat, and since we’d seen them literally eating cardboard, paper, and trash, Justin used that to explain to Crystal why cucumbers are awful.  We noticed there were a bunch of solar panels around, and Adham mentioned they are now cheaper than other alternatives, so there’s been a huge increase in their use on Socotra in the past couple of years. 

We were all set to leave by 07:45.  As we were leaving, we took note of a single black woman traveling with Rocky Road, another of the travel operators on Socotra.  We’d seen her in Wadi Killisan as well.  It’s not too frequently we’ve seen single female travelers on our trips.  We headed out north, to descend down towards sea level again.  We finally asked Adham about all the “speed bumps” that were everywhere on the island, constructed of dirt that people just put in the road near villages - it’s to get people to slow down so as to not hit the villagers’ goats.

Back down on the north coast, it was very flat and very dry.  We passed a fork in the road, with one heading to the northwest corner and the other to the southwest corner.  Adham told us there’s not much of anything in the southwest part of the island, which explained why we were seeing so much of the island but not there.  We also passed by some abandoned Soviet tanks, which go back to the Cold War; no one seems to know exactly who the Soviets were expecting to land on Socotra, or why.  We got to Detwah in about 75 minutes or so.  The village there, Qalansiyah, is the second biggest village on the island after Hadiboh.  Our first stop was at a lookout just north of Qalansiyah and just southwest of Detwah lagoon.  To get to the top, one has to go up loose shale.  Crystal, worried about slipping, skipped it.  Justin went, and was exceedingly careful, as any slip would hurt like hell with all the sharp edges everywhere.  The view from the top was one of the most spectacular sights we’ve seen on our travels, with the ocean, the lagoon, and steep hills and mountains rising sharply from the coast, with at least a 180 degree field of view from down past Qalansiyah up past the edge of the lagoon.

We took a short drive over to the lagoon, where there was a sizeable campsite with “cabanas” like at Aomak for hanging out, plus spots for tents to be set up.  We were going to have lunch at Abdullah’s Cave, so we quickly got ready and headed northeast on a trail skirting the edge of the lagoon.  In addition to normal limestone, there was a lot of pink sandstone as well, which looked quite nice.  It was, once again, incredibly hot, but thankfully cooler once we arrived at the cave.

Shortly after we arrived, another tourist showed up, the black female we’d seen earlier, Isa.  We found out she was originally from France, but has been living in the UK for many years now.  She told us that she was traveling by herself since she couldn’t convince anyone to come to an island near Somalia and Yemen.  We chatted whilst Abdullah prepared a feast for us.  Lunch consisted of grilled fish, mussels, octopus, calamari, vegetables, oranges, apples, and rice.  To be a good guest, Justin ate some of the fish.  Once we were done eating, the leftovers went to two goats Abdullah had there, and it was cute to see the goats dancing for their food like our pups do just before we put down their food bowls.

After lunch was Abdullah story time.  He has 16 kids, of which 10 died, but the 6 still alive are all doing well.  He told us how his mom gave birth to his brother in the lagoon, and cut the umbilical cord with an oyster shell.  Abdullah thought babies came from fishing nets in the lagoon.  He survived two cyclones in 2015 (they were just 8 days apart) in his cave, and thought he might have Socotra to himself when he emerged the second time.  He told us a “lost in translation story” where he was asking a tourist on the lagoon if she wanted to visit his cave to see “his fuck”, which apparently is the word for a whale jaw bone, which he turned into a staircase into the cave.  That woman, and all of us, got a good laugh once we realized the punchline.  He speaks pretty good English, and it is all self-taught.  He’s become a bit of a minor celebrity, and he says its weird to see himself on TV or YouTube.  [We’d seen him on YouTube prior to our trip, and knew we were going to visit him.]

After story time Abdullah went to take a nap whilst we waited for low tide so we could go on an exploration of the lagoon.  So the two of us, Isa, and intermittently Adham and Isa’s guide, chatted about a wide variety of topics and took in the scenery - the inside of the cave, a variety of birds, several vultures, and seemingly every shade of blue.  We’d also cooled down, and the temperature was comfortable, so the whole thing was about perfect.  Crystal even took a picture, which is the surest sign something is awesome.  We chatted with Isa and Adham about vacation days, travel, and other stuff whilst gazing out at the water and staying (relatively) cool.  

With Adham we discussed going to Dihamri to snorkel on Sunday rather than go to Ayhaft, as Adham said the coral is good there, plus Ayhaft is dry and has most of the same plants we’ve already seen.  We said we had our snorkel equipment and knew how to use it.  We all discussed Abdullah’s age (he said he was 58); none of us bought it.  The cave has been in his family for a long time; his great-grandfather was the family member that originally found the cave.  But some pottery that Abdullah found deep in the cave indicates someone was using a long time ago.

Around 14:30, Justin walked to the north end of the lagoon, getting back right at 15:00.  And then at 15:00 we all headed up to north end of the lagoon as a group, and Justin felt dumb, as we were both hot and tired and didn’t have enough water.  At the end of the walk, Abdullah and Adham told us we were going to walk through shallow water looking for fish.  This didn’t work for Justin, as he had his camera bag and our backpack that had all our phones and some other irreplaceable stuff - one false move and slip into the water, it would all be pau.  So he said he’d walk along the shore, but then Adham said he’d carry our gear.

The walk through the water was not all that fun, as the water was bathtub temperature and it was still high tide.  Abdullah caught some fish with a net, showing us how he does it.  As the water got waist deep for the women, Justin started veering towards the shore, as he didn’t want to get his shorts wet.  So he and Adham walked on the shore, and the women walked in the lagoon with Abdullah.  He showed us some oysters he was “growing” on limestone rocks - Crystal tried one.  The flavor was as she expected, but there was a noticeable difference when the oyster wasn't chilled.  When everyone departed the water, it was just 10-15 minutes back to the beach where our Abdullah (our driver, not the fisherman) could pick us up.

Back at the beach, there were tons of kids playing football and riding motorcycles around, and there were tons of adults hanging out and shooting the shit.  Once again there were no women, aside from the handful of tourists.  We took turns rinsing off in the outdoor shower (basically a faucet mounted about 6 feet high) to get the sand and sweat off of us, and we felt better after that.  In the cabana we got some popcorn and then some French fries.  Justin walked to the south end of the lagoon for sunset, past the football matches and motorcyclists.  But the sunset itself was meh.

Crystal tapped out around 16:30, exhausted from the heat and the multiple nights of intermittent sleep.  Justin hung out in the cabana and read, hoping the breeze from the afternoon would return, and also hoping that mosquitoes weren’t at the beach.  His book was very good, and he finished just before dinner, which was spaghetti.  After dinner he chatted with Adham about Shu’ab and Dihamri, the places we’d be visiting the next two days.  He also discussed how the local operators get connected with tourists.  Adham is independent, so he works with whatever company.  So we talked to Julian, Julian talked to Intrepid, and Intrepid reached out to Adham (and again when we needed to move things a week up).  Because of this, trying to distinguish between the various companies is somewhat an exercise in futility, as no matter the company, at the end of the day, you’re going to be with one of the 30 or so local guides on the island.  Justin went to sleep a little before 21:00.