Winter in the UK is less fun than, well, most things. An escape seemed like the right thing to do so we shopped around, looking for a warm spot near the ocean where I could learn how to kitesurf and the environment might lend itself to a mix of relaxation and catching up on all the work we didn't do when we were doing other things that year.

And then a friend sent a picture with the words 'why not Zanzibar?'

And before we knew it we were there, staying in the idyllic Red Monkey Lodge in Jambiani on the east coast. We worked on thick wooden tables in the eating area (the image above was our daily view), we made great friends, learned to kitesurf (with the help of more friends), cruised into the sunset on a build old two-storey skiffl, snorkelled off dhows, surfed, paddled, tanned and smiled.

These were our two months in Zanzibar.