15 hours later...

I just got back from six days on Pemba Island. I spent most of my time wandering around villages, talking to people in Swahili, trying to find out more about electricity on the island, and the presence of folklore and stories. My adventures led me to the remote village of Mtambwe Mkuu (The great arm of the sea), a village only accessible by boat. I'll get to that later.
6pm-Our crew of six started Friday evening at the cargo port in Stone Town, Zanzibar. We paid 10,500tsh ($7) for a spot on the cargo ship Barak II. We boarded at 6pm, and found seats on the top floor, which was mostly open air, with railings and a partial roof. We were feeling pretty good about our spot, for the first hour as we sat in the harbor. Slowly the boat started to fill with people, sacks of flour, sugar, coffee, corn chips, mattresses, motorcycles, candy,  and any other commercial item you can think of.
We found ourselves surrounded by people, the smells of BO, and spicy food, and the sound of Kiswahili, babies crying, and the blaring TV above our heads.
10pm-Four hours later we still had not left the harbor and were beginning to wonder what time we were going to arrive in Pemba at this rate. We climbed into sleep sacks, got comfy on small patches of floor, among tightly packed hiking backpacks and sleeping chidren, and drifted off.
10:30pm-I woke to the sound of unloading, thinking maybe I had slept the entire trip, I looked around. We had moved! From the dock down the shore to another port. Here we loaded more cargo onto the ship. And continued on our way.
5am-We woke to a beautiful sunrise over the Indian Ocean. A bit cold and salty from sleeping on a hard, cold floor, with the sea breeze on our faces. Dolphins swam by on our port side, and we could see nothing but sparkling ocean for miles.
8am-Land ho! After the initial magic of our sunrise morning, the sun began to rise higher in the sky, and we were dirty, itchy, hot and cranky. We had expected to arrive by 6, thinking maybe a 12 hour boat ride on a cargo ship would not be so bad. But we were approaching 13 hours, and ready to reach land. We saw small wooden dhows sail by, and wished that we could dive into the refreshing water below.
9am-We finally arrived in Pemba. The guesthouse manager, Manga, was there to meet us at the dock. We spent half an hour fighting crowds to unload, and finally reached land. Exhausted, but excited for the week of adventure ahead.

Note: There was one bathroom on the boat. I didn't venture in, but those who did reported that instead of one place to take care of business, it was a general room of filth. Unidentifiable substances coated the floor, walls, sink, and door.