Quiet before the storm

As the title of this post suggests, it is fairly quiet here on Zanzibar at the moment. We are in the middle of the short rains which come every November, it normally rains for a few hours in the morning before clearing in the afternoon. we have been noticeably quieter than the previous few months but one thing that I take great heart from is that we are not empty, and we are actually busier than we were in July of this year (which is supposed to be the busiest month of the year). For me this just shows the progress we have made in our first 6 months.
We have now arranged for people to be able to take a dhow(traditional sail boat) into town and back which is a great service for our guests and also good income for the local fishermen who live next to us. Me and Kristen went a few weeks ago and loved it, we had a beautiful sunset on the way back. I went again yesterday on my own and the guys let me drive, it was great, however my arm started to hurt after a while. This was hilarious for Fay, Makame and Sale who spent several minutes laughing themselves silly when I told them my arm was tired! I tried to explain that I had been doing exercise in the morning but it didn't wash! In the new year I am going to organise a package where guests can have a sunset cruise to Imani with Dinner and cocktails on arrival and a taxi back to town for a set price to try and encourage more people to make their way out here for the restaurant, I think it's a great idea, but it's mine so of course I would!
Now it is quiet here but that doesn't mean that I'm letting everyone slack off (well, not too much!) we are working on improving the rooms, painting and re-varnishing and trying to do little bits to improve. We have also started to count stock and make a start at putting systems and proceedures into place for control, which were lacking a bit before to put mildly!
I am very excited now as I have 8 members of my family coming on the 1st of December, including my 83 year old Nan! I cannot wait for her (and the others) to see this place. I think she will be absolutely amazed at how wonderful it is here and what an amazing life I am trying to build for myself, I am so looking forward to sitting with her in the garden with the sound of the ocean in the background!
It is perfect timing for them to come as well as once they leave we will be almost full for a month, so it means me, and to some effect the staff will be able to take it a bit easier before the hard work of silly season begins.
Now to finish, just a quick word on the puppies.
They are still cute little puppies! They are learning a bit more now and know not to go in the restaurant (most of the time!) and who the staff are and they are loving the attention from the guests. With them normally having barracuda or octopus for dinner as well they are probably the 2 luckiest dogs on Zanzibar!