Beach day.

We woke up to hazy skies on Saturday, but no rain, so we all agreed to forge ahead with plans to visit Eleko Beach (about 45 minutes outside of Lagos) with neighbors Kim and Ted. All the parents out there will appreciate this: It took us three hours to get the kids fed, dressed in swimsuits, the beach towels and sand toys packed, sunscreen, mad money, beach hats, feed the boys their second breakfast (they're always hungry!), make fruit salad, pack drinks (don't forget the whiskey and coke!), and load everything and all of us into the car. Phew, we made it!

Kim and Ted being organized, and without three kids underfoot, left about 45 minutes ahead of us. And this is what they met on the way to the beach ... a downpour complete with flooded streets! (They don't call this the rainy season for nothing.)

We got the call just as we were about to pull out of the compound: Kim and Ted were turning around.

No trip to the beach today. Bummer.

But just as we were about to unload everything we had just loaded, our driver Big Ade suggested we take a driving tour of the beach and marina on Victoria Island.

Sounds lovely, right?

The beach was mostly hidden from view since it has been dredged up above sea level (and above the road we were driving on) to act a barrier to storms and high tides. What I could see of Bar Beach, as it is called, were the skinniest horses I've seen this side of the TV show "Animal Rescue" offering rides to visitors, and a shanty town at the far end. The Yacht Club offered a nice deck where you can sit and enjoy views of the water, but the only boats I saw were all dry docked and seemed to be in various states of disrepair.

Bar Beach and its hungry horses for hire.
(How's that for alliteration!)

I suspect that some of my readers out there will strongly disagree with these impressions, and argue that what I saw from the backseat of a car can't possibly be fair and complete. I completely agree. And I will keep an open mind. But this is not a forum for fairness. It's where I get to chronicle my thoughts and experiences. So for now, my impressions of Bar Beach and the Yacht Club stand, and I hope you will be patient with me and not take offense.

After our driving tour, we stopped at a restaurant called Ocean View that offers a playground and some wide open spaces for kids to run around. We ordered a snack from their bakery of muffins and 7-Up, while the kids jumped on the trampoline, tried out the sand pit, swung, explored the trees and bushes, discovered a couple of colorful snails and a big green coconut (which Bitsy brought home, decorated with stickers and now calls it her baby) and kicked around the soccer ball.

It was a nice time. Not a day at the beach, but still ... a nice time.

View from the Ocean View Restaurant.
I judiciously cropped out the shanty town just to the right of this view.
I am learning that in Lagos, you have to focus on the beauty of the place and its people,
do what you can to help, and "crop" out the rest.  

Elizabeth's "baby".

Pretty flowers on a plant with cactus-like spines. 

Our friend, the snail.

Playing soccer with other children at the restaurant and their nannies. 

Nathan defends the goal against a number of pint-sized attackers.