There are three "Adas" in this area, but according to Lonely Planet, "Ada Foah" is the only one worth visiting. Claire and Nicola had been there before, but for myself, Stephane, Melanie, and Kheira, this would be our first weekend trip and chance to get out of polluted, crowded Accra. It was to be about a 2 -3 hour trip. As soon as we got on the tro, waiting for it to fill up with people, it was already evident that it would be a uncomfortable, squished, and sweaty ride there. It was bad enough for me, but Melanie had been sick, and once we started moving after waiting in the hot tro for about 20 minutes, Melanie began to throw-up. Then she filled the plastic bag, it broke, and she threw-up out the window. I think the rest of us were in a state of panic, not really knowing what we can do to help. Nicola was able to act super quickly and dig into the bottom of her pack and pull out an extra plastic bag. I was kind of just frozen. Firstly out of concern for my friend Melanie, but also wondering if the motorcyclist passing by the tro knew what was happening. Nope. Anyway - Melanie didn't complain for one second, stuck some gum in her mouth, and proceeded to have a super awesome weekend.
The air became fresh quickly once we were out of Accra, and already the trip was worth it for me. We started seeing anthills the size of trees, and scenery so gorgeous that it almost made my heart ache. We had to take a small motor boat to the island and saw some huge expensive houses along the way. By the time we had our dinner, it was dark (it takes forever to get your food here!), but we were all so excited that nothing could bring us down. Our "room" was a little hut with mosquito nets over the beds and sand as the floor. What more do you need than a gorgeous island with ocean on one side and a lake on the other, good company, good food, alcohol, a bonfire, and no worries?
The next day we went to a neighboring island with a sugarcane rum factory. We were given a tour (it was a very small island and a very small "factory") and shown how the sugarcane ferments and then is filtered into rum. We were then able to taste the rum. Wow it was so good! It and after two or three shots some of us bought bottles of the rum to take home to our family and friends. It was a very high concentration of alcohol - we estimated about 65%. It didn't take us too long to realize that we actually really didn't like the rum.
The rest of the weekend was literally spent lounging in paradise. I did end up breaking my camera in the process, but that and any other small set-backs really can't compete with a weekend in paradise!
