Lamu has many white stone buildings which are a great backdrop for Instagram pictures, and the endless beaches are dotted with small villages. Fish, as you can imagine, is a staple here. It‘s not unusual to meet a fisherman tending to his boat late at night.

As I briskly walked down the beach, taken by the incredible diamond dotted sky without a cloud or city lights blocking my view, I was startled by a pat on my back. “Habari (Hello), boat ride to the mainland? Utapenda (You’ll love) the night Market leo (today).” a young man – who I later learned was called Captain Don’t-Worry – courteously asked. I wasn’t going to do anything in my hotel room, the boat ride would be a great treat, so I got on the boat at a small fee, and we set sail.

The boat ride to the mainland was 30 minutes long. The sailor introduced himself, and I was curious to know why he was called Captain Don’t Worry, and he explained to me that the sailors all had pseudonyms based on what they regularly told their clients, he happened to use “don’t worry” a lot.

A short distance ahead, there were two strangely still boats in the middle of the ocean.  It was around 11:00 PM, but I wasn’t worried because the terrorist attacks had died down in Kenya. Suddenly, the boats started coming towards us; fast. Captain Don’t Worry whispered, “Give me your bag, they might be thieves.” so I handed it to him and sat there, shaking, waiting for the strangers to sail past us.

Soon they were right next to us, and I heard a man yell, “Vipi Bro? (What’s up bro?)” Before I knew it, Captain Don’t Worry was wet and on one of the two boats. It took me a while to realize that I didn’t have my bag. “Hey! My Bag!” I screamed, and all I could hear was “Don’t worry! You’ll be fine!” I was in the middle of the Indian ocean, with no phone, bank cards, cash, or passport, and no way to get home, and all I could think of was how stupid it was to take boat ride at night.