I knew that Dar Yacht Club doesn’t have a reciprocal agreement with the Royal Bombay because I checked before I came. But I knew that if I went there and was polite and patient and friendly, they would probably let me in. My plan worked and after watching the attendants check and double check the list of reciprocal clubs and apologising for the misunderstanding they charged me a small fee, wrote me in the book and let me in.
They kindly gave me a tour of the place including the library, morning room, dining room, bar, 35 bedrooms. The location is great and for about $60 a room, even a basic one, at this location is a steal.
You could feel the 175 year history of the yacht club and although all the names on the walls were colonial i was the only white face i sight the day I visited.
It was Christmas Day and they were serving a turkey dinner – how could I refuse. It was cheap and not too bad – not quite what a turkey dinner usually looks or tastes like but there again this is India. I had this idea of meeting sailors, talking about yachts and having a drink while making new friends but it soon became apparent that the club was more prestigious social club than yacht club.
There were on sailors in the dining room and when I asked at reception they admitted that the owners of the yachts used the morning room but even then, did not spend much time at the club. The club itself owns boats which members of the public can charter.
The whole place was very impressive, the building, the history and the ambience but it doesn’t bear any resemblance to a modern day yacht club like Dar es Salaam.