Leaving Madagascar
NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Thu 11 Oct 2007 09:12
Last few days in the world's 4th largest
island
14:58S 46:54E
Richard's Bay here we
come
I am writing this at sea on the morning of the 11th
October. At 0530hrs as the sun sent its first rays over the low
lying countryside and the sky began the journey from dark through turquoise
to a rich azure blue Annette and I sipped our tea and quietly got Nordlys
ready for sea. The gentle offshore breeze that had blown all night was
tugging at our rigging and we decided to get some miles done before the land
heated up and killed this favourable breeze. Now five hours later we have
put over 25 miles under the keel, the wind has died and we are motoring slowly
on awaiting the day time sea breeze. The good news is that we
have caught a fish, some form of jack we think, and Annette has worked away with
her filleting knife so we have three fresh meals to look forward
to.
Our last few days on this coast have been very
enjoyable. The stock up and refuelling at Hellville went well as did the
checking out. We then moved to Tani Keli where I dived with our Danish
friends and an enjoyable evening was spent together. Good sailing with
little use of the engine and our precious diesel got us through a series of
anchorages to Moramba Bay. On the way we had
anchored off a small island where we enjoyed a peaceful
night and in the morning we swam ashore to explore. To our surprise
we found a charming Frenchman who had with local help built a small resort
of 6 double rooms, a bar restaurant, the beginnings of beautifully gardened
grounds and generally done the most amazing amount of work. He spoke not a
word of English but was hoping to attract sports fishermen and others who really
wanted to get away from it all. His nearest point of contact was
Hell-ville, a three hour high speed launch trip away. Not wanting to
be too nosy we could not ask the many questions we wanted to but how these
people manage to live with no like-minded company in these very out of the
way places is beyond me. Andrew in Russian Bay (see earlier webdiary), to
a lesser extent John in Sakatia and now this guy on Nosy Kalakajoro. For
those of you with a computer it would be interesting to see what Google comes up
with for this island. Madagascar seems to attract white men with a penchant for
living away from their fellows.
The next night we spent a restless time
anchored off what used to be Madagascar's equivalent to Devil's Island.
Now abandoned the buildings beckoned to be explored in the morning but with the
offshore breeze still up over force five we forewent a trip ashore.
This whole coast is potentially a marvellous cruising ground but for one
fact. The predominating wind conditions are daily onshore and nightly
offshore breezes. These can get up into the 20 knot range thus one has to
hunt out anchorages that are protected from at least two sides. Not always
easy.
Two days in Moramba bay were spent doing very
little. The offshore wind lasted all day and as this was very strong it
made it impossible to dinghy the mile and a half into the bay to visit the site
of one of the oldest known boab trees. Reputedly 1800 years old but how
this fact is known we do not know. Resembling the Lau Group in Fiji this
bay has numerous small shear sided limestone islets that are eroded at sea level
and thus resemble giant mushrooms at low water. We swam, snorkelled
but with little to see, and visited a local family living on their own near our
anchorage. Dad, who unusually spoke good French, Mum and three small
children the youngest being a rather unhealthy looking seven months. One
of the girls also had or was very near having rickets. They were very
welcoming, showed us the family of lemurs that lived in the trees near their
shack. Took us to their vegetable garden and insisted on giving us two
tomatoes, a pepper and some green plant that has a peppery taste and is
apparently for salads. This spontaneous generosity from those who
have very little was touching. For our part we returned to Nordlys and
emptied our last gift bags. The children can now crayon on paper.
Dad sports a new Nordlys T shirt and mum has soap and other goodies. We
have passed on the word and other yachties will we are sure do their bit.
Apparently there is a village a half hour paddle away in their dug out.
This is their only contact with the outside world. We understand that they
are caretaking this beach and its land for an absent owner
from Tana.
Our final evening of rest was spent onboard a
German yacht with the owners and another American couple who also sailed
in. Good company and a very pleasant evening. We
are all expecting to meet up again in Richard's Bay.
I will write a position report every few days so
family know where we are and how it is going, until then happy times to you
all.
David
Mushroom island Moramba Bay
Last of our goodies go to a lovely family
Traditional and modern, Moramba Bay