by Judy Handley | Sep 21, 2010 | Madagascar, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 330, Year 5 Nosy Sakatia to Hell-ville
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day
Latitude: 13 24.419 S
Longitude: 048 17.077 E
Location: Hell-ville, Nosy Be, NW Madagascar
I guess I could have named the log “Heaven to Hell” but actually Hell-ville has not lived up to its name. And let’s hope it stays that way until we are out of here! I spent my morning giving Brazil another look after getting an email from our son-in-law this morning. Evidently when you fly to Brazil from the United States you have to fly into Sao Paulo which is south of Rio de Janeiro and hundreds of miles south from where we had planned to land. Brazil is a big country. The cost of flying internally is not so bad, but it is the long number of hours of flying with two small children that is so hard. And flying out to Fernandez de Noronha looks to be just TOO expensive. So I researched the Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro area and found that it is probably Brazil’s best cruising grounds and has some gorgeous beaches as well. The problem for us is getting there. It is so far south that we would have to sail north from Cape Town and then south again to get there in order to stay inside the trade wind belt So the research continues.
Mark went to town with Ed and Lynne this afternoon to do a fuel run and I stayed here working on those photos. It is a never ending job. Tomorrow is a provisioning day. We will do the food shopping for the next month (hopefully we will be in South Africa by the end of October) and on Thursday start the formalities of checking out of the country. We will hopefully be back at Sakatia for a Full Moon Party on Thursday night, John’s birthday party on Sunday, and then head south on Monday morning. At least that’s the plan right now.
by Judy Handley | Sep 20, 2010 | Madagascar, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 329, Year 5 Looking Ahead to VOW’s Year 6
Date: Monday, September 20, 2010
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar
The Voyage of Windbird is looking ahead. We have many miles to go to get from here to Richards Bay in South Africa. That will end Year 5 of our voyage. Year 6 will begin with the trip from Richards Bay around the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Town and then on across the Atlantic to Brazil and then north through the Caribbean, to Florida, South Carolina, the Chesapeake, and end up on Cape Cod by next July. After talking to our daughter yesterday, we did a day of forward planning. Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah are planning on meeting us in Brazil in March. Justin, Jo, and Ziggy were also going to come but we are not sure what Jo’s situation will be in terms of international travel. So they might have to wait and come to Florida or South Carolina when we reach the states. But Heather’s questions on the phone yesterday prompted a lot of reading about Brazil today and I fell in love. There is an archipelago a couple of hundred miles off the northeast corner of Brazil called Fernando de Noronha and the Lonely Planet says this is “one of the most stunning places in Brazil, if not the entire world.” That got my attention and then I read an article in a National Geographic Traveller magazine. The article was written by Stanley Stewart and he was searching the 8000 kilometers of Brazil’s beaches to find the ultimate beach. He found it on Ilha de Fernando de Noronha. Here’s what he had to say:
“But the best beach on Fernando I left for last. I reached it by bicycle, following a dirt track that wound through forest and scrub. From the viewpoint know as Mirante do Leão, I looked down on it, stretching out like a goddess in the sun, long-limbed and golden. It was love at first sight.
As with all beauty, that of Praia do Leão was simple and indefinable, some exquisite balance of sand, sea and over-arching-sky. The water was the colour of pale porcelain. The sands curved away, honey coloured, behind a hill. And here was that hint of wildness I’d sought, that touch of the elemental, in the shoals of coral rock and the sudden gusts of wind that surged off the Atlantic Ocean and set the dune grasses to dancing. I donned a snorkel and fins and waded into the warm blue waters. The Noronha archipelago is known in Brazil for its abundant marine life, including rays and turtles. Soon I was drifting over coral outcrops. A school of parrotfish wafted back and forth in blue shafts of light. Long-finned batfish waltzed past some damselfish queuing up at tendril anemones like partygoers at the punch bowl. Two imperial angelfish pursed their lips and passed on.
When I surfaced, I found Praia do Leão deserted. The handful of other beachgoers had gone off for lunch at one of the simple seafood restaurants just 15 minutes away by scooter. I was completely alone on one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil, a place where nothing seemed to exist but the startling sea, the soft sand underfoot and the warm caress of the sun. It was a perfect moment of escape.”
Wow! I’m definitely in love and I haven’t even seen it. The archipelago is a Marine Park and a UNESCO World Heritage site and is much like the Galapagos in terms of restrictions and cost. We’ve seen some beautiful places, but I don’t think I can complete a world circumnavigation without a visit to this archipelago.
But now back to Madagascar. Tomorrow we will sail to Hell-ville to do our final provisioning for the trip to South Africa. We will then return here to Nosy Sakatia for some full moon low-tide snorkels and a Sunday birthday party for John. Then on Monday morning, we head south. We have loved every minute here but I am now anxious to get on with the show. South Africa means high-speed internet so I can “see” my grandchildren on Skype and it is a land of game parks where we will see the big guys-elephants, lions, leopards, water buffalo, rhinos, and maybe a few zebras. So much to see!
by Judy Handley | Sep 19, 2010 | Madagascar, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 328, Year 5 Just Another Day in the Life
Date: Sunday, September 19, 2010
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar
It was another free and easy day. We went snorkeling at 8am to catch the low tide and then came back to the boat and baked bread, granola, brownies, and did laundry. Mark spent a great part of the day sewing, making four more pirogue sails for the Rotary Club. Late in the afternoon we talked to Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Sam. Heather just completed her first full-time five-day work week and all went as well as can be expected. Jonah is getting used to life without a full-time mommy and Sam seems to be taking everything in stride. So all is well on Cape Cod in the Goldstone household. We also talked to Jo, but Justin and Ziggy were not home. Justin and Ziggy were in Albuquerque picking up a friend of Jo’s from England that will travel with them on their music tour and take care of Ziggy when Justin and Jo are performing. They leave in the morning headed for Reno, then San Francisco, and then north to Portland. Things are a bit frenzied since they have only been home from England for a week, but Jo thinks they will be ready to go in the morning. They will return to New Mexico about the time we reach South Africa. We wish them safe travels.
And my really good news of the day came in an email from my sister. Her daughter Jennifer had a mastectomy in mid-August and she has been waiting for the pathology reports from surrounding tissue for a month. She got the good news this past week. The tissue samples put here in the below four per cent rate for a recurrence. Her doctor has only seen this low recurrence rate projection in two other patients and feels that this is truly good news for Jennifer.
We went up to the Sakatia Towers deck for sundowners with John’s Aunt Marianne and Uncle Gerald who have become good friends of ours in a very short time. We had to say our farewells tonight as they leave in the morning, but we made promises to call them when we get to South Africa and we will definitely visit when we are in the Port Elizabeth area. John’s wife, Heidi, flew in from South Africa last night so we got to see her tonight as well. She and John will be away for a couple of days so we will have to wean ourselves from visiting the deck every evening. We will leave here on Tuesday morning and go to Hell-ville to reprovision for our trip south and then we will return by Thursday night to have one last full-moon in the Sakatia anchorage. Tonight John suggested that we have a full-moon party out on the boats so I’ll spend some time trying to organize this during the week.
by Judy Handley | Sep 18, 2010 | Madagascar, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 327, Year 5 Pleasantly Relaxed Day
Date: Saturday, September 18, 2010
Weather: Sunny Day; Windy Late Morning Then Moderating
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar
Although we were up and snorkeling by 7:30 this morning to catch the slack low tide, it was a slow paced day. We met John’s Aunt Marianne and Uncle Gerald on the dock at 7:30 am and had a nice snorkel in clear water. Once we had snorkeled to the south of Sakatia Towers, we got in the dinghy and went to the headland just to the north. But by this time the tide was starting to pick up and the water clarity was not as good. It also got very windy very quickly. So we gave up after an hour and half and called it a good morning. Mark and I actually spent some time reading when we returned to Windbird, something we rarely do during the day. In the afternoon, I named today’s underwater photos and we went up to Sakatia Towers to give John, Marianne, and Gerald an underwater photo show of what we have seen snorkeling here in the Sakatia anchorage area. In return, Marianne and Gerald talked to us about the different game parks in on the east coast of South Africa and gave us advice as to what we might see at each one. Philippe and George, two other cruisers in the anchorage, came up to the deck to have a late afternoon beer and we had a great time all talking together. George was born in Argentina but moved to Spain as an adult. Philippe is French. Our South Africans friends tell us we speak American and they speak English, and the mix of accents made lively conversation.
We will snorkel again early tomorrow morning and then Mark is going to make more pirogue sails. I’m determined to get a “Best of Madagascar Underwater” folder put together to upload, so that will be our tomorrow. Our departure date from here was next Saturday, September 25, but we found out last night that John’s birthday is on Sunday the 26th, so we will staying for that celebration and then heading south on Monday, September 27. So eight days and counting.
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| 100918 Day 327 Nosy Sakatia, Madagascar–Underwater Sakatia S and Headland |
by Judy Handley | Sep 17, 2010 | Madagascar, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 326, Year 5 So Many Wonderful People
Date: Friday, September 17, 2010
Weather: Sunny Day; Very Windy Afternoon
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar
It seems that everywhere we turn here we meet wonderful people. Today we went to another Rotary meeting and luncheon with John from Sakatia Towers. John’s Aunt Marion and Uncle Gerald visiting from South Africa also came along. Today was the Rotary President’s birthday, so the luncheon was extra special. Edith is the Rotary club’s president. She manages the 5-star resort Hotel Bell Plage across the channel on Nosy Be and that was the site of today’s meeting. Marion, Gerald, and I sat around the oceanside pool and chatted away while Mark and John attended the business meeting. We then joined with everyone for a fantastic luncheon. Before becoming a hotel manager, Edith was a chef and John says he is sure she personally cooked today’s lunch. It was zebu (beef) that had been tenderized and then rolled and cooked in a gravy. The zebu rolls were cooked perfectly, just a bit rare in the middle, and were so tender they melted in your mouth. Isabelle who manages Sakatia Lodge on the Nosy Sakatia side of the channel brought the birthday cake and it was not only a work of art to look at, it was delicious. John told us that baking has always been Isabelle’s passion and that she probably did most of the cake preparation. What a talented group of Rotarians.
The Rotary meeting was a long one so Marion, Gerald, and I had a nice chunk of time to get to know one another. They are farmers (sheep and beef cattle) just north of Port Elizabeth on the east coast of South Africa. They have a son who worked for Continental Tires in North Carolina for a few years and is now back in South Africa with his wife and two children. Like us, they think there is nothing in the world so wonderful as being a grandparent. For about four months of the year, Gerald and Marion travel throughout Africa visiting game parks and looking for birds. While here they have enjoyed snorkeling and tomorrow we are going to meet them at the dock at 7:30 am for a low tide snorkel together. It seems that we have much in common and wish we had gotten to know them better earlier in their stay here. They leave Monday for a visit to Nosy Komba and then on to Goulam’s Lodge at Ankarana up north. So we will snorkel together this weekend and then hopefully we will see them again when we get to Port Elizabeth on our way from Richards Bay to Cape Town.
We didn’t get back from the Rotary meeting and luncheon until almost 5 pm and by 6 pm we were on the Sakatia Towers deck. There was another full house tonight–Gerald and Marion; a young couple from Cape Town, George from Argentina; Philippe of Armel T; Ed and Lynne of Constance; and Bruce, Nadine, and Tristen of Pioneer. Bruce, Nadine and tristen leave at 5:30 in the morning, so we said our farewells tonight. We have just so enjoyed meeting them and sharing experiences together. I found it incredibly hard to say our good-byes, but we will definitely see them when we reach Cape Town. We are delivering their bag of snorkeling gear and two big bags of shells and books, so hopefully we will reach Cape Town before Christmas and see them again then.
We once again find ourselves in a country where we could stay forever, but those beautiful blonde-headed grandsons back in the United States beckon us to move on. So one more week here and then off we go, but the memories of the wonderful people we have met here will live with us forever.
by Judy Handley | Sep 15, 2010 | Madagascar, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 324, Year 5 Making Pirogue Sails
Date: Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Weather: Sunny Day with Variable Winds
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar
Mark was off early this morning to the southern end of Nosy Sakatia to cut pirogue sails from a giant spinnaker donated to the local Rotary Club. When completed, the Rotary club will donate the sails to local fishermen. John from Sakatia Towers picked up Bruce on Pioneer and then Mark and off they went. A woman named Lisa who is a South African who lives in Russian Bay was also with John. When she lived in South Africa she was a sailmaker. She flew in from South Africa yesterday and is staying at Sakatia Towers until tomorrow when another yachties will take her back to Russian Bay. We had read about her place in Russian Bay but couldn’t find it when we were there. Now we know where to find her and might return there before leaving this area. Between Mark, Bruce, John, and Lisa there was a bit of sail knowledge to aid in the cutting of the sails. While Mark and gang were off cutting sails, I took Lynne and Ed of Constance to Far Niente for coffee cake and conversation. Peppe and Bob called early this morning to invite us and we gladly accepted. Far Niente is a US boat that has just returned from Mayotte. We had a great time sharing information about anchorages we have visited in Madagascar and hearing all about Mayotte. Time passed quickly and it was noon when I noticed that Mark was being dropped off on Windbird. I took Ed and Lynne back to Constance and when I returned to Windbird, Mark reported that they cut thirty-six pirogue sails out of the donated spinnaker and left one huge triangular dhow sail. Mark came back with six pieces of sail material and got three of them sewn this afternoon. Lisa from Russian Bay will sew a few more. It takes about an hour to do one sail, so I’m not sure how many we can get done before we leave here. Mark stopped at three today because he ran out of the line that John’s visiting Aunt and Uncle brought earlier this week. Fellow Rotary member Wendy is returning from South Africa this weekend and she will be bringing more of the line, so more sails can be sewn Obviously this project will continue until we leave and beyond.
The deck at Sakatia Towers was alive tonight. We went up for sundowners and there was a full house between guests and cruisers. We met John’s aunt and uncle from South Africa and the full crew from the South African catamaran CQ that came in yesterday. This forty-seven foot catamaran used to belong to Bruce and Nadine who are here on the delivery boat Pioneer. They sold it in May just before leaving for their Madagascar explore and now CQ has made it here. Kim and Paul are the owners and they have a beautiful little two and a half year-old son named Joshua. Joshua was running around in his normal Madagascar attire this evening (no clothing) and was such a well behaved little one. Kim and Paul have a crew member named James and another couple that has been traveling with them. A sailor named George was on the deck and I have no idea what boat he is from and Bruce and Birget of Irene were also there. Then there was another South African couple staying at the Towers until the weekend, so it was a full-house. As always the conversation was lively and informative. I heard that the politics in my country have gone haywire, so I need to find out what this means. John’s deck is certainly never boring!
