Day 288, Year 5 Nosy Iranja to Baramahamay Bay
Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Latitude: 13 42.792 S
Longitude: 047 54.060 E
Weather: Totally Overcast
Location: Baramahamay Bay, NW Madagascar
The name of this bay looks a little overwhelming at first, but if you just say Obama and then replace the ‘Ob’ with “Bar” and then add ‘hamay’ you have have it. And in Baramahamay Bay, we are experiencing a little change in the weather. I’ve forgotten how long it has been since we have had such an overcast day. Maybe it is because we are tucked into the mainland, but for whatever reason, it was fine as I was busy, busy doing loads of laundry and baking banana bread, whole wheat bread, and brownies. We motored the ten miles from Nosy Iranja to the mainland and then into this little bay. Or maybe it is technically a river. Cruisers refer to it as Honey River as the chief’s wife in a village on the south side sells local wild honey to cruisers. Ed and Lynne picked us up in their dinghy and we went to the village to buy honey. When we got to the village Mark was trying to ask the women he saw if they knew where we could get honey. No one understood a thing he was saying, so I just said ‘miel’ and they immediately pointed to where Ed and Lynne were standing with the chief of the village. I had learned from Lynne that ‘miel’ is the French word for honey and will not forget that one. We met the chief, his wife, and three children, and the chief went to a small hut on stilts, unlocked the door, and poured a plastic pitcher full of honey. That much cost us the equivalent of $10 US. It filled two wine bottles and a mayonnaise jar, so now I can make granola. I was totally out of honey and just waiting to get here to buy some.
We’ll stay here tomorrow and do some exploring and will probably move further south on Thursday. Unlike Nosy Iranja, this is a very calm anchorage. All of the islands off the coast of Madagascar have a bit of a roll to them when the tides change. Nosy Iranja was actually very calm last night, but the night before we rocked and rolled at 3:30 am. But just the thought of getting to see the baby turtles and the stunning location helped me to ignore the rock and roll. And it was certainly worth it. We’ll never forget seeing those baby turtles hatch and head out to sea.
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| 100810 Day 288 Baramahamay Bay, Madagascar–Honey River Village |
