Day 293, Year 5 Moramba Bay
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010
Weather: Beautiful Day; Wind 15-20 Knots SE
Latitude: 14 53.895 S
Longitude: 047 19.719 E
Location: Moramba Bay, NW Madagascar
The winds blew us quickly from Nosy Lava to Moramba Bay. We delayed our 6:15 am start due to strong winds, but just before 7 am we decided to go for it. The winds were coming from the SSE and we were going SW so we were tight to the wind, but made great time. There were a few bumpy times but for the most part it was a great sail. We have left the mountains behind and are in dry, dry country. Much of the coast we sailed along is being cultivated. From a distance it looks like bushy little trees being grown in rows. All I could think is that it might be wine country, but I have nothing to substantiate that. Moramba Bay is big and as we got deeper into it we started seeing the mushroom-shaped limestone islets. These little rocky islets are undercut deeply and growing on top of them are baobabs and other trees and plants characteristic of this dry region. We anchored, I pre-cooked dinner, and then we took off in the dinghy for any explore among the limestone islets. Our hope was to get to shore and possibly spot our first Coquerel’s Sifakas (Coo-kell’s Sah-feeks). This is a type of lemur (part of the Indri family) that I have been so anxious to see. We motored among the islets, stopped to take photos of different kinds of baobab trees and just as we were about to try to land the dinghy, I saw some spots of white on a rocky outcrop. I asked Mark to go in that direction and it was soon apparent that the white spots were beautiful lemurs. These guys are about four feet long, but two feet of that is tail. There are fuzzy white with dark maroon patches on the front of their thighs and on their arms. The little faces are black with yellow eyes. They didn’t back off as we motored closer and then we stopped the motor and just sat and watched them. They have powerful legs and can take huge leaps from branch to branch. You can be sure we will go back to this same spot tomorrow morning and see if we can get ashore to get good photos. The water was bit choppy late this afternoon and that made picture taking from the dinghy a bit challenging. These guys are beautiful and graceful and I hope to see more and more of them in the next few days. We just couldn’t believe how lucky we were to see them on the first try. We also saw Madagascar Sacred Ibis with their long curved beaks roosting in the tops of trees with Greater Vasa Parrots and Dimorphic Egrets. The parrots are small and grey but the egrets are white or black and quite beautiful. We also saw caves in the sides of some of the islets. Our introduction was nothing less than spectacular, so we hope to have a repeat performance in the morning.
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| 100815 Day 293 Moramba Bay, Madagascar–Nosy Lava to Moramba Bay |
