Day 343, Year 5 Overnight Passage to Baly Bay
Date: Monday, October 4, 2010
Weather: Same, Same.Beautiful; Winds SE am, NW pm
Latitude: 15 35.289 S
Longitude: 046 20.830 E
Location: Near Majunga on Passage to Baly Bay, Madagascar
Miles to Go: 71.5
The anchor spot we chose in Mahajamba Bay was a bit bouncy last night, but not bouncy enough to keep Mark and me awake. We slept like babies and took off this morning at 7 am. Mark had the day planned perfectly. I wanted to see the red cliffs near a place on land called Cirque Rouge. I figured that the coast must look a little like the area just inland and he planned to get me here to take photos by 5 pm. Well, it is 5 pm and we just finished taking pictures. Doing this required us to stay close to the coast all day and now we are heading off in westerly direction to Baly Bay. The entire fifty miles from Mahajamba to here was one long white sand beach. That in itself was amazing. The beach is backed by bush and once in a while we would see a bit of erosion with white, pink, and rouge colors mixed with the green of the bushes. What we just saw at the red cliffs was just more of that and it reminded us so much of New Mexico mesas. It also looks a little like those layers of colored sand they sell in bottles out West in the US, just more beautiful.
Depending on wind direction, we will reach Baly Bay early morning or no later than early afternoon. So far we have been able to sail the whole way (except for an hour of charging the batteries). The winds will probably lighten up tonight and we might have to motor, but we have all night and all day tomorrow to go the 71 miles, so we are in no hurry. We have been in contact with Pieter and Carla of Odulphus who have been in Baly Bay for a few days. We will meet up with them there and then Odulphus, Constance, and Windbird will continue on down Madagascar’s west coast, hopefully after a three or four day stay in Baly Bay.
