Day 239, Year 5 Andranoaombi Bay to Nosy Mitsio
Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Weather: Gorgeous Day, Winds SE 20-25 ’til 1 pm, then SW 5-10
Latitude: 12 degrees 54.498 minutes S
Longitude: 048 degrees 34.713 minutes E
Location: Maribe Bay, Nosy Mitsio, NW Madagascar
Today was all about rainbows and seaweed, eggs, bananas, crab, and a new location. Yesterday we traveled 46 miles from Ampanasia Bay to Andranoaombi Bay. This brought us from the tippy top of Madagascar down around the first major cape. Today we traveled 31 miles from Andranoaoambi Bay down to Nosy Mitsio. Remember that in Madagascar, ‘nosy’ means island. So we are anchored in v-shaped Maribe Bay on the northern side of Nosy Mitsio. Immediately upon entering the bay, the dugout canoes came paddling our way. And there were two sailboats in the bay and one anchored off an island just a couple of miles north of the inner bay. But before I go into more detail about where we are, I’ll go back and explain what today was all about.
We left Andranoaombi Bay just before 9 am, but already the crabs that we trustingly ‘paid for’ with a t-shirt were delivered and they were beautiful. A huge papaya was also brought out to us. We traded a pair of Mark’s shorts and an old t-shirt for this. Then we ate fried eggs, over easy, for the first time since leaving Thailand in January. We had traded a t-shirt for thirteen eggs yesterday from Chief Jean-Pierre and the eggs turned out to be a great trade. Two of the four eggs we had this morning were so fresh I think they were taken right out from under the hen. The other two were a little older, but not bad. We then ate bananas for the first time since arriving in Chagos. After not visiting a store for two and a half months and a fresh food market for more than three months, getting any fresh food of any sort is a real treat. We were still boiling the crabs as we left the anchorage this morning and had just gotten those out of the pot when we exited the bay and hit the waves and wind. We were sailing into 20 to 25 knots of wind and doing the hobby horse thing. As we passed Nosy Antolo, a little island just out Andranoaombi Bay, I looked around to see if there were any whales. Friends who were there in September last year stayed for a week watching mother humpbacks and their babies swim all around them. We saw no signs this morning as I think they have just not arrived from Antarctica quite yet. The whales come here in July to have their babies and then head back south in October. So we will revisit this area in a couple of months. As we hobby horsed south Windbird made rainbows every time she hit a wave. The water would spray and the little rainbow would form. It was just beautiful. While watching the rainbows we were making, I noticed that there was a huge amount of seaweed in the water. It is the first seaweed we have seen in a very long time–certainly the first we have seen in the Indian Ocean. So I’m wondering if the reason the whales come here to raise their young has anything to do with the seaweed. This is another question for my scientist daughter. When I get an answer, I’ll let you know.
When we approached Maribe Bay, one of the sailboats at anchor called us to give us anchoring information. It was Single Malt, a boat from Switzerland that was in the Maldives with us and again in Peros Banhos in Chagos. We were then approached by an older man with what was probably his son in a dugout wanting to know if we spoke French. I told him no French only English, but somehow we managed to order two kilo of spiny lobsters for tomorrow. We haven’t had those since the Vanua Balavu in the Lau Group in Fiji. I have no idea what the gentleman will want in trade, but I’m sure we can come up with something. Then another dugout came offering oranges and giving us the same story they had already given Constance about needing food for a baby whose mother doesn’t have enough breast milk. This story was all told with sign language, but quite understandable. It is probably just a line to get more for their trade, but I gave them dried milk powder anyway. Then they wanted rum, cigarettes, and who knows what else. But we just smiled and said no and they just smiled and left. I’m sure we’ll see those two guys again tomorrow
Tonight we enjoyed the crabs we got in Andranoaombi Bay as on appetizer at happy hour with Ed and :Lynne.
Tomorrow will be a day of exploring on the island. The next day we will visit an island out in the entrance to the bay to do some snorkeling and exploring, and then on Friday we might head just south of here to Tsara Banjina. This is an island where the Lonely Planet recommends that you “drop your swanky anchor.” It is tiny island with a very nice resort, crystal clear water, and great snorkeling. Sounds like a winner to me. And after a stop there we will head to Nosy Sakatia and then on to Nosy Be to check into Madagascar and go to the super market. I’ve never been so anxious to go shopping in my life.
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| 100622 Day 239 Nosy Mitsio, Madagascar–Passage from Andranoaombi Bay |
