Day 242, Year 5 Nosy Mitsio to Tsara Banjina
Date: Friday, June 25, 2010
Weather: Another Gorgeous Day, Winds 5-10
Latitude: 13 degrees 01.453 minutes S
Longitude: 048 degrees 32.692 minutes E
Location: Tsara Banjina, NW Madagascar
Here we sit in front of the Constance Lodge on Tsara Banjina. The Lonely Planet says this is the place to “drop your swanky anchor” in Madagascar. They describe the resort as “very swish and back-to-the-basics” and that is a perfect description. After dropping our swanky anchor in crystal clear water, we went ashore and walked the perfectly groomed paths that wind through the resort. There are twenty-one bungalows that are built of wood with thatched roofs to help them look native. Each bungalow has a hammock out front and access to the beach with beach chairs. We inquired about having dinner, but it was a bit pricey for us, so we are going in for cocktails at 6 pm. We spent our afternoon snorkeling around some rocks to the east of Tsara Banjina and then we came back to the south side of the island and pulled our dinghy as we snorkeled the southeast corner and up the east side. The water felt wonderful but it was not as clear around the rocks to the east as it was in the anchorage. There was no coral there, just fish, and we decided to head on back to the island and snorkel the southern coast. Here there was coral, but unfortunately, it was nearly high tide, so it was far below us. Because of the upcoming full moon, we have a fifteen foot difference from low to high, so I know the snorkeling would have been much better earlier in the day. There were huge schools of black and white, bigger than normal, Sergeant Majors and bright blue Fusiliers. There were loads of white, yellow, and black Moorish Idols, parrotfish, and just hundreds of tiny fish in the water. We snorkeled up the east side of the island and finally decided to call it quits. Just when we got out of the water, a lone tropic bird with its long, trailing tail put on quite a show for us. I think it must have been a female trying to lure us away from her nest, but she would fly over us and out to sea, the come back and go right up the cliffs, stop with her tail hanging down, and just flutter for a few seconds. Then the whole show would start again. We’ll have to come back and snorkel here at low tide and spend more time observing the birds, but we are leaving early in the morning and heading to Nosy Sakatia. There is another resort there, not the high end like this one, but it has internet. We are so hoping to be able to talk to our kids. We’ll let you know if that works in tomorrow night’s log.
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| 100625 Day 242 Tsara Banjina, Madagascar–Nosy Mitsio to Tsara Banjina |
