Day 261, Year 5 Some Work, Some Play
Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Weather: Back to Fabulous Weather; Some Rain Overnight
Location: Bay SW of Nosy Kisimani, NW Madagascar
It was a baking day-granola and chocolate chip cookies, and another marathon day researching and naming fish photos. I now label every fish photo with the common name and scientific name, but with the limited resources we have onboard for this part of the world, it takes a search through four different fish identification books to finally decide on the right name. I love doing this and have no idea why, but I am starting to put together my album of Indian Ocean fish which I hope to share with my grandchildren when they are a little older. And now when I snorkel I no longer have to say that I saw a yellow fish. I can saw I saw a Golden Gregory. And I have so enjoyed ‘meeting’ the various anemonefish, butterflyfish, and wrasses. I now have names for them and I love that. While I worked on these things, Mark worked on his fishing gear, put a new tether on our anchor chain stop (locks the anchor chain in place), and put a new latch on the gate in the life line. I have not been able to open the gate for two years, and now I can. That and the fact that a young boy came by in his dugout and sold us a humongous mud crab and a smaller one for 5,000 Ariary has made me a happy woman today. The amount we paid is equivalent of $2.50 US. This same young boy had been rowing through the bay in his dugout with a small wooden replica of a dhow in tow. We had been admiring his little dhow and couldn’t resist buying the crabs from him. They will make a yummy dinner tonight.
Late in the afternoon, Ed, Mark, and I went out in the dinghy to explore the bay in which we are anchored. This little bay is just across from Nosy Kisimani. From Nosy Kisimani there is a reef that is only exposed at low tide that runs all the way down to Cape Makambi on the south side of this bay. The reef helps protect the anchorage and makes it calm and serene. Our explorations this afternoon resulted in no fish (we were dragging lines from the dinghy), but we did discover one little village, maybe just one family, on the southwest shore. We also meandered in among the mangroves in what seemed like a little river. We went about a mile or so, but finally decided that it was getting too shallow and turned around. We had some bird sightings-a few crested drongas, some fish eagles flying overhead, Madagascar bee-eaters darting about, and a heron perched on a mangrove branch that let us get very close to him. The shore was covered with deciduous trees dotted with Traveler’s Palms. These fan-shaped palms sparkled in the afternoon sun as if welcoming us. It was a fun trip, no fish caught, but a few more glimpses of wild Madagascar.
Tomorrow we will head go out of here the way we came as there is no other way out because of the protective reef. Once we get to the north side of Nosy Kisimani, we will then head south to Nosy Mamoka. We’re going to wait until noon to leave in hopes that we can sail using the afternoon sea breeze coming from the west.
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| 100714 Day 261 Bay Near Nosy Kisimani, Madagascar–Bay Explore |
