Day 266, Year 5 But on the Other Hand.
Date: Monday, July 19, 2010
Weather: Another Sunny Day with Madagascar Clouds
Location: Ambavatoby Bay (Russian Bay), NW Madagascar

It was a quiet day in Russian Bay. We got up at 6 am to try and receive email. The past few days we have been having great difficulty sending email in the evening and have not been able to receive except in the early morning. But this morning it took more than an hour before we got a connection. The problem is location and propagation and we just have to find the right time. We did finally receive email and I baked banana bread and two loaves of whole wheat bread before 10 am when we went to visit Carla and Peter on Odulphus. They reported to us what they have learned from the South African cruisers they have met and have given us a whole new option for getting from here to South Africa. We spent most of the rest of the day looking at the new option of heading further south down the Madagascar coast before going across the Mozambique Channel to South Africa. There is not a lot of information we have to check, but we plotted the possible anchorages listed in the East Africa Pilot and checked the mileages from anchor point to anchor point. Tomorrow I will read the Lonely Planet to see what the inland possibilities are from the anchor points. And slowly we will make a decision. If we do decide that we are going to southern Madagascar, we might return to Nosy Sakatia, to do our inland travel from here now, and then head south. So we keep weighing the options and saying, “But on the other hand.” We feel like Tevia in the Fiddler on the Roof.

We did take a dinghy ride deep into this bay today. We found another ruin from the days of the Russians, a long stretch of stone and concrete pier, but other than that there was nothing else. Not even any villages. Just after we returned to Windbird, a young man named Paul who lives in the village on shore came by in his outrigger. He speaks passable English and has a notebook with tours outlined. His tours cost somewhere between $10-20 US for two people. So this is another option for us to learn more about this area.

We know nothing more of Lynne’s situation except that she is feeling better. She sees the doctor again tomorrow and will see the infected area for the first time since the doctor bandaged it on Saturday. We are all on pins and needles waiting to see how things are going. We just hope the fact that she is feeling better and that the soreness has abated means that things are better. More on that tomorrow night.

100719 Day 266 Russian Bay, Madagascar–Old Stone Pier & Meeting Paul