Day 306, Year 5 Proud Parents
Date: Saturday, August 28, 2010
Weather: Beautiful Day; SE Winds Light, PM Sea Breeze Strong
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar

Today our daughter’s blog went public. Here’s part of the press release that went about this: “We’re proud to announce that WGBH’s Cape Cod affiliate, WCAI, was selected as one of 12 pilot NPR (National Public Radio) stations that will curate and distribute online content about high-interest, specialized subjects. In the case of WCAI, the topic of interest is oceans and global climate change, and the reporter chosen to lead the effort after a nationwide search is WCAI’s own science reporter/editor Heather Goldstone, who has a PhD in marine biology from MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Goldstone’s task for Argo is to write and curate a daily blog on the WCAI website that will provide original reporting on all matters involving the ocean and climate change – from the very latest on the mammoth BP oil spill to shifting weather patterns to what’s going on miles below the ocean surface. Goldstone is also tasked with creating a one-stop-shopping online resource on global climate change and related topics, and will develop and lead an online community of concerned citizen-readers in discussions related to the issue.” We were able to get online yesterday just long enough to take a look at the blog site and we were very impressed. We know how Heather has struggled to find child care and start working much sooner than she expected to. But this was an opportunity she just couldn’t pass up. We talked to her late this afternoon to tell her how very proud we are of what she has accomplished in the last month to get the site up and running. She has wonderful support from NPR and that has certainly helped. So congratulations, Heather. We are very proud of your accomplishments.

We started our morning with a Sakatia snorkel. We were hoping to see nudibranchs but didn’t. Well, we did, but we didn’t know it until we looked at our pictures from the excursion and saw a pair of black and orange nudibranchs in a photo. So we’ll try again tomorrow morning when the tide is a little lower and look more carefully. We were in a bit of a hurry this morning as we needed to be ready to go with John Sheppard at 11 am to the dedication celebration for the Hotel Loharano (Tsyazo Idriana Ato). The temporary sign on the beach said all of this but we are thinking that Loharano is the name of the hotel and the rest was a greeting. It’s pretty bad when you don’t even know where you have been! We met the owners, Isaletto and Alberto (I hope I have the spelling correct, but please forgive if I do not.) at yesterday’s Rotary meeting and were graciously invited to today’s celebration. We rode in John’s boat across to Nosy Be and because of low tide, once again had to get out and wade for a bit and then walk down the beach to the hotel. It has been open for a couple of months but today was the grand opening. We entered the hotel grounds and immediately saw Joanna and Wendy that we met yesterday. They were wrapped in African-looking cloth and Joanna yelled across to us that we must go to the office to get our wrap. It was all part of the celebration, so the men wore their wraps from the waist down and women wore the material as a sarong with a second piece of material over the shoulder. The hotel has an African feel to it. The bungalows are bright orange with circular thatched roofs. There was a beautiful pool with a slide down the hill to yet another pool. The staff was busy cooking and a band was playing as we walked through the hotel grounds and back out to a knoll overlooking the beach. We sat at a table with many of the Rotary members we met yesterday and we met other hotel owners from Sakatia and the stretch of Nosy Be facing Nosy Sakatia. We ate, drank, and were merry. The whole affair was lovely. When it was time for us to leave I went to say thank you to Isaletta and Alberto. I don’t know if it is the Italian way or the Malagasy way, but my thank you was over-shadowed by Isaletto’s graciousness. She expressed how honored she was that we could be them on this very special occasion. Mark and I walked down the beach to where John’s boat would pick us up and take us back to Windbird feeling like very lucky people. John has introduced us to a wonderful community of people here and we are so much richer for our encounters here.

100828 Day 306a Madagascar–Underwater Sakatia

100828 Day 306b Madagascar–Hotel Loharano Celebration