Day 314, Year 5 Nosy Ankarea Revisit
Date: Sunday, September 5, 2010
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; AM Winds NE, PM Winds W
Location: Nosy Mitsio, NW Madagascar
At 8 am Bruce and Tristen of Pioneer picked us up in their dinghy and delivered us to Pioneer. Mark and Nadine brought the anchor up and off we went. It is only three miles to Nosy Ankarea so we were there and anchored by 9 am. The water was so incredibly clear and beckoned us to jump in. As fast as we could, we all got suited up and in the water. Pioneer is a catamaran and it is so easy to just walk down the steps and slide into the water. We must have been in the water for at least two hours. It was just a great place to snorkel. It is the very first time I have snorkeled anywhere and seen the ‘Big 3’ angelfish all in one place. Today we saw the Emperor with its horizontal yellow and purple stripes, the Regal with its vertical white, orange, and blue stripes, and the Semicircle with its black, blue, green, and yellow spots on a blue and yellow background. We simply saw a smattering of most of the fish we have seen in Madagascar all in one place. As I was swimming back to Pioneer, I spotted an octopus that put on an unbelievable show. Nadine was most of the way back to Pioneer and Mark, Bruce, and Tristen were in the dinghy, so I put my head up long enough to let them know to get back in the water to see the octopus show. When I first spotted this creature I had no idea what it was. I could not see the tentacles. I could just see a spotted blob that was creeping across the sandy bottom and over any coral or rocks in its path. The blob then turned a brownish-maroon color and extended all its tentacles to propel itself forward. Just as quickly, it became a spotted blob again. Eventually everyone else headed back to Pioneer but I stayed behind to watch just a little longer. Usually when you see an octopus it finds cracks and crevices to hide in and you don’t get the opportunity to watch their movements for such a long period of time. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity, but eventually I moved on and found that I had to struggle to swim against a strong current all the way back to the boat. It was hard, but it was worth it.
Back on Pioneer we put our land clothes over our bathing suits, had a banana bread feast, and then headed to the beach before the tide got too high. Bruce and Nadine’s daughter, Tristen, is such a polite and beautiful little girl. She had wanted to go to the beach to do shelling since our arrival, so she was delighted when we got to shore and found shell heaven. She has been collecting shells for her classmates back in Cape Town and in thirty minutes had a bucket full of cowries, cones, and nerites. I once again forgot to bring a bag for the shelling and ended up with my pockets so full of shells that my pants were hard to hold up. But despite the heavy shell load, we took Bruce, Nadine, and Tristen on a tour of the island. Almost immediately Nadine decided that she needs to move to this island. It is just so idyllic. The resort that once existed there planted all the right kinds tropical plants and trees, the sand is white, the water is crystal clear, there are papaya and banana trees, and even a wetland where mud crabs abound. We had such a wonderful time today and thank Bruce, Nadine, and Tristen on Pioneer for providing the transportation. Tomorrow they are going to a long, long, long beach on Mitsio to do more shelling and snorkeling and Mark and I will return to Nosy Ankarea on Windbird for one more snorkel and one more shelling session.
The winds are not doing their normal thing. We are getting a morning land breeze but it is from the NE not the SE, so traveling further north is a bit difficult. The afternoon sea breeze is coming from the NW as it should but it seems to set in later in the day than normal. So we are questioning whether or not we will beat into the NE winds to head further north. We’ll think about that while snorkeling off Nosy Ankarea tomorrow and let you know the decision in tomorrow evening’s log.
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| 100905 Day 314a Nosy Ankarea, Madagascar– Underwater Nosy Ankarea S |
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| 100905 Day 314b Nosy Ankarea, Madagascar–Nosy Ankarea on Land |
