Day 316, Year 5 KEA and a Baby Langford Arrive
Date: Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Weather: Cloudy, Then Clearing but Hazy; Winds 15 NE, Then W
Location: Nosy Mitsio, NW Madagascar
We spent another blissful morning snorkeling at Nosy Ankarea before the west winds piped up around noon. It was no longer blissful, so we got out of the water. About that time, KEA, a French boat we met in Chagos with Dominique and Dominique aboard, arrived. We had a quick reunion and made plans to get together after 5 pm back in Nosy Mitsio to catch up. KEA left Chagos and went to Rodrigues, Mauritius, and Reunion, and then came up the east coast of Madagascar. Even though it is the dry season, they had rain every single day on the east coast. I guess they mean it when they say they have rainforest over there, while here on the west coast we have dry forest and spiny desert. We had a great evening on KEA and answered many of their questions about Madagascar. We are the first cruisers they have seen since arriving in Madagascar.
Pioneer left early this morning headed for Tsara Banjina. KEA doesn’t know where they are headed tomorrow. And we still don’t know which way we will go in the morning. I don’t think we realized how lucky we were that the weather changed just when we left Nosy Sakatia and headed north. We did have to motor all the way here, but we have had three wonderfully calm days here and enjoyed the snorkeling immensely. Now it appears the normal wind pattern is back and we have strong winds good for sailing if you are going in the right direction, but not good for snorkeling. When we leave here in the morning we will go which ever way the wind blows us. I think we have finally become true cruisers!
We want to send a great big congratulation to our sailing friends Neil and Ley Langford of Crystal Blues. They emailed this morning letting us know that their first grandson was born at 12:50 am. I know they have no idea just how much their world is going to change with the arrival of this little bundle of joy. Our favorite quote used to be one from the The Wind in the Willows. “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” That has since been replaced by, “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about with grandchildren.” Congratulations to Grandma Ley and Grandpa Neil!
On the not so happy side of things, the frame on my back-up pair of glasses broke today. So much for titanium frames. I lost my good pair overboard in Chagos chasing Brown Noddies from the bow of our boat. Today the frames on the back-up pair just broke. So now I am wearing my pre-titanium prescription glasses from 2001. Amazing, I can actually see through them, so not all is lost.
 |
| 100907 Day 316a Nosy Ankarea, Madagascar–Underwater Nosy Ankarea |
 |
| 100907 Day 316b Nosy Ankarea, Madagascar–Underwater Nosy Ankarea E |
