Day 344, Year 5 Arrival in Baly Bay
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Winds from the SW–Not the Norm
Latitude: 16 00.515 S
Longitude: 045 20.833 E
Location: Baly Bay, NW Madagascar
We made it to Baly Bay despite the winds not fully cooperating. We sailed two-thirds of the way here, but we had to use the motor more than we had hoped. The weather is not the usual Madagascar beautiful, so we think a couple of deep lows down south are the cause of our problem. Pieter and Carla on Odulphus were here waiting for us and we went to their boat for sundowners tonight. Constance was there as well and we did a little bit of trip planning. We have more to discuss, but it seems like we might leave here on Thursday or Friday and do a stop along the coast and then a stop at Chesterfield Reef the next night. We had thought we might do a two night passage, but Odulphus would rather do day hops. Mark and I both realized last night that we are terribly out of practice on overnight passages and much prefer to do them in the open sea and not near land. So the captains will have more discussion tomorrow and we will come up with a plan. In the meantime, we will try to make it ashore tomorrow to see what is here. It is a barren land, but beautiful in its starkness.
