Day 71, Saturday 9 October 2004
Departure from Seychelles
GPS: 04° 36.9' S 55° 28.8' E
[Stefan >>]
As usual we start the generator after breakfast to run the fridge and freezer for an hour or so. After one hour the temperature in the fridge is still above zero instead of -10 degrees. It looks like the cool water system is not working, although the system gets 220 Volt. So again, no fridge and freezer. Aarch!!!
We consider postponing our departure but since both spare parts and mechanics are hard to get on this island, we better move on. At 1 pm we motor out Victoria harbour.
[<< Stefan]
Day 73, Monday 11 October 2004
Indian Ocean
GPS: 08° 15.9' S 53° 30.0' E
[Natascha >>]
So far a pleasant and easy passage. Moderate winds, no uncomfortable waves and no sea sickness. Just sailing as it is meant to be. At 2 pm we have covered 330 miles.
The Farqúhar islands - also belonging to the Seychelles - seem like a nice stop. We'll get there tomorrow morning and provided that the anchorage is safe and convenient, we could stay there for a night or two.
[<< Natascha]
Day 74, Tuesday 12 October 2004
Indian Ocean
GPS: 10° 08.9' S 51° 13.3' E
[Stefan >>]
The wind has considerably increased. The anchorage at Farqúhar seems far from ideal. The anchorage marked on C-Map turns out to be surrounded by unmarked reefs. Due to the small size of the island, it's hardly protected against the strong wind. Not really the place to be, better avoid taking unnecessary risks. Too bad. We see turtles swimming in the clear water, no doubt diving should have been fantastic here!
The on C-Map unmarked reefs that we see on the leeside of the island make us a bit apprehensive to follow that route. This means battling into the wind for a few miles to get to the windward side. It's quite confronting to see the difference between sailing with or against 25 knots. Where we had a relatively comfortable sail coming here, Espiritu is now under triple reefs bouncing over the waves which she might not mind, her crew certainly does!
Our two hours detour has one big advantage: Fish! In no-time we catch a beautiful Bonito. Just as the hammer brought peace to the animal we see a whole bunch of birds circling around the boat. And yes, there it is; a fat yellow fin tuna got our lure mistaken for a real fish and is now being dragged along behind the boat. After we'd stuffed our faces with endless sashimi we finished it off with two nice fillets for supper.
Day 75, Wednesday 13 October 2004
Indian Ocean
GPS: 11° 40.1' S 49° 01.8' E
We round Cap d'Ambre, the northern point of Madagascar during the morning according to plan. Both Jimmy Cornell en de East Africa pilot advise to stay well clear of the Cape to avoid the notorious high waves. Keeping in mind a story in a magazine about a 40 footer with some “interesting” experiences we maintain the advised 25 miles sea room. The wind further increases as expected, peaking at 35 knots and the sometime breaking waves of about 3 to 4 meter push us along at over 9 knots. Every waves picks the boat up, makes it quiver and off we go! What a party with the electronic autopilot as guest of honour.
 We head up 40 degrees upon rounding Cap d'Ambre setting course for Hellville on Nosy Bé, the port we need to clear into. C-map indicates a steep drop-off from 15 to 900 meters in a matter of 2 miles. Fishermen's theory says we should find some predators here. We put the lines out and just as we come over the 15 meters reef we have a strike. I wake up Natascha with the standard request for the gaff, a hammer, a pair if pinpliers and a knife.
When hauling the fish in, I see it misses its tail-end. Must have been bitten off by an upset brother or any other fish that reckoned a hooked one as an easy target. While I appreciate that a hook in your mouth is somewhat uncomfortable, I do feel sorry for this one so I take it in quickly to put an end to its misery. Please look at the picture for its missing tail.
Not as visible are the enormous teeth of this Wahoo. Something to watch out for when taking the hook out of its mouth. While I'm filleting the fish, Natascha is going through her cooking books for a nice fish recipe. Today is going to be a combination of garlic, onions and potatoes. Sounds good, just too bad we don't have fridge to cool the white wine.
 Day 76, Thursday 14 October 2004
Nossi Bé (Madagascar)
GPS: 13° 24.4' S 48° 17.0' E
[Stefan
>>]
It became evident that we would arrive at night if we maintained our current speed. The declining wind was therefore in our favour, so when the boat speed dropped to under three knots we choose to leave the engine off and loose some hours. This worked out brilliantly leading us to the harbour entrance at seven in the morning.
And who's all there? What a coincidence, our South African friends. We expected them to be well under way to South Africa but they seem to be at ease here. They spent last week at several anchorages in the Nosy Bé area and are now planning to hop down the Madagascar coast until there is a good opportunity to go across to Mozambique. This is roughly what we had in mind as well so we'll probably catch up again.
 Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and it shows. Not like in India where poverty is really screaming in your face with all the beggars and the disabled. People are generally well fed thanks to the local supply of fish and vegetables, but they have hardly any clothes and transport over water is done in simple canoes. They can sail downwind, but lacking an outboard, they have to row when going upwind. Let's hope it will stay like this for many years to come and that the place doesn't get spoiled by tourism like the Caribbean, which used to be as gorgeous but is now lost to greedy locals who are now only interested in your US dollars.
 The main road has some ancient colonial houses, some in use as governmental building, some are still used as a regular house, in most cases not much more than a ruin. The back streets look even worse with an open sewage system in which you see, and smell, all kind of stuff floating around. And you would think that the Renault 4 is ancient history? Not here where it is still by and large the most popular taxi. Rumbling and smoking, these oldies find their way around the numerous potholes. So who said French cars won't last?
Despite the immense poverty, we don't see any poverty or touting “salesmen” and crime seems to be totally absent. The market woman keeps all her money in a plastic bag hanging of a hook and banks are completely open, without any protection in the form of bars or bullet-proof glass. People are extremely forthcoming and shop personnel is a lot more knowledgeable than their Chinese peers in Singapore who don't know much better to do than smile stupidly in response to an enquiry.
  One of the canoes stops by the boat in the afternoon, offering fresh pineapples, bananas and mangoes at ridiculously low prices. All this fruit for the equivalent of no more than two Euros and two t-shirts.
We feel that we're still overpaying, but never mind these people are so poor that we feel almost guilty over our wealth. Apparently that shows, because when the deal is done, they try to get some more out of it. They start about shorts, shoes and one of them is even interested in the boat lines. Sorry lads, that's all. We wave them off friendly while cleaning up the deck.
[<< Stefan]
Day 77, Friday 15 October 2004
Nossi Bé (Madagascar)
GPS: 13° 24.4' S 48° 17.0' E
[Natascha
>>]
We spent the night in Hellville harbour to do some shopping today. We were told that it was a good place to stock up on food and other supplies. Well, let's just say we don't regret our huge Singapore stocks which will last until South Africa. On the local, rather smelly market we find all groceries covered with flies. Not very appealing. We manage to find some halfway decent onions and potatoes, fetch two dozen of eggs and find a huge bag of cinnamon. We decide to leave the meat for what it is, we better stick to the fish we catch ourselves.
  When we ask directions for the local supermarket, we are looked at emphatically. How could we be so naive.There is nothing more than a couple of small grocery shops. By the way, all of them closed between 12 and 3. Just as the language an inheritage of the French colonisation.
[<< Natascha]
[Stefan >>]
Better get a drink to kill the time until the shops reopen again. In a nice looking pub, we find a group of white guys in their fifties, all seemingly bachelors, enjoying their Ricard with a couple of young local girls around their neck. Unsurprisingly, we are invited for a beer or two after which our French is back to its old standards-:). All of them left France years ago and say they could never live in France again, although they emphasizethat they are still very much French. Most of them retired while some of them own a small business that doesn't seem to keep them too occupied. They are all complaining about the unreliability and laziness of their local staff – apparently, this doesn't go for the girls...
 One of them spent most of his live abroad for IBM before settling here with a small computer shop. They meet for lunch every day, don't care for luxury and most of all cherish the good French life in East Africa. An ex-banker from Paris had a nice motto: “If you can choose, you're never satisfied and if you can't, you're happy with whatever what's there.” Excellent guys with a mentality you only encounter with the French – I can't think of any American, Briton, German or Dutch (including myself) who could settle for such a life style.
[<< Stefan]
Day 78, Saturday 16 October 2004
Nosy Sakatia (Madagascar)
GPS: 13° 18.9' S 48° 10.2'
 [Natascha
>>]
Next stop is the island Sakatia, located 10 miles North of Hellville. Warned of recent outboard thefts, we row ashore with the dinghy rather than motoring over (turns out completely unnecessary later). The woods behind the beach give shelter to small groups of houses, actually huts, with kids playing and men minding their self-made sailing canoes. The huts are very basic, yet clean and seem to be well looked after. We're amazed to find small, well maintained gardens.
 A little bit further, we see the remains of what used to be a diving school. A fainted drawing on the wall indicates the various dive sites – now all ruined by a hurricane that came through two years ago. A quick snorkel proofs the devastation that was done – only dead coral and very poor visibility. By the looks of a few recently started construction sites for holiday houses, it seems as if the place is going to be rebuilt again. Let's hope nature restores itself quickly and brings the reefs back to its old beauty.
 We cross the beach and follow a small sand path to a small village more inland. Most huts are no larger than 2 by 3 meter, only allowing for a couple of mattresses to sleep the inhabiting family of 6 or more. We see children playing outside while their parents lay down to sleep under a tree. The whole scenery hasn't probably changed over the past 1000 years. No luxury like electricity, fresh water or a proper sewage system.
Some families own live stock, but no more than the odd cow or three chickens. Nevertheless, people seem happy and we're cheerfully greeted by everybody we see. One could argue that these people are so poor that they are in desperate need for all kind of help, but if you look at the way they live their life they don't seem to mind. How different to Asia where everybody works their bones off in hope of a better future.
 The kids quickly find out that we have sweets resulting in a whole bunch of them chasing us for more. Cute girls with their little dolls and the naughtier boys trying to get a second one. The little Lucent torches we got from Mike are extremely popular. Just too bad they don't exactly fit Lucents' prospective clients' profile...
 The inflatable shark and lobster were getting very bored in the locker after only been taken out to play once in Chagos. Reasoning that such toys are a lot more appreciated by these kids, we hand them to three women who have a whole lot of these little ones running around them. We regret not bringing more balls, dolls, and other toys, so after emptying all lockers, we return to the boat.
 Five boys row to the boat later that night, calling "bonne nuit" and asking for another "bon-bon". Two of them proudly show their little torch, while the other three express their admiration, but sorry lads, we're finished.
[<< Natascha]
Day 79, Sunday 17 October 2004
Departure from Nosy Sakatia (Madagascar)
GPS: 13° 18.9' S 48° 10.2'
[Stefan >>]
The passage from Nosy Sakatia to Richards Bay in South Africa of about 1400 miles will be an inspiring one with all kind of weather conditions. The windroses predict averages of anything between 0 and 40 knots, coming from all directions possible. We decide to split the journey in a couple of shorter stages following the Madagascar coast for about 500 miles before crossing the Mozambique channel. The first anchorage is about 200 miles from Nosy Sakatia, which should be doable in a day and a half.
 An early rise and off we go at 7 am. Very low winds force us to motor for longer times for the first time of our trip (the motor only did 40 hours ever sincewe left Singapore). Running the engine obviously keeps us going, but more importantly, it saves the sails that would otherwise flap around like madness all day, which is about the worst thing you can do to them.
 Typically, fish favour huge drop-offs so as we cross the clearance from the plateau into deep water I throw out the lines hoping for something tasty. Lucky again, we have a strike 30 minutes later, this time it is a dorado of about 3 foot. More than enough for the two of us, to bad we don't have a fridge to save some for later. It's quite important to gaff them before taking them onboard because they tend to put up a big fight, potentially resulting in the lure catching your foot. And man, this one was right alive. Even with the gaff in it's belly it was kicking around like hell before the hammer dealt with its liveliness.
Day 80, Monday 18 October 2004
Mozambique Straits
GPS: 15° 06.0' S 46° 26.1' E
The wind is indeed very unstable and I'm trimming the skin of my hands to keep her going. Having racing roots, Espiritu is pretty sensitive to proper trimming which shows in dropping boat speed by two knots over even the slightest wind shift. All the time, I'm studying the wind and speed meters to check that we're making proper progress – at least enough to reach Baie de Baly by daylight. C-map turned out to be 1.5 mile off in Nosy Bé and without any lights as a reference, I've no desire to check C-map's accuracy without daylight in Baie de Baly.
When I start reeling in the fishing lines at five - one hour before arrival – I suddenly feel more tension on the line. A Wahoo has mistaken my famous lethal lure for a helpless fish. This time it keeps its tail on, and with that, it's a lot more lively than its shortened brother the other day. Nothing the infamous hammer can't deal with though and with Natascha operating the torch I reduce him to four tasty fillets. One for sashimi as a starter, and the rest for the pan.
 Day
81, Tuesday 19 October 2004
Baie de Baly
GPS: 16° 02.5' S 45° 18.6' E
The anchorage turns out to be a lousy one. The bay runs too shallow to its edges to get proper shelter from the shore and with the every shifting wind, we are more or less continuously exposed to the swell. The wind should swing to the West later on so that we could take the dinghy out for a trip ashore.
One of these “shoulds” again. At four in the afternoon, we're still on a bloody roller coaster instead of an anchored yacht, reducing our shore ambitions to a bottle of red as a sun-downer. Seems to be the best medicine against moody crew...
Day 82, Wednesday 20 October 2004
Departure from Baie de Baly
GPS: 16° 00.7' S 45° 00.2' E
At one in the morning, the tidal current reverses, swinging the boat such that we have the swell exactly on the beam. Pitching is bad enough, but heavy rolling eliminates sleeping altogether. I suggest we might as well sail off given that we can't sleep anymore anyway and the next trip will be long enough as it is. Natascha is obviously not too impressed but after another 30 minutes she wants to know C-map's accuracy and the status of uncharted depths around here. No worries, we can just follow the reverse route of our entrance of which we know it's completely safe. After 15 minutes hard labour (heavily cursing the failing anchor winch) we're all set to go. This was the last time anchoring in such a large unprotected bay. (Later we learn that the South African boats had perfectly quiet water here.)
[<< Stefan]
[Natascha >>]
For an unknown reason, Stefan can't resist taking pictures of me fighting a mango. I have to admit, it's not exactly a charming sight.
[<< Natascha]
Day 83, Thursday 21 October 2004
Mozambique Straits
GPS: 17° 30.0' S 43° 49.4' E
[Stefan >>]
Leaving at night turns out to be a wise decision because despite hours of motoring, we're still worried that we might not make it to Nosy Lava before nightfall. With the last anchorage in mind we contemplate leaving Madagascar for what it is and cross the Mozambique channel just now. It will keep us out of the becalmed area and with the ever declining supplies and missing fridge we're really into some civilizationwhere we can fix stuff and treat ourselves to a proper steak with fresh lettuce again.
When the wind picks up an hour later, we decide to give it one more chance and continue heading to Nosy Lava. With hardly any waves and 15 knots over the beam, we comfortably cruise ahead. Natascha can even tan herself a bit further on the foredeck without getting splashed by a salty spray every now and then. We reach the anchorage at 5 pm and find one more boat, Keren, a 34 foot yacht from South
[<< Stefan]
Day 84, Friday 22 October 2004
Nosy Lava
GPS: 18° 35.0' S 43° 55.5' E
 [Natascha
>>]
Nosy Lava is a small island of only halve a mile wide. It's positioned between three other islands, approximately 10 miles from the mainland. The island seems to be unpopulated at first sight, but peering through the binoculars we see some huts and even some kids playing at the beach. Curious about its inhabitants, we fill the backpack with some rice and pasta and motor the dinghy over to the beach. Curious about these two yachties a few women and children welcome us at the beach. If we want to see their village?
 Of course, and with the food as courtesy gifts we're warmly welcomed. Proudly, they show us around their huts. We see, and smell, drying fish everywhere that they salt and dry to sell off at the market on the mainland. They present some beautiful shells in return for the food we brought. Those that you only see in curio shops at ridiculous prices. Really nice, let's hope we bring them home in one piece.
 Communication is difficult due to our sloppy French but with hands and feet, and a lot of time, we manage to learn a great deal about how these people live. The island houses about 20 people, all on a semi-permanent basis as they have to move out during the hurricane season. They live of the fish they catch with their little canoes, which when salted is sold at the market on the mainland. Main issue is the lack of fresh water, which forces them to drink a 50-50 mixture of fresh and seawater – not exactly that healthy. The island does have a well, built by an American development organizationyears ago, but for some undeclared reason they don't use it now and bring in water from the mainland by canoe. Having seen the well, I have to say I wouldn't drink it either. What a world of difference: we sail around the world in a luxury yacht and these poor buggers can't even afford decent drinking water. Unfortunately, water is scarce for us as well; the water tank is running empty and we still have two to three more weeks to go until we reach South Africa. All we can give them is beers of which we still have plenty left – the guys don't mind at all that they're not cooled...
 One of the men who also joined, points at an elderly woman's sore finger. Would we have some medicine for her? We understand that she cut her finger with a filthy knife about a week earlier, which is now completely swollen because of the inflammation. Errr, we're not exactly doctors, all we can think of is broad-spectrum antibiotics of which we brought enough to cure a complete orphanage. While Stefan goes over to fetch the medicines, I spend the 15 minutes till he returns stressing that she needs to take all pills at the indicated times and that it's crucial to complete the whole course. To be sure that they won't save some for later we give them a second should they need some ever again. We also decide to give them the Madagash Francs we've left (equivalent of 5 Euro), we can't spend them anymore and these people will be more than happy with it. I hand it to the women so that they buy food for it rather than the men who most probably would spend it on booze.
 We take the dinghy to a drop-off to get our diving gear wet again. We don't know what to expect, but hey if you don't try, you'll never know. The first fish we see when descending is a giant ray, though similar in size it is not a manta ray as this one is white with numerous black spots. Wow, we've never seen this type, not even on pictures. That goes actually for half of the fish we see here. Nowhere in the Red Sea, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Asia, or the Caribbean have we seen the odd fish we see here. Madagascar is renowned for its unique species such as the “Lemur” apes (half-apes) and the scary Comoro Lizard (about 6 meters long and very aggressive). Apparently this also goes for the underwater life. Not to talk about the numbers and variety. This is definitely one of the best dive sites ever. How beautiful the world could be without commercial fishing and extensive tourism.
 Dave and Elizabeth of Keren invite us over for tea in the afternoon. They are in their fifties and just to go sailing, probably for the rest of their lives as they put it. They did a four-months try-out sail in the Comoros and Madagascar, and are on their way back to Durban, their home town (a four-months try-out – that's what we should've done...). They plan to spend the coming 6 months fine-tuning the boat before heading off to Thailand via Chagos and the Maldives. Sounds like a great plan to us. And typical British, they invite you very politely over for tea and all you get is wine... By the time we return to the boat it's too late (time-wise and alcohol-wise) to cook dinner so we hit the bunk straight away.
Day 85, Saturday 23 October 2004
Nosy Lava
GPS: 18° 35.0' S 43° 55.5' E
Listening to the radio, we find out that the three South African boats are actually behind us and now on their way to Nosy Lava. Since we still can't transmit, Dave tells them we're here and waiting for them. How the hell did Espiritu get past us? Clive can't believe it. Well, just a matter of skipping one anchorage and keeping the other one very short. And they're bitching and moaning again because of the wind. Either not strong enough or from the wrong direction so that they have to beat into it. They have another 90 miles ahead to Nosy Lava and it seems they won't reach us before dark.
 We fill the tanks again and prepare for the second dive in this gorgeous place. We manage to find the same spot back, which is a bit tricky as it is 2 miles out at sea and we didn't bring a GPS to fix the position. Again we see plenty of strange fish and beautiful coral all around us. No current to stir things up, which makes this another fantastic dive. This is why we bought the dive compressor. Hell, it wasn't cheep, but places like this make it worthwhile.
The rest of the afternoon is pretty relaxed with a book and later on a bottle of wine shared with Dave and Elizabeth. One minor issue, it is our last bottle. It's definitely time to get moving.
 Talking about wine. We haven't told you about are infamous wine cellar, positioned in on of the lockers behind the saloon settee. The place is humid – actually soaking wet – hot, and the wine is not exactly lying still. The moist took off all the labels so each bottle is a surprise as to its contents. And there is always the question wine or vinegar – especially the whites don't seem to appreciate the rolly environment, all of them turned sour within weeks. Anyhow, the last bottle tasted well and we can stock up on South African juice in a couple of weeks.
Day 86, Sunday 24 October 2004
Nosy Lava
GPS: 18° 35.0' S 43° 55.5' E
We hear Dave and Clive again on the radio in the morning. Just Jinks, Golden Sovereign and Bedouin hardly made any progress yesterday and anchored off an island 15 miles north of Nosy Lava in the middle of the night. They intend to stay there for a days rest and plan to join us the following morning. We will then all leave Tuesday morning to the last Madagascar anchorage 150 miles to the South before we cross the Mozambique channel. The southerly wind of the past few days will swing to the North tomorrow, which is exactly what we would need. Provided that the winds are still favorable we will do the crossing straight away.
 Outside we hear: "Monsieur, monsieur". Oh no, no more shells please. But no, the guys bring four enormous crayfish – small lobsters. These will go down well for dinner, especially now that our supplies are running low. The alternative would have been pasta with tinned ham, not bad, but no match to fresh crayfish. Some more beers and t-shirts transfer ownership as encouragement to bring us some more tomorrow when the South Africans arrive.
We feel like another dive so go out again. For some reason, we can't find the anchorage and when we finally drop the hook, the water is way too shallow, lots of current and we hardly see any fish. And for the first time, we have troubles retracing the dinghy because there are no clear points that can be used as a reference for navigating. When I finally go up to locate it, I do see it, though about half a mile further. After 15 minutes fighting the current, we finally reach the dinghy and climb in. This is the one and only drawback of diving alone – you have to make your way back on your own.
[<< Natascha]
[Stefan >>]
When the wind picks up to 15 knots, it's time to get the kite board out again. Because the wind is off-shore, Natascha joins as lifeguard should something happen that causes me to drift off. The kiteboard doesn't have any flotation and swimming upwind with the kite above me is close to impossible, especially if there is a current. The entire island population sits down on the beach to see this highly unusual canoe.
 Already after returning to the beach the first time, I see that the wind is not strong enough to sail upwind. I go out further looking for more wind but each tack brings me further out and I start waving to Natascha to come and get me. Nothing seen though (a bit of a poor eyesight) and when I step in the water to maneuverupwind she still doesn't catch that I might need some assistance. The dinghy is nicely lying at the beach and I don't see any action to launch it. The locals do see me waving and carefully ask Natascha if something is wrong. “Oh no, he always does that”.
When I drop the kite in the water, this still doesn't worry the lifeguard. Never mind the additional, now more frantic waving. “Can't see that without my glasses”. Fortunately, one of the guys does see me waving and suggests she'd better go and get me. It takes her another 10 minutes to get the engine running and she's too afraid to let it plane which extends her arrival a bit more. A bit agitated I climb in, about 25 minutes after the first signal for assistance. Guess my Baywatch babe needs some more training (and of course some other modifications to fully resemble the originals...).
[<< Stefan]
[Natascha >>]
And then I do see him waving. Without hesitation I run to the dinghy, pull it afloat and start the engine. Start the engine? Not now. Damn it, why doesn't it go? After 5 minutes it sputters to life and I motor to my hubby in despair, totally confident that he will be mostly thankful. Almost there - hey, why does he look so mad?
“WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?! %#!*#/**!! DIDN'T YOU SEE ME WAVING? #*#%%#@%%! I'VE BEEN SWIMMING HERE FOR THE PAST 20 MINUTES. DON'T YOU SEE I'M LEEWARD TO THE ISLAND AND CAN'T COME BACK?” Not quite the reaction I expected, leading to some inappropriate language from my side to get on par with his. Anyway, next time better take the binoculars when playing for lifeguard.
Tonight it's Crayfish at Keren. Bob, a British 66 year old single handler is also coming. After various stories, we're actually quite curious about this man. We've never met him, but we've heard the most weird strange stories about this somewhat different character.
 Karola and Cees from Borracho had him for tea at Chagos – once but never again. They told us he didn't find Chagos beautiful or stunning, no, it was a spiritual experience. Right. He also believes he's reincarnated for 48 times, his last life he was a bird. In fact he doesn't want to sail solo, but for some undeclared reason all crew race from board the first port they reach. None of them could stand him for more than a week. The alternative is buddy-up with other yachts. Sailing legend Jimmy Cornell, who was on Chagos at the time, politely declined Bob's offer to buddy sail so now he points his arrows at Dave and Elizabeth. Despite his strange behavior they do have some sympathy for him and feel obliged to invite him for dinner tonight. Well, let's see what happens tonight – could be interesting to say the least.
Day 87, Monday 25 October 2004
Nosy Lava
GPS: 18° 35.0' S 43° 55.5' E
The crayfish was delicious! Any idea how they should be cleaned? Here we go...Break one tentacle off the head. Take a deep breath and push the tentacle carefully in his rear end. Move the tentacle slowly back and forward and take it out. Repeat this a couple of times and your crayfish is perfectly clean. Enjoy your meal. (If you haven't lost your appetite yet.)
 We go for a last dive and this time we manage to find the right spot. We see turtles, a stingray and stunning coral. Diving never gets boring! The water is pretty cold though, so after 35 minutes we're back in the dinghy. Actually, the water is not cold - 24 degrees -, but I'm cold in my 3mm wetsuit.
After a short, cold shower, we go ashore and ask granny to get us some more crayfish. By the way, her finger looks much better already. Just Jinks and Golden Sovereign are on their way to Nosy Lava and we are having a barbecue on Just Jinks tonight. A couple of hours later, granny and two men in a canoe, bring us a few large crayfishes. "Thanks very much granny, and here are your beers and T-shirts". Half of the island population is now wearing our T-shirts.
 Golden Sovereign and Just Jinks arrive half an hour after Keren and Tasnene left. Bedouïn, Keren and Tasnene are already on their we to Nosy Andriamitaroka, where we are leaving tomorrow. For supper we stuff our faces with crayfish.
Day 88, Tuesday 26 October 2004
Departure from Nosy Lava
GPS: 18° 35.0' S 43° 55.5' E
 At 9 am we lift anchor, together with Just Jinks and Golden Sovereign. The entire day we stay within eyesight, make pictures of each other and chat on the VHF radio. In the afternoon, a group of at least ten dolphins, gives a magnificent show. We even catch a tasty barracuda. One of those perfect days!
Day 89, Wednesday 27 October 2004
Nosy Andriamitaroka
GPS: 20° 27.0' S 43° 42.1' E
 Slowly, very slowly we approach Nosy Andriamitaroka. The wind has completely dropped since yesterday and we are using our iron sail. Besides that we have one knot of countercurrent. We expect to arrive somewhere this afternoon. Quite boring, I must say.
We drop anchor at 2pm, next to Golden Sovereign, Bedouïn and Keren. At about 2 miles distance we see Just Jinks approaching as well. The island is similar to the other Nosy's. Instead of dried fish, we see and smell smoked fish everywhere. Yummy!
 It looks like we could leave tomorrow, although a 25 to 30 knots south-easterly with forceful swell might arrive in a couple of days. We keep a close eye on the weather forecast and if necessary we'll look for shelter at Île Europe, 220 miles from here.
 We swapa few jerry cansof diesel with water from Clive, who has a water makeron board. Stefan copies a software toolfrom Chris to read weather information (GRIB-files) and we offer our friends some nice fresh fish.
[<< Natascha]
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