Island

Welcome to the beautifull island of Nosy Be, Madagascar! Where, how? Well let me explain. In 2015 I decided to go sailing and after spending a few thousand miles on other peoples boats I decided it was time to buy one for myself. As there are so many brands and types on the market, it took me almost 2 years to find out what would suit me best: a Super Maramu.

In the bar of Crater bay marina on Nosy be Madagascar I meet world-sailor Stephan. He tells me: your boat cannot not stay here. Every year from December to May cyclones develop below the equator and often hit Madagascar. Some pass west of Madagascar through the Mozambique channel and may hit Nosy Be. So do not leave your boat there. Tanga in Tanzania is a safe place to leave your boat and it is out of the cyclone belt.

One evening in the bar of Tanga Yachtclub I spot a new group of 8 who just have arrived on a small boat. It looks like they had a tough time sailing upwind to Tanga. We start talking. They are German and Swiss and came from Dar Es Salaam and will go back tomorrow to celebrate newyear in Ras Nungwe in the North of Zanzibar. But they are clearly not happy to be all together on the little boat.

With 3 fellow sailors on board we sail from Tanga to Njao gap at Pemba Island. Another ship sails with us at the same time. We are lucky, we catch a nice golden dorade on the way, fish for dinner!

Now it is time to fullfill my promise to bring a female sailor of the Tanga sailing club to Chumbe Island as a favour for all she did for us. We will go there first then I sail to Dar Es Salaam to pick up my friend at the airport. Malaka Queen on anchor near Chumbe Island Chumbe island is a nature reserve and zero emission eco-lodge. The lodge uses only rain water which is collected via a special roof construction and kept in cisterns under the 7 houses and the central building.

We, a friend who also has her ship in Tanga had tried many times to sail together. It never worked,for various reasons. This time we will succeed as I came back earlier from Holland! We will first explore Tanga as fishermen spotted 2 hippopotamus and a baby, dangerous animals, still we are curious. We search the area with the dinghy… We sail and anchor at Ras Nungwe in the North of Zanzibar.

Malaka Queen is back in Dar Es Salaam slipway. This time to pick up a friend from Holland and his son. They will come on holiday for a few weeks to explore Tanzania and the Zanzibar archipelago. They have marine spare parts with them so they will have heavy luggage. As always Ruben, taxi driver from Dar Es Salaam will drive me to the airport. At arrival there is a little problem with customs.

We arrive in the evening from Mesali island at Dar Es Salaam slipway, an anchorage at a former boat yard converted to a western style hotel with shopping mall and restaurants. It is a good place to introduce newcomers to Africa, the airport is only 20 minutes away, a big supermarket and a good medical facility is 2 minutes away and it is also convenient to do some work on your ship here as there are many hardware shops near Slipway.

After 3 colourfull days in Mafia Island (pitty we did not see the walesharks) we leave for Mtwara, another upwind passage. Halfway we anchor at Mzungu Beach for the night after making contact with those at home to inform them where we are. The passage itself is boring, most time motoring as there is no wind. But finally the fishing pays off! Too bad, a strange unknown fish so we will not eat it.

We relax in the nice garden of a good restaurant near the port of Nosy Be. My friend asks: so whats next for you? I say: I hang around in Craterbay marina in Nosy Be for a while. She says, why don’t you go to Russian bay, your friends of Umadum are there. They go to South Africa. You know them well and I already asked them to contact you, it will be nice to see them again.

The sail from from Russian bay is magnificent, there are many beautifull islands on this route and many cruisers explore this area. We glide gently on a steady seabreeze. When approaching Majunga which is at a major river mouth the water turns red! This is the sad result of cutting and burning the forests in the inland. Now there is nothing left holding the soil in place so every time it rains the fertile soil washes away and rivers turn red.

The next day Des informs us that we can go, at least the 700 miles until Bazaruto Island in Mozambique. Our speed must be minimum 5 knots as there is a south westerly low expected in a few days. That should be no problem if we find the south going Mozambique current which gives us a “push” in the good direction of 2 knots. There are several strategies, one is to find the Mozambique current first by going west before south, a detour but finding the current early makes up for extra distance.

Bazaruto Island is a big sand dune on the east side of the Bazaruto archipelago of islands and reefs. The entire area is a nature reserve. To reach the anchorage on west side we must pass a narrow channel between 2 reefs. The dunes protect against high winds except northwestherlies. all ships waiting for a weather window in the lee of Bazaruto Island When we go ashore some guys welcome us with a big smile at their local bar.

We stay 2 weeks in our paradise Bazaruto Island because it is so nice but also because we decide to skip the first weather window to repair the mainsail car of Umandum. Most of the other sailboats leave so even more paradise for us. In the tropics we do not see any change in barometric pressure except the daily heating of the sun. Here the barometer really makes sense: if the pressure falls rapidly a low is approaching!

Ha! We got ourselves a seat on the first row. A cannon fires and the Capetown to St Helena race has begun Why leave? Just stay and enjoy the beauties of South Africa. No, it is time to go, the race is ON, I must face the ocean, this is what I have to do. Understood, but you can do that also later, why go now?…No, see you South Africa, it is very hard to leave…