Just a reminder to those who follow in our wake…there are many different places to anchor with pros/cons for each boat/crew to decide what they want to do. Des Cason, our weather router had provided us his own “descriptions” of anchorages with his own opinion with regards to each….just remember… it’s always “skippers choice”!
This will be a long post but I will try to condense each stop we made to highlight the unusual and drama : )
Day 1 – Hell-Ville to Russian Bay: 13 32.55 S, 47 59.9 E
On Saturday October 19th, we left Hell-Ville to head to Russian bay..an easy 18 mile trip and one we have done many times. However this time, the Nosy Be Regatta was in full force on a short race from Crater Bay to Russian Bay. There must of been around 20+ sailing vessels that participated and it was so cool to see them cross the finish line at Russian Bay….the anchorage was full of boats but no worries…there is plenty of room here…then the party began! Well not ours as we kicked into bed early for an early rise the next morning to start our trip down the W coast.
However, on the way to Russian Bay we were delighted to catch a glimpse of this guy….
Day 2 – Russian Bay to Nosy Antosha (aka Lemur Island) then on to Honey River: Antosha 13 30.89 S, 47 57.78 E; Honey River 13 42.79 S, 47 54.10 E
We left Russian Bay with a small fleet of 3 boats who planned to stay together until Baly Bay: SV Beez Neez (Pepe and Bear) and SV Serafina (Fred and Maria) and Flo. Early anchor up and around the corner to Nosy Antosha to visit Lemur Island where we saw 3 different types of lemurs….just can’t get enough of these guys!
Thanks to Pepe on Beez Neez for most of the photos : )
Motor sailing around Nosy Antosha to the anchorage…SV Serafina to the right. 
Nosy Antosha is sometimes called “Lemur Island” because there are 3 different types of lemurs here (Crowned Sifaka, Black and White ruffed, and Common brown lemur)….there is a park fee ($4 usd) to visit (guide included). 
Everyone got their chance to get close up with the lemurs…Maria is especially enjoying her “experience” with this Crowned Sifaka (LOL)! 
Even Fred got a little action…this is a rare site as Fred mostly stayed in the background…but even he couldn’t escape the Common Brown lemurs! 
So excited to see this type of lemur: Crowned Sifaka. Sifaka’s (there are 9 different ones) are unique to their other lemur friends as they have blunt noses, short arms, but every powerful hind legs. This feature allows them to jump up to 30 ft in 1 leap (rather than swing). 
Pepe and Bear getting snuggled by Common brown lemurs. 
Glad we timed our visit during high tide as the reef surrounding the beach landing could be visible during low tide. Team effort to get the dinghy back to the water…. 
The gang ; )
Double trouble!!!!
A few hours later we lifted anchor to head for Honey River where there is supposed to be…yes you guessed it…HONEY!!!
Anchor up at 10:30 am for the 18 mile trip to Honey River. We sailed with main and jib and sailed to the wind rather than going on the rumb line….it worked as our speed kept up even with the added miles and we didn’t arrive last (LOL)! 
Anchor down in 25 ft at low tide in mud/sand. 
We were happy to find others here too: there were about 9 boats that fit in this anchorage….but that is about all that could fit in my opinion.
The famous honey from Honey River…it was a shame that we actually didn’t get a chance to taste it….this bottle was for Des Cason, our weather router….the rest of the honey aviable was bought up by other cruisers : ) 
So I made a habit of carring around “bon bons”…aka candy…for the kids…and adults. Generally it breaks down walls and is usually greeted with a shy smile. However, here the kiddos ran from all different directions with hands out asking for more and I really didn’t get a smile…I actually had to get rough with one girl who demenaded she didn’t get one but I was sure I just gave her one a few seconds ago. No harm done…it was just a bit odd being mobbed like that : ) 
Another reason why I carry “bon bons” is becuase in some villages taking photos of people is “fady”…not allowed..unless you ask…or give them candy (LOL)….these girls obliged willingly…. 
A short walk through the village….. 
….we were led to where the men were selling fish. 
Dinner…?! 
Just for fun…another round of bon bons gone : )
Day 3 – Honey River to Nosy Antanimora: 14 07.10 S, 47 45.77 E
It was a busy day on Flo. We were starting to anticipate the wind shifts through out the day and were able to sail to the wind. It’s was not worth leaving anchorage before 9 am when the offshore/land breeze would fill in (wind coming off the land and head towards the sea), then the wind would die down to 5 knots mid day, then the onshore/sea breeze would kick in (winds coming from the sea heading towards land) until we anchored. With this, we had lots of sail changes: Main and jib until wind dies around 11am, spinnaker up but not keeping up speed, spinnaker down jib out with great afternoon sailing!
28 mile trip and only motored 2 hours! 
Anchor down in 40 ft (low tide). Lots of big bommies but Ovital/Google earth imagery helped for us to find a “flat” spot to drop the hook. 
The gang in close quarters…. 
Fish # 1 caught….skip jack tuna…. 
Fish # 2…WAHOO!!!! 
As we were dropping the main sail I saw a white thing blow off our boat but from the cockpit I didn’t know if it was anything to be worried about. Trevor was at the mast and saw nothing. When we anchored we realized the topping lift went “slack” as we dropped the sail and the tension on the boom eased off as we lowered the main sail and got wrapped around 1 blade of our wind turbine…SNAP…off it went. Trevor went up and thankfully we had a spare blade…. 
We all stayed on our respective boats for the night as we planned to leave the next morning….as night fell we saw “fire flies”…no joke! We also heard a faint “shriek” coming from the deck. Trevor and I have a healthy fear of bugs on the boat (we had termites from Indonesia)….so when Trevor finally went to investigate the noise he just saw something small and smashed it with a plastic tube….. 
The next morning we found this…not pretty…sorry kids. We were not the only ones with visitors and Beez Neez told us they thought they were “elderly” cicadas which were at their end of their lives….way to make us feel better : )
Day 4 – Nosy Antanimora to Nosy Lava: 14 32.07 S, 47 36.70 E
Amazing sailing these days!!!
On another note…we received an email from Des Cason, our weather router, who said there was a possible 5 day weather window to cross the Mozambique channel NOW…we could have just made a “bee line” to Baly Bay (our jumping off point) or head across the channel from here…or keep on keeping on and wait for the next window. We hadn’t provisioned or re-fueled for the crossing so we decided to take our time and wait possibly another week or so for the next opportunity….glad we did!
Anchor up at 9 am. Here is a Google image of what the rumb line from Nosy Antanimora to Nosy Lava…. 
…here is our acutal track (pink line)….great sailing, lots of tacks, only used the engine a total of 1 hour!!! 
10-15 knots from the SE at an apparent wind angle of 60-90 degree! 
Anchor down in 46 ft in mostly sand. 
Beez Neez caught a HUGE wahoo just as they were coming into the anchorage….they shared the fish head with SV Serafina…everyone was having fish for dinner….Awesome guys!!! 
This use to be an old prison and we were “warned” it could be unsafe to anchor here….we felt totally safe and we were only here for 1 night….all is well! 
Courtesy of Beez Neez….Flo at anchor…. 
Courtesy of Beez Neez….Trevor lifting anchor the next morning…calm flat seas!
Day 5-8 – Nosy Lava to Moramba Bay: 14 53.36 S, 47 20.52 E
Moramba Bay was an anticipated highlight of our trip down the W coast of Madagascar as we heard there were Baobab trees and “panda” lemurs?!!! Baobab trees was top on the list, and of course more lemurs, to see here in Madagascar…Moramba Bay did not disappoint and we ended up staying here for 4 days. Not to mention a safe and comfortable anchorage.. .hence there were 15 boats here at one point…the massive fleet was once again together.
As you could see from the photo of Slow Fight in the morning at Nosy Lava…it was flat calm…until about 1 pm….so motor sailing it was! But as peaceful as the water was….our generator was NOT. We wanted to make water and need our generator but it wouldn’t start…the silver lining is that…there was no wind…which mean no waves…so Trevor was able to clear out the sea strainer, fix the fuel vacuum that was happening, checked the impeller…finally got it to start….Never a boring day out here!
Anchor up at 7 am…no wind so ‘steal sail’ on…wind finally picked up in the afternoon and had great sailing! 
The wind was howling by the time we arrived at the channel….we should of left up our sails to give us more stability…. 
Anchor down by 3 pm in 28 ft with sand/mud bottom at high tide…. 
…we were greeted to these Baobab tress that lines the shore…our first sighting EVER!!!
We hit the ground running to check off Boabab trees and lemurs off our list…. did some trading with the locals, and celebrated Fred’s 78th birthday aboard SV Beez Neez who kindly hosted….
No store here so don’t forget to save some trading items….the fresh foods were hard to come by but we got fish, shrimp, a few limes, mangos, small amount of lettuce…. 
…and then the ladies came out…I paid for a lovely basket and was able to gift away my “girl” clothes…FINALLY! 
Ashore we walked through a small village and met this guy. He needed some blocks for his priogue…we went back to the boat and found a few we could live without. It was a gift…nothing traded….I hope he was happy : ) 
His priogue…. 
Trevor climbing up some “tsingy” like formation with Baobab trees. 
Ahhhh…the Sifaka lemur….
Had to check out the little islands…off in the dinghy we go…Bigger Baobab trees to delight us for hours!!!
Courtesy of SV Beez Neez….it’s a new fashion statement we are trying out…thoughts?! 
And the gang….is all together. 
Our walk during our dingy tour we headed into the “bush” and were pleasantly surprised to find big Baobab trees….. 
Taking photos of these massive trees is harder than you think…you really need people in the photo to give any essence of scale….Pepe leading the way : )
Day 9-10 – Moramba Bay to Mahajamba: 15 16.42 S, 46 58.67 E
Well, let’s just say after Moramba Bay, the anchorages down the W coast of Madagascar was not exactly pretty or comfortable. This is how I understand it: First, these anchorages have very large river systems that drained into the bays (not pretty) and Trevor thought the particles in the water was probably not good for impellers. Secondly, the boat would “spin” with the strong current rather than point in the direction of the wind. So every tidal switch the boat would face perpendicular to the wind waves and the boat would roll from side to side…sometimes very dramatically! Mind you it was this way for about an hour or 2 then subside (I don’t know why) but it made for uncomfortable sleeping and if you hadn’t put the dishes away from dinner that night…you would wake up to “crash” and “boom” from falling items….we learned very quickly (LOL)!
After we left Moramba bay at 8:30 am to catch the outgoing tide (low tide at 9:30 am), the sail was decent with 15-18 knots by the afternoon. 35 miles for this leg of the trip… 
As soon as we started to approach the mouth of the bay, the water turned from greenish/blue to a reddish/brown…glad we made water in the beginning of this trip! 
We all decided to anchor farther down the bay, even though it would add more miles tomorrow, as it looked to be more protected. We dropped anchor at 3 pm in 30 feet at high tide. Wind was about 15 knots. Please note the bottom is very silty, hence the color of the water, and our anchor slipped the first time when we tried to back down on it. So…we used the strategy to anchor when we were in Rodriguez: Drop the anchor, let it “sit” and let the wind set it for us. We of course set an anchor alarm but backing down hard was not the solution : )
Day 9 – Mahajamba to Katsepe: 15 46.30 S, 46 14.92 E
The Plan: 65 miles…..Leave Mahajumba at 3 am and possibly get an hour of tide against us (high tide 4 am). Motor/sail the rumb line! What actually happened….
Lifted anchor at 3 am light winds on the nose at 3 am with motor on and main sail up, 7 am wind started to clock around to the SSE. Engine off by noon sailing 6 knots SOG 
almost ran over a local fishing boat, LOTS OF NETS with plastic cans as markers (note: if you see the fishing boat, the boat will be downwind of net). 
The channel was plenty deep…. 
…well marked…. 
…and wind was howling!!! Here are our Mauritius family on SV Gerinimo heeling in tight winds. 
NOTE: The channel and bay have strong currents….we were moving…I would hate to go against the current…note to self! 
As we anchored and got closer to shore…the water was just incredible…!!! DO you see how silty it is? Remember backing down hard on the anchor did us no good….let the anchor “sit” and sink…the wind/current will probably be enough to set your anchor. Anchor alarms always help! Mind you the current once again made this anchorage super rolly at tidal shifts.
There was much conversation in regards to this stop. On one hand, most of us needed to re-provision and obtain fuel for the crossing of the Mozambique channel and any prolonged wait for a proper weather window. However, Mahajunga is a major port and for us who opted to clear out of Hell-Ville rather than Mahajunga, were concerned of getting “caught”….. technically we were there “illegally”. Many of us had read from past cruisers that they anchored in the town of Katsepe across the bay from Mahajunga and toke a ferry over to get food and fuel, just don’t walk by the Port Captains office. It was going to be hard to stay in “stealth-mode” with 12 boats anchored!!!! But things had to get done so we relied on the saying “power in numbers”….? Prior reports also stated there seemed to be no issues with authorities here but to take precautions and turn off our AIS and stay on a different VFH ch than 16….and so we did!
Once at anchor Trevor hit the ground running and went ashore to find out our options to achieve what we needed to. He arranged for a “water taxi” to pick up one person from each boat (too much weight for the boat if everyone came), with their fuel cans at 9 am the next morning….it wasn’t the perfect but it was going to have to do.
And “herding cats” begin…. it’s a go!!! 
Patrick was the captain of the boat and charged approximately $25 usd person/boat 
The water taxi picked up/dropped off each person to their boat….it was a nice service as most people’s dinghy’s were all packed away…except ours (LOL)! 
Unfortunately, that same day, port officials came back with Patrick to each boat…that freaked everyone out who was already cleared out of the country. He wanted to come back the following morning to take us to Mahajunga. There was a lot of discussion on the vhf radio and most of us told the official that we were already cleared out and will be leaving tomorrow am…..and so it was! It does not surprise me that the water taxi guy and officials are abreast to our cruiser activities and therefore have created a beneficial relationship. Be warned that maybe in the past this was a good stop and it was…but it might be best to wait to clear out of the country until Mahajunga. 
Here in this photo is what we think was the ferry that past cruisers reported was a good option to get to Mahajunga…..maybe that would of been better? 
We did go ashore to help SV Geronimo get a top up on her data plan. Note that Orange network works farther south. Since we were the only ones with our dinghy down it made sense for us to help others…….but let’s just say Trevor was literally our “fleet taxi” delivering fish from one boat to another, and back again….food and fuel transfers from different boats…it was a very busy day for us! Ashore I thought this was priceless….!
Below is the produce and provisions we purchased in Mahajunga….A lot you say…? We were contacted by 1 other boat that had been “stuck” in Baly Bay (where we were headed to next) for over 3 weeks waiting for a weather window and was running out of fresh food (no store in Baly Bay). So they asked us if we could get a few items for them. Then another boat emailed us kindly letting us know they arrived in Baly Bay but had been there a week and they were running out of fresh stuff too….so we offered to purchase food for them since we were already asked to do so for another boat. Trevor went a bit crazy but we understand that we did not know when we would be leaving ourselves….so better to over provision.
Day 11 – Katsepe to Baly Bay: 16 03.75 S, 45 17.80 E
The last leg….and it was a long day hop…70 miles….we wanted to make Baly Bay during day light hours for obvious reasons and to organize the provisions we just purchased for 2 separate boats…. not to mention we had been making water for 3 separate boats and wanted to make sure they were topped off before we cross the Mozambique channel….there was a lot to do! We motor sailed almost the entire way there just to be sure we could accomplish everything.
Rumb line and motor sailing…it’s not a horrible thing especially when you have errands to run : ) 
We dropped anchor in 22 ft of water with a sand/mud bottom at mid tide. Mind you there are 2 different anchorages: the outer anchorage and the Lagoon. We were at the outer anchorage and the boats we had purchased food for were in the Lagoon. After many messages back and forth, they decided not to come and pick up their food….. 
….we had put a lot of effort to separate, bag, and sort all the fresh foods for each boat…I am not going to lie…it was pretty disappointing. But I guess we will be “vegetarians” for the crossing of the Mozambique channel (LOL)!!!
As we were approaching Baly Bay, we (all) received an email from Des saying it was “Go Time” and leaving tomorrow from Baly Bay across the Mozambique channel was possible. HOLY CRAP!!!! This threw some of us (me in particular) into a state of panic…thinking we would have a few days to prep (pre-cooked meals, things stowed, etc.) here in Baly Bay…it looked as if that was not going to happen. Trevor and I spend the evening filling water jugs for boats, stopping at a few boats to discuss weather, getting satellite communications exchanged for a boat that could not receive Des’s emails, and finally making sure Beez Neez was safely anchored at about mid-night….I was pooped!!!!
Up Next: Channel Jumpers….crossing the Mozambique channel!