As Des Cason put it perfectly… “this is not a dress rehearsal”…..
The challenges:
The following challenges are summarized and are not technical in any shape or form….if you want a more technical description read the article posted on Noonsite from Des Cason, our weather router for Madagascar and South Africa…..READ IT if you are planing to “channel jump”!
https://www.noonsite.com/report/madagascar-cruising-notes/
- Currents: First and foremost, the general goal would be to find a favorable current (moving the same direction as you want to go) however, currents unfortunately are not static…they move around…sometimes in a circular pattern. There are general areas where they exist but there is no perfect rule to find them nor predict their strength. First was the Mozambique current and as you may be able to tell in the above image from the internet, it is not just flowing in one direction…there are small eddies of counter current that pop up. Next up, the Agulhas current which has a more consistent flow South down the SE coast of the African continent. It is a narrow, swift, and strong (up to 4-5 knots) that follows the Continental shelf. Supposedly the second swiftest current in the world just after the Gulf Stream, the Agulhas current is however reported the deadliest due to the gale force winds in the area and rouge waves when wind blows from the NW…against the current.
- Southern Winds and Swell (against currents): We would all prefer a nice 15 knots of breeze from the North for this passage, however, 15-25 knots of SW/S/SE winds are generally foretasted in and down the channel …”sailable” but are generally against the favorable current you are trying to catch. What we are trying to avoid are called RTS (Revolving Tropical Storms) which are more localized weather systems due to the system being trapped between Madagascar and the African continent. These RTS systems are not necessarily picked up in modern grib files we all rely on and can pop up quickly. Though technically not a “true cyclone”, RTS systems can offer torrential rain, create 30-50+ knots from the SW/S and these winds against current bring waves/swell into 5-9 meters range! As Des says, “The only remedy is to get offshore (approx. 100nm) and hove to”….better to just avoid if possible!
- Lack of Sheltered Anchorages (Bazaruto, Inhamabe, Inhaca): All of these are located in the country of Mozambique and while it would be smart to plan to clear into this country (more discussion on that later) most cruisers rely on the maritime “seeking safe harbor” as a reason to stop in a port/country for a short time without clearing in. However, as more and more cruisers “seek shelter” here and as more and more development happen on these shore for tourist, this combination attracts opportunity for the locals and officials. There have been a few reports of boarding and passports taken for a short period of time and money demanded by officials in these anchorages….these are only stories and we do not have a personal account. Mind you there are always 2 sides of the story and many of us passed through without any issues. With that said, you may elect to avoid these safety issue to enter these anchorages officially clearing into the country. Additionally, these anchorages are not exactly “easy peasy”…sand bars need an incoming tide to make entrance more safe (could experience 3-4 m waves when the tide is against wind) and shelter from Southerly winds may be decent, protection from the north will make some of these very untenable. Finally, a handful of boats this year had to wait 10+ days in these anchorages waiting for a proper weather window and experienced 60+ knots of wind, hail damage, and 3-4 m swell at anchor….just saying….
The Passage Strategy:
https://earth.nullschool.net/ 
https://www.windy.com/-Currents-currents?currents,-35.066,26.938,5,i:pressure 
Day 1 wind forecast 
Day 1 swell forecast 
Day 2 wind forecast 
Day 2 swell forecast 
Day 3 wind forecast 
Day 3 swell forecast 
Day 4 wind forecast 
Day 4 swell forecast 
Day 5 wind forecast 
Day 5 swell forecast 
Day 6 wind forecast 
Day 6 swell forecast 
Day 7 wind forecast 
Day 7 swell forecast 
Day 8 wind forecast 
Day 8 swell forecast 
Day 9 wind forecast 
Day 9 swell forecast
We were going to cross the channel at the shortest distance between land masses rather than heading South down the West coast of Madagascar (some did do this and some had to hove to for 36 hours). Most of the “fleet” who both crossed before us and who were present with us in Baly Bay took this approach and more over, that is what Des recommends….remember…you are the captain of your own vessel so really it always “skipper choice”…..Our preference was to make the entire passage without stopping but as you know by now…weather is unreliable 3 days out so we will have to wait and make that decision when it comes. With that said, we are fortunate to have a large diesel capacity on board and we planned to maintain an average speed of 5.5 knots even if that meant turning on the engine. We felt this was not a passage to just “hang out” and wait for the wind….it was a “get ‘er done” scenario for us…!!!
- Total miles: 1270
- AVG SOG: 5.5 knots
- ETA in Richards Bay; 9.62 days
Somehow I was roped in to be the net controller on our fleet’s SSB “Channel Jumper’s” net that happened every day on frequency 6227 at 6:30 am (Madagascar local time). Being net controller you have to repeat coordinates of each vessel that checks in to make sure you received their position correctly, I also had to be prepared for any questions regarding weather or updates on emails from Des, and further collect information that could benefit any of us regarding anchorages or clearance in procedures from those who we were following…. all while keeping an upbeat personality…no nobody like to listen to “debbie downer” on the radio! Additionally, we had to make sure our batteries were at 100% and specific electrical panel switches off so transmission was clear. Finally, I plotting each vessel on our OpenCPN program so I could see where we were relative to the rest of the fleet as you’ll see in later screen shots way points of other fleet members. It is not rocket science to do this but it does take a certain amount of energy and effort to be the net controller….I do have a face for radio : ) Funny story….at one point I asked the fleet if anyone would like to to take over the net controller for a bit…it was pure radio silence…LOL!!!….I retired after 2 weeks as soon as we arrived in Richards Bay.
In total: 12 days, 5 hours (includes our time in Bazaruto), 1270 miles, motored 123 hours (approx. 650 miles)
Day 1: October 31…Happy Halloween!!!
Dress up for Halloween while under sail…? 
…” Don’t be ridick-orous” ….
Well…we are off…AGAIN! No sleep for the wicked….after a hectic day of 70 miles of motor sailing the day before, filling 3 boats with fresh water, satellite communications established for 2 boats, midnight watch for buddy boat SV Beez Neez to anchor at Baly Bay, and failure to get fresh produce to 2 different boats…we lifted anchor at 5:30 am (high tide at 5:45 am) and headed out of the bay with 9 other boats!!!
Des Cason confirmed a good weather window to start the crossing and to head for a waypoint (WP) of 17 degree South and 41 degrees East.
From the log book:
- 6pm – COG: 303° m, SOG: 5.5 knots, Wind: 16 knots, AWD: Port 27° , Swell/Sea state: bumpy, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 5 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 73, Total Miles: 73. Notes: Forecast wrong, should be from the SW but it is directly on the nose (W) as we are still too close to land and are in the shadow of the land/sea breezes. Bashing into waves. Fleet to our STB, they are sailing tight to the wind rather than motoring into the waves.
OpenCPN path (pink line) Our first 24 hours. Getting around the Cape St. Andre was a beat into the SW as the wind wraps around the land…. 
The fleet starting to spread as those sailing a bit farther north of us to get a better sailing angle. We decided to keep as far south as we could without our sails flapping and motor on into the waves. 
The seas looks flat right..?! The swell never really shows on camera. The waves displaced on the side of our boat as we move through the swell.
Day 2: November 1
From the log book:
- 6 am – COG: 271°m, SOG: 7-7.5 knots, Wind: 10-15 knots, AWD: Port 70°, Swell/Sea state: 1.5m , AVG SOG last 12 hours: 7.33 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 74 , Total Miles: 147 Notes: Lighting storm 2-5 am, waves over dodger, few hours of 20+ knots of wind, bouncy! Engine off 6 am, current with us?
- 6 pm – COG: 250-257°m, SOG: 4.5 knots, Wind: 15-18 knots, AWD: Port 20°, Swell/Sea state: Bouncy, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 5.3 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 64, Total Miles: 211 Notes: Wind clocked more S, tried to go directly S…no go…no speed…changed back directions..then Pilot whales. Must be in a counter current as SOG had dropped.
OpenCPN path. Still trying to keep as south as possible. Most of the fleet are now 20nm north of us. 
Early morning we had behind us huge lighting. You can see where our boat is relative to the the high CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) values in pink. These values help predict the instability of the automoshpere and the potential and severity of thunderstorms. 
We must of hit a counter current…SOG is too slow for the wind speed and motoring we were doing… 
We thought maybe we should head directly south….that didn’t work so we changed back to our original route and as we did this…these guys came…that’s right…pilot whales…a sign I am sure of it!!!
Day 3: November 2
From the log book:
- 6 am – COG: 265 °m, SOG: 8-8.5 knots, Wind: 15-20 knots, AWD: Port 55 °, Swell/Sea state: 2.5-3m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 6.25 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 75 , Total Miles: 286 Notes: 8pm secured anchor to mast as the waves were lifting the anchor and we were afraid it would jump off its roller. Lots of green water over dodger! 3:30am shut off engine, out of the counter current. changed course to head closer to shore.
- 6 pm – COG: 260 °m, SOG: 6.4 knots, Wind: 12-18 knots, AWD: Port 36-40°, Swell/Sea state: 3m , AVG SOG last 12 hours: 6.55 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 78 , Total Miles: 364 Notes: Bashing into waves, salt everywhere! As soon as wind clocks > S, we will change course.
OpenCPN path. Maybe you can see where I marked the shipping lanes on OpenCPN….. 
…and we were pretty sure when we neared them as a fleet of fishing and cargo ships were headed our way. You’ll see here SV Geramino who had been near us the thus far and had to hail a vessel to make sure they were being detected. 
It’s crazy to see another boat when you are sailing out in the middle of nowhere…even though you know there were many of us…SV Eliana came into view (on AIS) at 10pm. Warren was headed successfully due south, what we failed to do hours ago…..
Day 4: November 3
From the log book:
- 6 am – COG: 222 °m, SOG: 6.8 knots, Wind: 8 knots, AWD: Port 40 °, Swell/Sea state: 1m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 6.25 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 75 , Total Miles: 435 Notes: 1am wind died so engine back on to keep up SOG. Wind shifted to > S.
- 6 pm – COG: 215 °m, SOG: 6.5 knots, Wind: 10 knots, AWD: Port 35°, Swell/Sea state: 1m , AVG SOG last 12 hours: 5.16 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 62 , Total Miles: 497 Notes: Fuel delivery to Geronimo 1pm. 1-2 knots of current..? SOG too fast for these lighter winds. No naps for either of us! Sunny all day : )
OpenCPN path. Starting the arch south towards Bazaruto, our first ditch out anchorage if weather dictated. 
SV Geranimo and ourselves had been in communication every day. At this point we both had decided to keep going but they were concerned about not having enough fuel to get all the way down to Richards Bay just in case a weather system came up and they would have to motor through it. We had plenty of fuel and the weather was conducive to transfer fuel so rather than wait, we decided to get them fuel (we offered, they accepted) today rather than last minute in potentially worse weather conditions. Here we are headed back 5 miles towards them… 
Trevor preparing the fuel cans with a float on it…. 
We set it free and they drove up and picked it up with a boat hook…perfectly executed and received…it’s like we had done this before (LOL)!!!!
Day 5: November 4
From the log book:
- 6 am – COG: 197 °m, SOG: 7.5 knots, Wind: 12-18 knots, AWD: Port 40 °, Swell/Sea state: 1m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 6.83 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 82 , Total Miles: 579 Notes: 9am engine on. Lots of calculation as to whether keep heading for Richards Bay, South Africa or ditch out to Bazaruto, Mozambique.
- Noon-1pm: After receiving our daily email from Des Cason, he stated there were 2 systems headed our way. The first one was predicted to hit Richards Bay on Thursday 11/7 by noon with 25-30 knots of wind from the S and move up the coast. The second system had RTS characteristics (per Des) which was predicted to hit Friday 11/10 and by Sunday wind speeds experienced could be 35+!!! Not a good place to be…with very little shelter between Bazaruto and Richards Bay and we had to decide if we could make it the rest of the 540 miles before the first systems hits in 72 hours. That meant an average SOG of 7.5. Our overall SOG for the trip was approximately 6 knots and to Trevor’s defense, we were in a very good current at the time and our speed was really good but could we sustain this high speed average for 72 hours? Trevor was convinced he could do it…. I went into a massive panic: Angry, scared, yelling, screaming, crying…not my best moment…but I was incredibly scared and it came from a place of basic primal fear. I can’t explain it…Trevor is still trying to forget it….He ultimately decided that taking “crew” unwilling into a potential bad situation is worse than ditching out to Bazaruto….and so we did….I am glad Trevor loves me more than his pride…that’s true compromise in it’s most raw form…something that we had never been through before that day and it was eye-opening for both of us!
- 6 pm – COG: 325 °m, SOG: 5-6 knots, Wind: 10-15 knots, AWD: Port 180°, Swell/Sea state: 1+m , AVG SOG last 12 hours: 6.33 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 76 , Total Miles: 655 Notes: Crazy current here, trying to slow down but trying to make it as comfortable ride as possible…. jib only.
OpenCPN path. You can see we waited till the last moment to turn towards Bazaruto…it was a long day… 
Sunset 5 pm….we couldn’t arrive in the dark and had to time our aproach during an incoming tide so we were super reefed and trying to slow down in the current we were in. 
Sailing sideways…taken at 6:15 pm. The current was so strong that we had to literally head perpendicular to our route towards Bazaruto. The current here must of 3+ knots…just not going in the same direction as we were at the moment! 
Out of current, heading is back to “normal”…taken at 10:45 pm…crazy?!
Day 6: November 5
From the log book:
- 6 am – COG: 255 °m, SOG: 4 knots, Wind: 15 knots, AWD: Port ?? °, Swell/Sea state: 1-2m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 4.91 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 59 , Total Miles: 714 Notes: Massive wave in cockpit at midnight. Really uncomfortable ride. AIS off and now monitoring VHF ch 69 and plan to listen only to ch 16. 22 miles to go until anchor down.
- 10 am – Anchor down in 27 feet…. In total: 750 nm, 66 engine hours (just less than half the passage), 5 days 5 hours.
OpenCPN path in and out of Bazaruto anchorage. The pink dots are way points provided by Des Cason. With large currents these way points change as the sand shifts making depths in certain spots differ possibly from chart depth. Generally we found the depth mostly accurate. 
Google image of the first channel between 2nd and 3rd WP. We saw depths of 50+ feet….plenty of depth and no major concern about waves against tide here. 
As we headed for the 3rd WP just before the turn, we saw on our Google images a sand bar not mentioned in Des’s way points…. 
….at the sand bar we saw depths of 25 feet…still good enough depth at high tide for us…we have a draft of 5.5 ft. 
As we headed for the 4th WP, there is sand “point” to go over if you took a straight line from WP 4 to 5. We can see it on Google images so we opted to go around it for good measure…. 
At the sand “point” we saw depths of 35 feet…we probably could of gone over it..but better to stay safe than “sorry” : ) 
Then on to the 5th and last WP for the anchorage… 
We dropped anchor before the WP which was near the village. We felt that the more contact we had could be more of an issue….plus it looked deeper so we opted for a shallower spot…. 
Anchor down in 27 ft and in this mini channel. The bottom was excellent holding! 
A message from our friends on SV Spill the Wine who had been in Bazaruto just a few week before we arrived waiting for their weather window. We can not confirm any of this information but clearly there are some supplies there if you needed it. We also were told a previous boat arrived to Bazaruto with very little fuel left and was able to secure enough fuel for the rest of the passage to South Africa…so it can be done : )
Day 7-8: November 6th-7th
Bazaruto, Mozambique (note you gain an hour) was a beautiful anchorage. Some opted to go ashore and explore the sand dunes and village…we decided not to and keep a low profile, though hard to do with 9 boats there : ) We spent 3 days there before we decided to head on to Richards Bay, South Africa. Here are a few photos of our time there….
The anchorage…we were pretty spread out so there is a lot of space here. A total of 9 boats. 
SV Umnyama, Dick and Monique, hosted the entire anchorage to their catameran for HH. Since not everyone had their dinghy’s in the water, Dick and Trevor ferried everyone to and from…. 
…it was so nice of them to organize and for everyone to get together and some of us meeting for the first time…. 
….it was a a great social break for all of us to get off “our” respective boats and share some great food, drinks, and conversation with”other” people (LOL)!!! 
Unfortuneatly, the next morning someone called out on the radio (mind you we were all monitoring ch 69) that someone’s dinghy was floating away…yup…that was us. Since Dick on SV Umnyama had their dinghy in the water from last night’s HH, he and Mpnique came to the resuce…thank goodness for them…it would of been a long swim to shore : ) 
The following day, we were invited to SV China Dream for a traditional Chinese meal…so lucky!!!!…Jackie is also the chef on board so Trevor and he had lots to chat about… 
…they even broke out the “good stuff” for us…really expensive Sake…Trevor’s favorite : ) 
Then we had a visit from the park rangers….we were asked to pay $48 usd to stay anchored at the national park here…. 
…we thought that was not unreasonable since we were in their country “illegally”. Simply paid cash and got a receipt…!!! 
Then we were visitied by a local man and his 5 sons offering lobsters…? yes please!
Day 9: November 8th
540 nm to go from Bazaruto to Richards Bay, South Africa.
Well it was going to be another “bash” and possibly wet ride as we head back into and down the Mozambique channel from Bazaruto until we clear both land masses and out of the channel. The weather was reporting NE winds of 8-10 knots but then building and clocking to the SE with 15-20 knots with gusts up to 30 the next day…so we had to take advantage of the NE winds and light swell to head as far east out into the channel as we could so we don’t get “pinched” at the “bump” of Mozambique since the wind and waves will push us towards land… 5am anchor up!
From the log book:
- Noon – COG: 163 °m, SOG: 6.5 knots, Wind: 10-15 knots, AWD: Port 80 °, Swell/Sea state: 1-1.5m, AVG SOG last 7 hours: 6.02 knots, Miles last 7 hours: 42, Total Miles: 42 Notes: Wind indicator not working…will have to measure wind speed and angle old school style by placing our head out of the cockpit and turning our head until we hear the “wind” in both ears. That is the wind direction. Speed will have to estimated by the amount of white caps we see on the horizon. AIS on, back to VFH ch 16. Great motor sailing… Jib out, main on 1st reef…need to get as far East as possible!!!
- Midnight – COG: 200 °m, SOG: 8 knots, Wind: 12ish knots, AWD: Port 40 °, Swell/Sea state: 1.5-2m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 6.91 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 83, Total Miles: 125 Notes: 1 am wind shift, changed course, slight counter current as speed went down to 4 knots,swell now 2+ meters, engine off.
If we would of known the park rangers were coming and we had to pay anyways, we would of left this way. If we had, we would of moved and anchored the night before. We heard 1 boat this year who attempted this at mid-tide had to wait until high tide. 
OpenCPN path: As we were at anchor in Bazaruto, other fleet members who were slower did not stop and kept going. However, they had to endure the first system on the 7th out at sea… 
Back into the current with full sails and motor on low revs…. 
By midnight or so the wnd started to shift and we tried to keep the ride as comfortable as we could but still trying to head as far SE/S as we could.
Day 10: November 9th
From the log book:
- Noon – COG: 207 °m, SOG: 7+ knots, Wind: 25ish knots, AWD: Port 40 °, Swell/Sea state: 3m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 7.18 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 86, Total Miles: 211 Notes: 6am-surfing down waves at 9 knots, 2nd reef in jib, main still on 1st reef. Pounding into waves, green water over dodger. 15 nm off shore…too close! We think the waves/swell so near to shore were exaggerated by the contour of the ocean floor as it swallowed. In the “pinch zone”. Motor on 7 am to keep course as straight S as possible. Coffee literally “jumped” out of my coffee cup this morning…seriously uncomfortable!
- Midnight – COG: 235 °m, SOG: 5.5 knots, Wind: 8-12ish knots, AWD: Port 90 °, Swell/Sea state: 1.5-2m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 6.9 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 82, Total Miles: 294 Notes: 6pm engine off, and wind started to clock > E and back off speed. Sea finally backed down and after 8 pm, decent sailing.
Day 10: November 10th
From the log book:
- Noon – COG: 220 °m, SOG: 7+ knots, Wind: 8-10ish knots, AWD: Port 130 °, Swell/Sea state: 1m, AVG SOG last 12 hours: 7.58 knots, Miles last 12 hours: 91, Total Miles: 385 Notes: 3 am engine on since the wind died down to 5-10 knots. We must had some current in the morning, moving fast with these light winds. Engine off by noon and prepare wing on wing sail configuration (jib/main still reefed) as we anticipate the wind to clock to NE (again) and be a big blow. For now, really pleasant!
- 6pm – Midnight– COG: 230°m, SOG: 6.3 knots, Wind: 20ish knots, AWD: Port 160-180 °, Swell/Sea state: 2m, AVG SOG last 6.2 hours: 6.9 knots, Miles last 6 hours: 38, Total Miles: 423 Notes: Engine on 6 pm due to squalls making wind direction and strength incredibly variable…sometime no wind at all. 7 pm, wind picking up.
Day 11: November 11th
It was a very busy night/early morning on November 11th as we approached Richards Bay so no log book entries!!! SV Starry Horizons (40-50 miles ahead of us) reported to us true wind speed of 40+ knots by 1-2 am in morning of 11th. Glad we didn’t have a wind indicator!!! Massive lighting storm for HOURS and we just couldn’t get out of it’s reach!…it was so close to us we actually saw the strikes hundreds of meters from our boat…TOO CLOSE for comfort…and multiple times. Afraid of a lighting strike to ‘Flo’, we turned off what we could for electronics and tried to keep dry and warm as the storm would bring rain off and on. By day light 4 boats were ready to enter Richards Bay harbor and by 8 am, we were tied off to the small craft harbor wharf wall….exhausted, exhilarated, emotional that we made it to South Africa…all in one piece!!!
A brief note regarding Mozambique: To clear in or not to clear in….?
I believe in the past, or at least I have yet to read from blogs or on Noonsite, that cruisers have not cleared into Mozambique when seeking shelter along this coast…generally speaking. With this said, we “thought” that we would be “good to go” to Bazaruto or any other anchorages suggested in the past. However, similar to our experience in Katsepe, Madagascar where there seems to be an uptick in water taxi and port authority cooperation, here too has seen more activity from officials where in the past it had been a “safe haven” for cruisers. I do not have a first hand report but this year we heard of 2 incidents of officials “confiscating passports and demanding payment”…. This is not to scare you as we, and many others this year, took shelter without incident. Though we preferred to go straight from Madagascar to Richards Bay in one go….general rule..it is a very hard task to accomplish (though we know 6 boats who left with us who did it in one go but got hit by a 25+ SE winds and most hove to for a night). So take in consideration, for those who are following in our wake, you will probably stop along somewhere in Mozambique. We heard 2 boats officially clear into the country this year, one being our friends from SV Slepnir III (Ellen and Michael) who reported it both reduced their stress of being in the country “illegally” or feeling rushed to get out but also allowed them to visit villages and enjoy what we hear is a great place to explore. This is the first country we did NOT clear into and after feeling the constraints of being “boat bound” (by our own choice) we probably would of budgeted in clearance here and it would of changed our plans/schedule in Madagascar. See below for SV Slepnir’s account for clearing in….it’s skippers choice!
Apologies for the format but this was all sent via satellite email so formatting is not an option….Ellen kindly wrote this and dispersed it throughout the fleet….a task that takes time and energy…thank you to them!!!
there are as per noonsite 3 anchorages on the way to RB where boats shelter:
– bazaruto
– inhanambe
– inhanca
talking to Des, only bazaruto (and only one spot there) is still practicable as in the others boats have gotten into trouble with Moz authorities (including threat to take confiscate passport and pay a huge fine). inhanca still could be an emergency stop but only on the north tip which is fully open to all northerlies. You cannot go there and wait for wind to turn sud. it seems right. there are check in facilities for boats in all three areas, our homecountries wouldn’t accept being in the country without a real emergency without clearance neither. clearance in bazaruto is in Vilanculos. The anchorage is not well protected and to have water under our keels at low tide and sand on the bottom we needed to stay at roughly 21*57’993S 035*19’317E. we went in further first but had insufficient swingroom and stronger current. there is no dinghy parking so we dropped the skipper off for the clearance run and crew went the day after to pick up their visa and passport which the skipper left at the airport. so here’s the runsheet: skipper heads up the road and turns right. walks till seeing the first cashpoint and gets cash. turn right behind the cashpoint and follow the road. maritimo is on the left hand side in a building with a veranda and white posts for the roof. it’s marked. there you tell them how long you are going to stay in bazzaruto and give them a COPY of your Mada clearance. you pay the stay in bazzaruto, it’s worked out per tonnage of your boat. 1 week for 8t cost me 2160 local currency. then you follow the road a bit further to national park office. the entry is a big sliding gate on the right hand side of the road, it looks like an upmarket lodge. here you can pay with credit card. 2400 it was for us. foreign boat, max passengers 2! and currently 2 on board. you pay per entry. you can enter and stay, each entry will cost again, so best is just to go and stay in the park. the park rangers control frequently, collect fees from everyone that hasn’t paid, but that’s legit. there are as well 6 law enforcement outposts marked on the map, so the area is controlled. leave the office and hail a tuktuk. a simple ride to the airport should set you back no more than 250. I paid 300 each direction but the driver waited and we had several stops. it was a fair deal i think.
At the airport you head to arrivals and walk in where the people would come out. there are counters for passport control and the immigration office is behind them. I had no visa, so I visa fee (1 month is 50 dollars per person) and left thee second passport there. the visa requires a photo and that’s why everyone needs to go there in person. crew went the second day and picked the passport up. they do not want you to pay for the crew upfront but will take the money after discussion if you don’t have the right notes. if you have only euros they will take 50 eur per passport. i don’t know how much it would be in local currency. the immigration chief charged 1000 local per passport boat handling fee. it was receipted. this is debatable for non commercial boats as per Delwyn McPhun but common practice. the supermarket opposite the first cashpoint is well stocked, the cafe opposite looks really great (donuts) but i didn’t have time. now you are free to roam in Mozambique as long as you observe domestic clearance requirements. maritimo in each port will charge the right to stay in the area and you need to collect the “certificado de sortie” when leaving each port. maritimo didn’t tell us this and i haven’t done this part yet. I still have the original clearance form from Mada to SA, so that is a fallback if something goes wrong further down the track I guess. Immigration and maritimo will want crewlists and a copy of the mada exit form. note customs doesn’t seem required, immigration asked if i had paid customs already and i answered “i have paid maritimo”. he didn’t insist. according to Delwyn McPhun customs is not part of the moz clearance. when you jump off the dinghy there are some people wanting to help, guide, etc, i told them no need… the town is a pleasant and rather touristy town, at no time i felt insecure doing the run as female by myself. At no time did any official ask for a bribe. I’m looking forward to inhanambe and inhanca now, and will find out along the way whether Maputo is OK to check out, it’s got a rough reputation as a city. hope this helps, ellen