Sunday, September 19, 2010
Ifaty, Madagascar

So Day 2 in Ifaty started with a beautiful sunrise. I hadn’t meant to see it but to an early bathroom call I got to see it. By 9am we were being picked up by our snorkeling outfit .. And I use that term loosely! Two locals in a dugout canoe with an outrigger and homemade mast lashed together with vine and rope..all completed by a big canvas sail. But the darn thing move out and was quite sea worthy.

In the canoe we had myself, Pat and Jans all barely fitting our wide vasa arses into the canoe. As it turns out were headed for exactly the same reef I dove yesterday so I already knew what to expect. But with the increased turbulence in the water the food supply was up and there were possibly a few more fish than yesterday.

Well after 50 minutes in the water we headed back for shore. Our fresh fish lunch was to be had shortly…or so we thought. Upon arriving back at the beach, they tell us that lunch is at 1pm and it is only 11.. So we just all sit in the comfy chairs at the plush dunes and chill in the shade for a couple of hours.

Finally we head down to lunch and after getting them to hold up their part of the bargain for a beer a piece (they somehow thought one large beer was going to serve three of us!!!) We sit down to the most amazing fresh fish meal. We saw them carry the live fish up from the water and 30 minutes later we have 6 grilled fish and a pot of fish stew with rice and veggies and banana all spread out before us. Simply fantastic … Did I mention the lunch cost $7!

The rest of the day can be summed up by saying we retired to our chairs again and snoozed, read, chatted and generally relaxed to the sounds of the waves on the beach and the crap on shelf vendors walking the beach trying to sell beads, carvings, boats… I tried to sell THEM Pat but they said I’d have to pay them to take him 🙂

Finally we decide on one last farewell drink with our new german friends. Well rather than beer we all thought cocktails might be in order. Wrong idea. Somehow the pina colada that should be in a tall glass and have plentiful amounts of local rum.. Came in a tiny martini glass, was only pineapple and coconut and had no rum.. And cost $8..more than my entire lunch..what a ripoff!
But it was finally time to depart and off we went to catch our death ride back to Toliara. If I thought the ride out was crazy, this ride was insane. We talked the driver into picking us up at 6pm so we could spend the whole day in Ifaty. However there are problems with bandits on the roads at night so I am fairly sure this guy was trying to get us back as quickly as possible to avoid any possible issues.

Back in Toliara, the hotel reservation we thought we had was screwed up and we had to take a crappy stuffy room at the back of the joint, so this time we got the room for $5 :). We were just going to sleep there after all!

Tomorrow we are flying to Morondova for our trip to the Tsingy’s! Should be fun 🙂

Pictures & Video

Fishing the high seas	Our little captain in training	fishey fishey fishey	Angel Fish
My lunch is LOOKIING at me!	The G3 Lunch Summit (US, DE, SW)	Mario.. my little friend!	Sailing anyone?
Where I sat for about 4 hours!	I miss Night Moves!   Comments!

 

Fishing the high seas

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Our little captain in training

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fishey fishey fishey

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Angel Fish

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My lunch is LOOKIING at me!

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The G3 Lunch Summit (US, DE, SW)

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Mario.. my little friend!

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Sailing anyone?

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Where I sat for about 4 hours!

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I miss Night Moves!

Comments:

We miss you too! Thanks for the vicarious trip – Go blue! From sailorgal, on Sep 26, 2010 at 01:08AM

 

 

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