Lemurs galore

Only an eighteen mile trip from Hellville is a huge protected bay commonly known as Russian Bay.  It's correct name is Baie d'Ambavatoby but it got its nickname from the time of the war between the Japanese and the Russians back in 1905 when the Russian navy stopped there for several months.   In case of a cyclone, it offers a very sheltered anchorage with excellent holding in sand.

An Austrian chap, André, set up home on the beach a few years back and has built a yachty-friendly pub and restaurant as well as a little shop where the locals can purchase some basic commodities.   We arrived too late on the first evening when he had put on a fabulous spread for all the yachts in the bay but we enjoyed a delicious, albeit messy, crab dinner the following night.  His home is rather primitive without electricity therefore there's no refrigeration but he allows the guys to bring and drink their own cold beers on condition that they purchase warm ones from him to replace these, then return with them the following night once they've been chilled back aboard.  It all works very well and certainly not a hardship as his price for a bottle of beer is no more than we'd paid in the supermarket.

Just before we left Hellville, we heard that Zorana had lost their dinghy the previous evening.  It appears that it broke loose while they were having their sundowners and drifted off. They spent many hours the following day, searching in and out of all the nooks and crannies of the bay as well as outside but to no avail.  The word was out that he would offer a reward but after three days, there was still no sign of it.  But miracles do happen!  Two yacht left Russian Bay to head southwards and thought they saw a pirogue dragging a dinghy.  Out with the binoculars and they felt sure it was Zorana's so one of them changed course to follow the pirogue and yes, it was indeed.  Financial negotiations took place and they retrieved it.  Meanwhile, Jack and Sandy were just anchoring back in Crater Bay near Hellville in the hopes of putting out the word there when they heard the conversations on the radio.  They immediately did a quick u-turn (well, maybe not quite so quick as its 18nm) back to Russian Bay so they could set off early the following morning to meet up with the rescue team.  Needless to say, they were thrilled.

Four of us left the bay early the following morning to visit Nosy Antsoha, a national park island just five miles away which is also known as Lemur Island for a very good reason.  There are four different varieties of lemurs resident there and plenty of them.  We certainly got our lemur-fix in this beautiful spot; thoroughly enjoyable.  The lemurs are friendly and curious and always looking for a banana handout.  Many of them had babies and quite happily would land on our shoulders to receive their treats.  We're still amazed that there are so many different varieties in Madagascar and ONLY in Madagascar!











On our way back to Russian Bay, we stopped at another island where there were loads of crystal rocks but most had been chipped away by previous visitors.  It's now a national park and removal of any stones is strictly prohibited.


PHOTO GALLERY:

A loo with a view

Crystal rocks