We are happily still at anchor in Russian Bay enjoying a very pleasant and relaxing time.
The
locals arrive at our boat each morning selling or trading whatever they
have, mainly bananas, mangoes, limes or fish. One lady has taken to
baking fresh bread rolls then she paddles out to all boats to sell them,
a very welcome offer indeed. However, the other morning we were woken
to something a little out of the ordinary. An old man came bearing, not
only the usual fruits, but a live crocodile as well! We're not sure if
he seriously thought he could sell it to one of us but he was a very
resourceful and wily bloke as he knew we'd all want to take photos. He
only came close enough once he'd negotiated a deal, either financial or
trade; smart fellow. As none of us were about to take a live croc on
board, he then took to over to André to sell it to him.
André, the owner of the plâce de rassemblement (social
gathering and drinking establishment), has kept us well fed once he
returned from a trip over to Nosy Be to replenish his larder. His mode
of transport is a traditional dhow; no fancy power boat for him. He
even brought back ice to keep his meats cold which meant cold beers the
first night. We'd given our old torn genniker to him to use as a shade
cloth for his vegetable garden. In return, he gave us our dinners for
free. One meal was a zebu casserole dish which was very tasty, another was a pork dish and, you guessed it, the third was the crocodile. He fried some up a bit like a schnitzel and the remainder done in the style of a Hungarian goulash. The meat itself was fairly tasteless but he created a very enjoyable meal. We tried to establish whether the crocs here are salties or fresh water crocs; we think and hope that they're probably the latter as we're all swimming in the bay every day.
We
have no internet on the boat here but if we dinghy out towards the
entrance to the bay, we can occasionally pick up a signal. Connecting
further south sounds as though it might be an issue as well but we'll
probably leave here in the morning to start working our way down through
some of the other islands and anchorages.PHOTO GALLERY:
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