Turtle Island
22 September 2014 | Madagascar
September 16
Turtle Island, Honey River and whales, whales, whales!
Today was the day!!!! We saw whales breaching! We saw whale tails sliding into the water! We saw plumes of what looked like steam shooting out of the water, when they came to the surface to breathe. It was so exciting!
Seventeen miles from Russian Bay, and Turtle Island (Nosy Iranja – nosy means island in Malagasy), we put down our anchor in 15 feet of green-turquoise, pristine water. This was just a two hour stop for us, as we were wanting to be in Honey River (Maramahamay River), by late afternoon. We lowered the dingy and hustled to shore.
Turtle island is actually two islands connected by a long sandbar which is exposed at low tide. Our timing was perfect, as the tide was ebbing and the sandbar was perfect for walking. Liam, Michael and I threw a football around for a bit. Zoe jogged the length of the sandbar and Maia captured some beautiful pictures, which I will post when we have stronger internet.
The temptation to stay until the next day was great, but we didn’t for two reasons. The first was that this anchorage was very exposed and extremely rolly due to swell coming from two directions. The other reason was that Peggy and David from s/v Rhythm were arriving at Honey River that day and we were hoping that s/v Smoke would join us too. Jenny and Randy, aboard s/v Mystic, had been there and we were hoping they still were. So, after two glorious hours, we returned to Gromit, pulled anchor and sailed the last 7 miles to Honey River.