We made it to Hellville the main port in Nosy Be yesterday at noon. Oddly enough Eagle Wings, La Familia, and Petrell (three other boats we like to hang out with) were just arriving to Nosy Be as well. They had left Chagos two weeks before us but took a much more leisurely pace down the coast of Madagascar stopping at several anchorages.

We had been warned that petty theft was rampant in Hellville so we stripped the deck of anything which could easily be removed and dogged down and locked all of the ports. La Familia offered us a ride to the wharf in their dinghy which we gladly accepted because our was not setup yet. We had to paddle the dinghy as outboard motors are supposedly prized booty for thieves here and thus it was left aboard below decks. So far none of these precautions has been necessary.

Landing at Hellville is a little overwhelming at first. The wharf is very busy with people, goods, and, supplies being landed from all manner of vessels. The most interesting was the herd of goats which was led off a barge, up the wharf, and off towards town. Also a French film crew was filming a scene amidst the chaos.

We were met on the ramp by several "boat boys" who are eager to guard our dinghy for a price. We had been given names of some of the more trustworthy and fortunately the second boy to speak to us was one of the highly recommended ones. We offered him 2000 Ariary (about $1.00 USD) payable upon our return.

We made our way around to the various offices: police and immigration, customs and quarantine, and the port captain. We had been warned not to bring any original documents as a bribe might be required in order to get them back. None of these precautions seemed necessary either. There was no subjectivity over fees and we were given receipt for everything. When we compared notes with other yachties who had check in weeks before exactly the same fees had been levied.

Although one of our group spoke French it also did not seem necessary. Everyone is very friendly and eager to be of help. Also ATM is a short walk in to town.

After we finished checking in, which took an hour and a half, and checked out the internet cafes and markets, our group headed to a bar called Nandipo for beers and food. It was a lively evening of drinking, billiards, and magic tricks. We eventually closed the place down after many rounds of Three Horse Beer and thorough domination of the pool table by the Norwegian women in the group.

We walked back to the wharf where our boat boy was asleep in the dinghy waiting for us. It was a fun night and one of the better first night ashore we have had in a long time. We are looking forward to exploring more of Madagascar over the next month or so.