Shelter from the Storm
05 November 2006 | Bazaruto, Mozambique
Julie
We arrived to the north of Bazaruto Island at about midnight last night and it was clearly lit with two lighthouses. We had been told that they were not functioning, so were pleased to see them. From there we had about 12 miles to go to the anchorage, working our way through tidal flats. It was low water, but fortunately both our Nobeltec and C-Map charts were right on, so we didn't encounter any problems. We did have two scares where the tidal rip caused the depth meter to inaccurately show very shallow depths, but once we figured out what was happening, that was also not a problem.
We anchored in a large bay that looks to be very protected from the southerly winds we are expecting to hit tonight. After cleaning up the boat and unwinding a bit, we got our first night of full sleep in while. And a lovely one at that. By daylight both the anchorage and island are beautiful. There is a long white sand beach and many local boats, similar to those in Madagascar. There are also some resort dive boats which we were surprised to see.
The southerly winds are supposed to last until Wednesday, so we will remain here until we get the go-ahead that is safe to continue south. Judging by first impressions, I'd say that there are worse places to have to wait out weather.