MADAGASCAR & MOZAMBIQUE

December 4, 2006

For the photo album go to: http://www.cometosea.us/albums/albums/Circumnavigation%20Slideshow

I am starting the latest update of the log while on passage from Madagascar to South Africa. I have passed latitude 21 South and that puts me the furthest away from the equator since May of 2005. Last April, I came as far North as 20.37 degrees at Haiphong, Vietnam and Fiji at 19 South, last September, was the furthest South I had ventured till to-day. The water temperature is dropping and after two years in the tropics I am looking forward to some cooler weather. The furthest south this will take me is Cape Town at 35 degrees South. Roughly the latitude of Monterey, California.

I arrived at the offshore Madagascar Island of Nosy Be ( also known as Nossi Be) on November 8, from the Seychelles. And I spent

10 days at Hellville on Nosy Be. Hellville is the most popular first port to clear in to. Madagascar is the world's fourth poorest country.

It is a former French colony. French is still spoken by most everyone. The Malgache language is a mixture of Swahili, Portuguese and whatever. The majority came to Madagascar as slaves from the nearby African continent. There was also a migration from Malaysia/Indonesia, several centuries ago. Most of these people live in the central highlands of the main island. A number of Vietnamese fled here after the fall of Saigon in 1974.  Some intermarriage with Europeans, Indians and Asians is apparent. Many of the women are exotically attractive.

The cruising guides mention that the check in procedures and fees can be complicated and expensive. The port captain was extremely hospitable and I did not have to pay anything for staying just a week. I paid $ 7.50 for the quarantine/health clearance.

The town of Hellville is a throwback to the early 19th century. It looks like a movie set for the  "Three Musketeers" or a French revolutionary period movie. The buildings have not been updated or repaired since Napoleon Bonaparte left for Elba. The canons of that time are still positioned at the ramparts and in front of the old armory, now the local jail. There are probably still a few guillotines laying around here. Which brings me to the gruesome story of a yachtsman, found beheaded, on his boat here last March.

The first I heard of this was from a South African couple on the "Deja Vue", at Kudat, Malaysia, last May. They frequently visit Nosy Be.

I have written a short story about his and will let you know where to read this later. But in short, it is about two European adventurer sailors here in Nosy Be. Hans Michael Klein, a German, on the van de Stadt designed 50 plus feet "Doaula", the victim and about Alex(ander) Klar, Swiss, on the aluminum ketch, "Ice".  Both boats returned from a side trip to Kenya in early March. They were known to be engaged in some questionable businesses to maintain their lifestyles and local families. Reportedly they had an argument shortly before Mike (Michael) was found at the bottom of the companion way with his head severed and laying at his feet.

The local policed arrested Alex. He was held in the local jail from April till September. A team of German police came out and proved that the DNA found on Mike did not have any match with Alex. So, Alex was conditionally released. The people who know Alex maintain that he just could not be the kind of man to commit such a hideous crime. I tried to talk to Alex. He was at Mahajanga, on the main island, when I was at Nosy Be. When I found his place in Mahajanga he had just left the day before for Nosy Be...

He had tried to get custody of his two daughters there. Apparently this did not go well and his local ex wife had him jailed for another month in Mahajanga. The real murderer(s) remain at large. There are a number of theories floating around, one of them that it was a drug gang's execution.

There are a number of other boats here on Nosy Be that have made their semi-permanent home here, mostly French, including my Seychelles friend Roland on "Samarcande". Some of them take visiting tourists on charters for a few days to the surrounding islands. Nosy Komba is a few miles away and the famous Madagascar Rhesus monkeys can be observed here. Alitalia has a weekly flight from Milan to Nosy Be and next to the French they are regularly seen in groups in Hellville. The local vendors have even accumulated a sales vocabulary in Italian. 

Most of the taxis here are Renault Quatres from the seventies. Many of the cars are brought in second hand from Europe, most still carry the national license initials of France, Switzerland. I saw delivery vans still carrying the signage of the Belgian bakery, Dutch flower nursery, etc. The roads and sidewalks are in terrible shape. There are no street lights and you need a good flashlight to avoid the deep holes in the sidewalks.

As you will see from the photo album the Malgache are still very much dependent on sail power for their fishing and coastal navigation. The smaller 20 odd feet long outrigger dug out canoes carry a square sail stitched together from rice bags.  Next is an about 30 foot outrigger with a lateen sail. Then a 30 to 40 foot coastal trader also with a large lateen rig. Then comes a top sail schooner which evolved from the Brittany coastal schooner, in the 60/70 foot range.

The west coast of Madagascar has a very constant inshore/off-shore wind schedule.

In the morning you see a long line of boats sail out on the offshore breeze and the outgoing tide and return in the mid to late afternoon on the on shore wind and incoming tide. These are skilled sailors and it is amazing to watch them jibe these big sails. At times they actually hike out on the windward ama as if they were sailing a Hoby Cat.

This also makes for very predictable cruising down the Madagascar coast in fair winds and flat water.

One of the boats that I had got to know in Honiara and later in Ghizo in the Solomon Islands, "Blaatur", a year ago, was in Nosy Be.

They are the Oslo cops, Morton, Madeleine and Tom. We met up again in Mahajanga a 100 miles south on Madagascar island.

Mahajanga is a good size town in the mouth of a river. It had the same run down old colonial buildings. But a few newer governmental buildings along the ocean side with an attractive wide boulevard. Checking out was a slow and lengthy process to a number of agencies spread all over town. I left on Saturday November 25 together with "Blaatur" with a planned stop at Baly Bay. But  a strong Southerly set me out to the east and I decided to skip Baly Bay and keep going for Richards Bay, South Africa. This was a 1000 mile trip but it was one of the slowest parts of my voyage. The current was against me near Madagascar and the wind either very light or too strong and it came from all different directions. I ended up in one very nasty squall that lasted for about an hour and a half with wind strength over 40 knots. I was under bare poles and the boat was just trembling and shaking and the waves got huge. Then on Saint Nicholas eve, December 5th, I was in a nasty Southwesterly cold front that lasted two days. It also set me off to the west, off my direct line to Richards Bay. Then the Peri-Peri net, out of Durban, predicted an other nasty cold front on the 10th of December and suggested that I hide out for a few days in Maputo, Mozambique. 

And it was a good thing that I did. I am in the meantime in Maputo and the storm hit hard here on Sunday night. I am now scheduled to leave, together with "Mojo", who also took refuge here on their way to Richards Bay, on Tuesday the 12th.

My SailMail hookup failed before leaving Nosy Be. I contacted the SailMail people several times in Nosy Be and again from Mahajanga but never heard back from them. I hope to get this problem fixed here in Maputo. Fortunately, Fred Meyer, who runs the Peri-Peri net kept relaying my positions to Lisa, from my twice daily contacts with his net schedule. These nets are a real blessing to a single handler. And it is a great way to hear where the other boats are, in this circuit.

I had wanted to go to Mozambique but because I am behind schedule decided to drop it. But now I am glad I had the opportunity. This city is an eye opener. From afar you can see the skyline of rows of sky scrapers. This was the former Lourenzo Marques before the war of independence from Portugal in the seventies and the subsequent civil war, which lasted into the late eighties. This is where Castro sent his men to fight with the Mozambiquens. The country went communist and was supported by Russsia. Still there are street names like Ho Chi Minh Avenue and Karl Marx Boulevard. The little bit of Portuguese I learned in Brazil comes in handy. Portuguese is spoken by nearly everyone and very few communicate with each other in their native languages. The city reminds me of cities like Milan and Buenos Aires. Tall apartment buildings with shops and cafes at street, gallery, level. The cold front has brought the temperature down to 19 degrees Centigrade. It is nice, for once, to be here in the tropics in the summer time. Till now I was on both side of the equator in their winter time, to avoid the cyclones. The trees, like the Red Yacaranda, are all in bloom.

I went to mass in the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. A modern building, construction started in 1936 and the first mass was celebrated in 1946. Portugal stayed out of German occupation during that time of the second world war and it probably was an economic advantage for them over the other European colonial powers. The Portuguese came here already at the very beginning of the 16th century. The fishermen here also use sail for power but their boats have no outriggers. They are about 25 long and use a smaller lateen rigged sail than the Madagascar boats.

The next edition will be of South Africa and that will be in the new year.