Not only did we have winds from all sorts of directions except the trade winds usually blowing during this season but, right in the middle of the crossing of the Mozambique Channel, reknown for his "bad temper", we heard about a tropical cyclone developing right at the latitude of Maputo. This meant exactly west of us.
The weather forecast also stipulated that there is usually no cyclone during this season, of course. Our luck!
By chance, the cyclone moved south-east and we were sailing north-east. We escaped from him and that was the lucky part of the crossing.
The cyclone itself produced winds up to 50 to 60 knots only, but still, having a cyclone moving around while you are cruising is not exactly good news and doesn't occur every day.
When we arrived in Morombe, south-west of Madagascar after 7 days (and 6 nights "shaken" by the a swell coming from all directions, like the wind....) we had yet another surprise. The salted water found a way to the front cabin and we ended up drying on the deck: our diving equipement, the sails and even the toilet paper.
On June 26, we welcomed Jean-Louis and Denis on board for a one-week cruise. First, some desert islands apart from the vezo fishermen, usually nomads. They like to swap and this was our luck. In exchange of an old jeans and a pair of used flippers, we received 6 enormous crayfishes.
The next day, we were heading north to Belo sur Mer, a modest seaside resort, a very orderly village and a shipyard for the local schooners.
Our passagers left "Minuit" further north, in Morondava where there were far more hotels than holiday-makers (there were only 7 or 8 of them when we were there)
After a rapid cruising through the Barren Archipelago, we cruised to Majunga, second largest harbour in Madagascar.
It's a dusty town where the roads are crowded with rickshaws, carts pulled by zebus, cars and large trucks. What a noisy environment after the peace and quiet of the islands. We went to see the 700-years old baobab, with its 20 metres in diameter then decided to leave Majunga to cruise north to one the most exquisite place on planet earth, Moramba Bay.
There is no place like it in the entire world. There, the baobab is kind. The birds and lemurs can live there with no fear whatsoever.
It's the most beautiful bay we saw since we left Brussels back in 97. It's a genuine environment, untouched for millions of years. It's an excellent place to just relax, look at the landscape and also swap big shrimps and coconuts against empty bottles, jars, frying oil or old clothes. A taste of paradise.
