31/10/19: Day 1 with Anabelle Nairac

It's finally time to piss off to bluer and subsequently, greener pastures, at least for the duration of a well deserved break, to the Land of the whale sharks, manta rays and lemurs... 🙂
With the work load of late, I was really lucky to have had companions who have literally planned it all, down to the tiniest of details, Anna with the Dive cruise, and Pierre with all the inland activities. All I'm doing is turning up, and enjoying the ride... 🙂 and ahem, forking out the Dosh...!! 😛
Very Little sleep on the eve of a very early departure, busy sorting, packing, unpacking and repacking gear to meet the weight and size restrictions imposed by the airline. As usual, struggle to travel light, and end up with 50Kgs of gear, split into 3 pieces of luggage! All the snacks that were bought for the duration of the trip had to be left behind 🙁.
The flight got delayed by about 90 mins, and the standby printed on the boarding pass, in place of the seat number, for the connecting flight from Reunion to Nosy Be added to some unwelcome last minute stress. It all worked out in the end, and we were welcome by a huge blast of hot humid air at the exit of the plane in Madagascar. Extremely long queue with lots of immigration red tape, and we're out and greeted by our chauffeur.
The Nosy Be part of Madagascar looks like what I recall of coastal Mauritius some 35 years back, with tiny wooden huts covered by corrugated iron sheet roof. Economy of Nosy Bee is based on Tourism and Ylang Ylang. The Ylang Ylang Plants, planted literally everywhere in sight, by default are huge trees that grow up to 20m tall. However, to ease harvesting of the leaves for the extraction of the essential oils, the trees are cut to about 2 m high, which somehow stunts their growth and cause them to sprout branches that end up growing downwards. Very odd looking result!
Quick stop at the dive centre for the obligatory dive checks, and off we go, to the 'Marina Du Cratere', where we board the divemobile for the next 7 days, a 46/47 footer catamaran fitted with 4 tiny "double" en-suite cabins for the guests. Speaking of en-suite, the toilet/bathroom combo is a minuscule capsule 80 X 130 cms. The tap, fitted with an extensible hose, doubles as a shower rose. Toilet needs an engineering degree to operate, with levers that control valves which direct the flow of water in and out at the business end, and a muscle power driven pump to expel organic wastes to the ocean, and fill the bowl with "fresh" sea water.
Akraam the cook, Baab the captain and Arnaud The divemaster, sleep wherever they feel most comfortale. Depending on the weather and temperature, it could be anywhere from a tiny elevated pad in the corridor leading to the cabins, to the indoor lounge area, to the covered outdoor dining area or even on the stretched tarp.
Last member of our squad is Michel, UW photographer extraordinaire, and one of the pillars of PPIM (Plongee Privee Ile Maurice).
Yummy lunch served on the catamaran comprised of sauteed prawns, potato salad and stir fried carrots, courgette and long beans with Delightfully sweet mango and pineapple slices finish it off for dessert, as we set off for our mouillage for the night, Baie des Russes...Or was it Baie Des Anglais...??? Only Blondes Know for sure... !!! 😛
Sunset on the catamaran as we cruise along is just F*cking Awesome, and we arrive at Baie Des Russes at nightfall. Probably the quietest place I've ever been to in my whole life. Zero wind, sea completely still. Catamaran seems to be anchored on solid ground, with virtually no movement!
Two huge Thazard (type of fish) caught on the way means dinner is sorted for the day. Akraam whips up Thazard two ways; Carpaccio marinated in citrus, and barely cooked fillets of the catch of the day that the guys claim were delicious. Fresh fruit salad to top it off:) Early nighter, I desperately needed the sleep!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  02/11/19 Day 3 Prior to boarding the catamaran, we thought that there would be power in the socket outlets 24/7 to recharge our electronic contraptions. That myth was quickly dispelled on the fist day, when we were informed by the captain that socket power would only be available when the engine was running, which would be for an absolute maximum of 5 hours a day! The on board battery banks were only designed to take care of the lighting and essential loads when the cat was not in motion. Not so much of an issue for my companions, who only had a couple of devices each to recharge. Yours truly had 24 batteries for his video lights, 2 gopro batteries and a laptop to handle EVERY SINGLE BLOODY DAY. The Gopro batteries and laptop could be managed, since they were relatively quick charge devices. However, the 24 batteries for my video lights take about 3-4 hours EACH to get to full charge, and with only 2 charging units that can handle a total of 8 batteries at a time, I had a genuine...
Read more
Image
  03/11/19 Day 4 Philosophical Quick Poll of the day: What's the best method for a man do to Number 1 on board a moving catamaran, with choppy waters, using the tiny baby sized toilet bowls provided on board??? 1: Skip the toilet altogether and do number 1 over board... 2: Seated... 3: Standing, leaning forward until the head above one's shoulders rests against the backboard, providing 3 points of contact for extra stability... Women have it so easy...!!! Ahem... Today, we are doing Greg's wall, which is supposed to be the highlight of this dive trip! Right from the onset, Arnaud announced that the tide was less than ideal and seemed to try to tamper our expectations. Shotline (Sort of guide line with weights at one end and a buoy at the other, used minimise the odds of missing a dive site) dropped hesitantly, and in the water we go. We all follow the line to the bottom, on a plateau of little interest. Fairly strong current, and worried looks from Arnaud with the unimpres...
Read more
Image
  01/11/19: Day 2 Sunrise at Baie des Russes was just WOW! Arrived at nightfall on the eve,so hadn't really seen the spot where we had settled for the night. We were nested dead in the middle of a sort of cove, with tiny tree covered hills hovering on the horizon for 270+ degrees. Such a peaceful place! Breakfast on some bananas and biscuits, and short boat ride to the dive spot for the day, Pain de Sucre. The site itself is located around a huge rock protrusion out of nowhere. Despite the awful visibility and the current, the dive was really enjoyable by virtue of the abundance of marine life foreign to these Mauritian Eyes; beautiful sponges, corals and fish that we'd never seen in Mauritius. Toasted bread with butter, jam and honey after the dive, as we moved to the second dive spot for the day, Tombant Gege. The Captain had drawn a sun shade across the Catamaran Tarp and the place lent itself to a nap. As the catamaran was cradled up and down by the waves, air was forced up...
Read more