Location: 14° 39 S, 46° 54 E
Saturday 12:00, 11.04.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 14° 39 S, 46° 54 E Nosy Saba is 46 NM away and Hellville, Nosy Be is 110 NM. We have come 1268 NM from Durban and 2236 NM from Cape Town. We are motor sailing with a light Westerly.

By the time most read this, we should be safely anchored off the beach at Nosy Saba, the "almost perfect island" (Bradt Travel Guide); "stunningly beautiful" (East Africa Pilot). We should arrive just in time for sunset, ready for rum and Cokes and a piece of the chocolate cake that Hannah is making while I try to concentrate on typing. We plan to stay there for all day tomorrow (Sunday), then leave Sunday evening for the 90 NM trip to Nose Be, with the plan to arrive at about 9-10 AM to check into Madagascar, hopefully with the help of Anderson Jaomanina.

We rigged our collapsible Bimini sunshade today for the first time in a while. The sun was just too much of a killer.

One fascinating story about this area concerns the area called Russian Bay, which is between Nosy Saba and Nosy Be. In 1905, a Russian warship named the Vlotny was sent out to harass Japanese ships as part of the Russo-Japanese War. The officers and crew got to Madagascar and decided that both war and Russia weren't near as interesting as Madagascar girls. Sort of like the Bounty mutiny, but as if Bligh went along with it. The ship hid in the bay, emerging twice to pirate trading vessels in the Mozambique Channel before they ran out of coke for the boilers. They then built a Ural-style dormitory in Andassy Be, and settled in as fishermen, trading off parts of their vessel. The last one lived to 1936 and they are buried in a section of the local cemetery.

One integral piece of equipment for night watches is the iPod. We all have one, with lots of trading where we have the music either on disc or burned into a computer. What we are listening to: Frank - Bob Dylan, Modern Times and Kate Melua, Piece by Piece; Bori - Indigo Girls and Chopin; Willis - books on tape - Julien Stockwin, Kydd and J.R.R. Tolkein, The Hobbit; Hannah - Irish Descendants and David Usher.