Location: 13° 26.5 S, 48° 21.1 E
Thursday 12:00, 11.09.2006

The Schooner Maggie B is now happily moored at Nosy Komba (Lemur Island) at 13° 26.5 S, 48° 21.1E, just a few miles from Nosy Be. It is much more peaceful, with only three cruising boats in the harbor and not much in the way of comings and goings. We have come 2377 NM from Cape Town. Aldabra Island (World Heritage site in the Seychelles) is just 268 NM away and Mahe, the capitol of the Seychelles is 676 NM.

People talk of the smells of the East. It is so much with us now. The galley, in fact the whole boat, smells of vanilla since we bought a big handful for $5. We also have lots of fresh ginger and new garlic for perfume, as well as the ylang ylang we bought for presents and the citronella perfume/anti-mosquito oil. From ashore there is the smoke of charcoal from all the cooking fires as well as the complex dense humid smells from the forest. Enchanting.

We have become a bit concerned about water.

There is “town” water in Nosy Be, but everyone says not to take it. The cruising guides said that Nosy Komba is the place to get water, but now that we are here, the locals say that it has been dry and that they have none to spare. Indeed we saw a group of perhaps a dozen women gathered around the one tap that was working. We had been a bit profligate with water (not to name names, but some people were taking two showers a day, and looong ones). We can make water as long as the watermaker is OK and we still have a lot, but there will be none from “outside” until Mahe. So the pressure pump is turned off and we are washing with Dr. Bronners (special soap) in the ocean before a fresh water rinse off. Of course, as I write this, it is raining hard. I suppose we should be collecting from the awning.

Getting diesel will also be a bit of an effort that we are saving for Saturday. No hoses to the pier, so Anderson (our Malagash contact) is rounding up all the Jerry cans he can find as well as our 10 gallons worth, and will borrow a truck to go to the nearest filling station, and we will row them out to the Maggie B, fill up and then do it again.
For boat work we are scraping weed off the hull and patching and sealing a few spots. One life line chafed through at one of the gates and Hannah had a new splice and eye back in it in a jiffy.

We are planning to spend much of tomorrow at Tane Kely (also know as Nine Pin) which supposedly has terrific snorkeling, then back to Nosy Be Friday night for the Rendezvous des Marins and Malagasy dancing.

All is well.