Madagascar, a land of sails.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Saleen411

Geez Alex......is there anything you DON'T know?

plenty!
although having cruised those waters for years and had malaria a few times in the area myself i thought it was best to mention it to dale.

every year living in mayotte we would hear first hand accounts of yachties contracting it,and quite a few died as a result.

one guy we knew was found drifting dead in his yacht just off the outer reef of mayotte.
another died from septaceamia in mayotte as a result of drug resistant malaria ,both after leaving nosey be'

my 18 month old daughter was also 5 days in hospital in tanzania with it

[rosatte]

Was in Madagascar 2 years ago a beautiful and wid island they have 43 different types of Lima’s there just amazing wildlife hope to return in a few years

[OCEAN I]

Hi,

Nice pictures !

I live in Madagascar, allow me some advices.

Malaria : can be strong here, but plasmodium falciparum is mostly found on the east coast, specialy if you decide to go to Sainte Marie island.
In Nosy be at this period of the year you don't have too much risks.
The best way to protect you : a good insect/mosquitos repellant, nothing more.
If Falciparum catches you, Coartem is very effective, it cleans everything.

Other disease, amoeba : fresh vegetables, wash them carefully, few drops of bleach in water, and good rincing.

Your belongings : be carefull with your dinghy, scuba tanks, etc., they can disappear very quickly, specially in Nosy-Bé, I experienced it myself, much less risks in remote places.

Fuel : if you have to refuel, avoid black market sources, and ALWAYS FILTRATE.

Nice places : all the islands around, Mitsio, etc., and, if you have time, you should visit Morambo bay.

Enjoy your stay in this nice country !

[Seafari]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Arrived in Nosy be Madagascar a couple of days back.

What i love about travel is the different sights and experiences. These guys arent tourist boats they're real working boats, been doing their thing for a very long time. Ghost in and out each morning and afternoon on the land and sea breezes. It gave me real joy watching them slowly cruise in yesterday morning.

Stunning! It's sailing in it's purest and most natural form. A few years ago I accepted an invitation to join an elderly gent on a day sail out f our local harbour. I knew he had an old boat and that was part of the attraction for me. He had a compass and that was it! It was an old wooden clinker, an open boat with rope marks worn into the gunwales. Avery basic rig with tiller steering which was surprisingly easy to sail and what fun. At one stage he lashed the tiller in position with a piece of rope and popped his head into the small fwd stowage where he pulled out a flask of coffee and a few sandwiches. It was a memorable and very relaxing day on the water. No one peering onto navigation displays or complaining about gear failure or lack of performance, just sailing.


Sailing in a traditional trading dhow along the east coast of Africa is on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing those pics, it's just a reminder of making sure that dream does not drop off my bucket list.

[mullet]

Aaah yes, Madagascar...special spot indeed.
The spearfishing can be epic and the surfing is not too shabby either. (if you know where to go that is)

[nhschneider]

My wife and I were in Madagascar 2 years ago and she almost died of an amoebic dysentery. Fortunately, the Italian clinic was able to help her but we were both terribly frightened. The lemurs were fascinating and we loved watching the daily ebb and flow of the local sailboats.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[daletournier]

Hi guys, thanks for the above advice, appreciated.

We decided to take two years crossing the Indian ocean so fortunately we have 4 mths in this area before moving on to South Africa.

Madagascar is certainly turning it on for us in the few days we've been here. Just motoring along today and whales popped up, not sure what they were. We stopped and just drifted to watch, to our surprise suddenly a whale shark appears, he just hung out around the boat for over an hour. We dive, have all our own gear and compressor, I've tried to dive with a whale shark in several countries over the years with no luck, this guy just wanted to hang out with us, he didn't mind us touching him and swimming with him. Very, very cool and very lucky.

[lamadriver]

One of my favorite places and one of the few id like to go back to.

sailing is great .... Nosey B is good in small doses.

LD

[Jubilee39]

It amazes and frustrates me how a shore side sailor can turn a thread extolling the beauty of sailing and voyaging into a gloom and doom thread of malaria and theft. One would think that someone who has voyaged this far does not need to be nannied about hazards.

[ALLAN WARD]

We were really impressed with how well those dhows sail. We often sailed on a similar course and your pics brought back some great memories of these gracious boats.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by ALLAN WARD

We were really impressed with how well those dhows sail. We often sailed on a similar course and your pics brought back some great memories of these gracious boats.

I'm also surprised how they keep their sails so full in such little breeze.

Sent from my 9001D using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Jubilee39

It amazes and frustrates me how a shore side sailor can turn a thread extolling the beauty of sailing and voyaging into a gloom and doom thread of malaria and theft. One would think that someone who has voyaged this far does not need to be nannied about hazards.

this is not the first time dale and i have discussed east africa and madagascar in other threads he has posted leading up his current location,sorryif you were not aware of the ongoing conversation.

theft,malaria and other nasties were not discussed before in detail last time he asked for advice,sorry if it frustrates you but this is a very real danger for cruisers as health care there is very limited ,and non existent in remote areas.

though not relevant,here is a video of the next port south and what happens every year during the rainy season,just to give you a picture of the real conditions in the 10th poorest country in the world,last november.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT2XgejsXpY

[ALLAN WARD]

If l was Dale l would appreciate the emphasis placed on doing whatever is necessary to avoid picking up any sickness. We sailed those waters and if you get ill there is a serious lack of facilities to treat anything. A few years back a Durban couple set sail from Madagascar for Richards Bay and three days out the husband was man down with malaria. His wife who had never taken command of their vessel managed to sail them back to South Africa under difficult sea conditions while her husband lay below with the fever.

Sitting back admiring the sunset with a vanilla rum in hand it is easy to forget the need to get back to the boat for that can of OFF.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by Jubilee39

One would think that someone who has voyaged this far does not need to be nannied about hazards.

Risks are often changing, I don't think they should be banned from the conversations here until there is no unnecessary fearmongering which I feel there isn't. Malaria is a fact of life on the tropics, plague is something special - maybe just an official hurdle for the seafarer because of any quarantine imposed. But useful information is often hard to get, I am happy to read about the things to be taken care of, not just the bikini models on the beach. (Which also need to be taken care of BTW )