Madagascar is a former French colony; the native language is Malagasy. The primary schools are taught in French but those who go on to secondary school or university also learn English. The people were extremely warm and friendly.
We tendered from the Insignia to a small pier on Madagascar’s major tourist location, an island called Nosy Be situated 5 miles off the northern tip. From there eight of us took a small boat island hopping, first to Nosy Tanikely to snorkel, then on to Nosy Komba to see lemurs. You have probably already figured out that “Nosy” is the Malagasy word for “island.” Here is Joani on the beach from which we snorkeled to a coral reef:
I was able to buy an underwater camera in Cape Town (you can
buy just about anything in Cape Town), and the following sequence of shots is
amazing – it seems like a sea turtle and a big angel fish are playing tag. I
guess I was playing too since I was right behind them:
Here are some of the tropical fish that we swam with. The
water was amazingly clear and warm – the water temperature had to have been 90
or 91 in the shallow lagoon. Joani really likes the tropical fish. The
blue-green one, probably a parrot fish, was her favorite. “Swimming with the
fishes” may be hazardous to your health in New York; but not in Madagascar.
Here are pictures of me with a lemur, a local snake, a
chameleon and a land tortoise on Nosy Komba, which means island of lemurs in Malagasy. Usually you get pictures of Joani but today it
was my turn to shout as the Aussies might say.
Here’s the Insignia anchored off Nosy Be as seen from our speedboat going between islands.
Day at sea tomorrow followed by three east African stops: Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, and Kenya.
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