….Island adventures, getting stuck on said island and the journey home….
Île aux Nattes
So… weeks 17 & 18 were filled with adventures and more hard work…I promise I do lots of the hard work part! It’s just not as interesting as the in between moments. When I last left you it was 03:15am and Merryl and I were off on our long-awaited break to Sainte Marie. You may want to get a cuppa and settle in….this one is a long one!
While I had been warned the roads were bad, I wasn’t quite prepared for what was to come. It took approx. 7 hours to drive from Toamasina to Soanieran’ Ivongo [about 170km North of where the ship is docked]. So one thing you learn pretty quickly here, google maps doesn’t have a clue when it comes to estimating how long it takes to drive somewhere!
The “road” mostly the whole way up is small bits of bitumen littered amongst the biggest holes you have seen in your life! Our driver [ex-military], barely spoke a word the whole trip. I admit it was very comforting given the road he was tackling. The trip was a combination of holding onto the handrail to stop yourself from bumping around too much and going so fast the scenery was a blur. The rain was torrential for the first couple of hours, which also didn’t help. Our guide [a very young 20 something kid], was very eager to practice his English and share all his knowledge of the country. We were his first tour group!
The trip up was a visual feast! [some observations from the journey are at the end of the blog]
After surviving the journey, especially the last few mins where I’m sure our driver thought he was in a rally race, we made it to the boat. For the final minutes of our trip, we were on a route that couldn’t ever be mistaken for a road; in fact, it was through markets! The track was very narrow, packed with manned stalls piled high with fruit and wares for sale. People were yelling as we passed for our driver to be careful of the fruit that was laying on the ground in front stalls. We may also have had very close contact with someone on a push bike!
Thankful to finally being out of the car, we were taken to a rickety wooden dock and shown onboard a cargo style boat. There were a few seats up the front of the boat that actually looked quite comfortable. After a conversation with the boat captain our guide assured us we could wait there if we were able to provide something for the captain! It was the best 70cents I have ever spent as it turns out the bus, they were waiting for was over 40mins late! Finally, it arrived, and we were ushered back off the boat to wait on the dock until our names were called. It would be at this point…you guessed it….we would then be able to get back on the boat….
To help us keep out of the way, and in the shade, our guide found a small wooden stool to sit on inside the shack next to the dock. While waiting a man arrived with a plastic bag that was vigorously moving. Noises started coming out of it that sounded very similar to what I imagine a rooster trapped inside a plastic bag would make….sure enough next thing out pops a head and a struggle ensued as the man tried to keep the rooster inside the bag while he was walking. The rooster, however, had other plans and was doing his best to escape. My first thought was please don’t let us see a rooster being strangled…. luckily for us…and the rooster, the man had just been trying to transfer the rooster from the plastic bag into a straw basket for the journey. Apparently, it’s cheaper to buy a live one on the mainland and transport it across to the island. Well wouldn’t you know it, the next thing the basket started moving along the dock and all you could hear was the rooster crowing! I wish I had filmed the whole thing!
We were finally allowed to board the board. The sail took just over 2 ½ hours. I admit my emergency services brain did make some plans as to how we would get out if anything happened…fortunately we made it alive and well, including the rooster, to the island.
Our guide met us on the dock with a tuk tuk. He introduced himself as De De’s brother, you know the whole time we were there I don’t think we ever got his actual name! The hotel was a 15min tuk tuk ride from the port and then ……we arrived in paradise! After checking in we decided to grab some lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.
The hotel booking was half board [so breakfast each day and 3-course dinner with 2 options per course was included]. The food was fabulous! The first night we ended up with 1kg of Lobster for the whopping price of AUD$30 [supplement]. The hotel had a wine cellar that they show as part of your first evening there and a night cap of locally made rum was also thrown in.
Saturday morning, we woke up to torrential rain and after a pot of coffee and a chocolate croissant we debated cancelling our day trip around Île aux Nattes. However, in a decision, I’m so glad to have made, we went ahead. De De’s brother turned up in a tuk tuk to collect us [it turns out De De only does guides for French speakers]. We made our way south down the island and picked up a boat on the coast. De De’s brother stood up the back of the wooden boat with a long pole and preceded to navigate his way around the whole island.
Our first stop was a small shack on the beach with tables covered in brightly coloured tablecloths. We sat down to a meal of lobster [loving my life!], french fries, a whole fish in coconut sauce and rice. Not too long after settling in a man wandered over with a guitar and asked if he could entertain us. Next thing we were being serenaded while sitting a few meters away from the ocean. It felt like we had stepped into a movie. I clinked glasses with Merryl and felt the only appropriate thing to say at this point was “happy honeymoon!” We spent the rest of the afternoon floating around the island, stopping to see a lemur and again to have a swim in the ocean. The water is so clear! Our guide then made his way back up the coastline through the surf and dropped us off on the beach outside our hotel. It is a memory that will stay with me for certain!
Once back we decided to walk along the jetty and sat with a cocktail to read and watch the sunset. We really did have a day of pinch me moments. To top it off, dinner was on the beach! We really were getting our romantic experiences in.
Sunday we both had a massage at the day spa and pretty much spent the day enjoying doing nothing! The rain was torrential; however, it cleared up enough for us to go for a swim [there’s nothing like floating in the ocean!] before the skies opened up again.
Sunday lunch we were advised that our boat on Monday [back to the mainland] had been cancelled. While exploring other options, including flying, I admit I wasn’t very sad about it. I need to clarify that I didn’t pay anyone to leave us stranded! I did, however, feel slightly bad that I hadn’t allowed my boss to bring her laptop with us and the Wi-Fi only worked in the lounge next to the restaurant! I decided to make the most of the extra day we had been given and booked myself into the day spa for the following day…yep didn’t feel THAT bad!
Monday afternoon I spent an incredible three hours in the day spa. My session started with a float in a bath [made from a canoe] while sipping champagne, followed by a full body scrub, facial and a four-hand massage. It was one of the best trips to a day spa I have had in my life. I have made it a point to go everywhere in the world that I travel….so that’s saying something!
Monday night a local band performed in the restaurant. It was at this point though, that my visions of being stranded for another couple of days were dashed, as they announced that the boat would be running again in the morning….bummer!
03:10am [I know again!!!!!] Tuesday we were up and packed. Our trip started with a few hiccups…including the front gate to the hotel being locked. De De’s brother and the tuk tuk driver pulled with all their might to enable Merryl and I to shove our bodies and bags through the gap. I’m still trying to work out how they know where they are going here, it’s pitch black and there are no streetlights. To make it just slightly more interesting the “roads” have holes bigger than my body!
At 03:55 we arrived at the port, only to be informed that our tickets had been cancelled. It was at this point that I was very glad we had booked through a travel agent! We woke our guide up on the mainland [sorry Costello], who then proceeded to wake his boss up [sorry Noella]. After much talking, De De’s brother put our bags through the window of the boat, told us we would be fine and left! I’m not sure if my level of calm was due to it being so early or because I wasn’t too concerned if we missed the boat! Eventually, though, they did call our names and we piled onto a boat in the middle of the night to sail across the ocean to the mainland.
I don’t get seasick and have never felt concerned while sailing it was, however, quite an adventure coming home. The waves were high and we were in a boat with steel bench seats that you felt all the way through your spine every time the boat dropped. Buckets were placed at the end of each of the rows in the aisle, we learnt that very quickly that this was a communal sick bucket, good thing it was noisy! Merryl and I sat right up the front…so my escape for this boat was to push Merryl through the aisle and over the back. There weren’t any other options as we had no window to go out through and the vent above the driver’s head wasn’t big enough to fit one of my legs let alone my whole body!
After a long 2 and a bit hours we made it back to the port, our guide was a welcome sight. I’m also glad he was on the dock to catch our luggage as it was tossed off the boat at a rapid pace! To get to our car and driver, we wound our way up through a village. I would have loved to have been able to video the journey, it felt like we were in a movie, but I don’t like being that tourist.
The journey home felt worse than the journey up, comfort wise! We did manage to stop at Foulpointe for breakfast, where we had the best omelet of the whole trip. It was also at this stage that we learnt our guide [who had stayed up at Soanieran’ Ivongo while we were on the island] had been robbed while he was at church, and they had stolen his guide t-shirt [We included a little extra in our guides tip so he could replace his shirt]. We got a flat tyre on the way home but otherwise spent most of the time trying to minimise the swerving and bouncing through potholes [it made taking photos a challenge!] Upon arrival I may have indulged in a nana nap!
It was hard to fall straight back in to work, however, being away for the extra day didn’t help our overdue workload.
Wednesday was the hospital open house. It’s an event that happens every year prior to the start of surgeries where every crew member on the ship is invited to come down and see what the hospital is all about. There are stations set up where you get to try things like intubate a dummy, perform eye surgery on a m&m, plunge a syringe into an orange and try the balance beams in the rehabilitation tent. It’s an opportunity for the hospital crew members to talk about what happens where and let the rest of the crew, including the kids, explore a space they aren’t normally allowed into. A good reminder why we are all on this ship supporting the work of the hospital.
Thursday, I had the opportunity to knock off at 2:30pm, with Friday being a ship holiday, it was an excuse to run away again for another adventure. I’ll keep that one for the next blog!
Some observations from the journey north and back:
A little boy standing on the seat of a bike, tapping his dad on the back as they ride along.
Smoke curling upwards to the sky, tinging the air with its smell.
Kids making the trek to school, in their govt issued shirt.
Ducks playing in the puddles that fill the holes in the road.
People walking the sides of the road with everything from baskets on their heads to pulling zebu along on rope and hauling cuts of timber.
The constant swerving of the vehicle to miss the potholes bigger than your body.
The local buses piled up with people and belongings.
The houses made from every type of material and built almost on top of each other.
Advertising signs for phone companies [cell providers] that stand out like eye sores in remote villages.
Rice fields.
The smell in the air is so unique to Mada, I tried for most of the trip to try and find words to describe but alas I haven’t found the right words in my vocabulary that would do it justice.
The sounds of kids playing along the side of the road. Waving as vehicles go past.
Local markets and small local shops that wind along the side of the road.
Women washing baskets full of clothes in the rivers.
Washing lines full of clothes or spread out on the grass in front of the home.
Women in block colour dresses with structured straw hats.
An infant tied with cloth to his mum's back and trying desperately to eat the biscuit that is clutched precariously in his hand but keeps eluding him due to his mum's movement when she walks….so close yet so far away!
The rare occurrence of seeing a Malagasy man holding a baby.
Solar panels outside shacks.
Stick fences with brightly coloured metal gates.
Torrential rain.
Chickens… they are just…well different here!
