ultimate paradise
Many European tourists chose Africa as vacation destination, as there is hardly any time change so no jet lag at all even after a 10 h flight. Africa has a lot to offer, there is South A with Capetown, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Djibouti and a lot of islands around like Mafia, Mauritius, Mayotte to name a few. I picked Madagascar, Nosy Sakatia this year as I had fond memories of my stay on Nosy Be in Sept 2007, warm water, good vis, beautiful coral reef, great + some deep dives with a Swiss/French instructor, relaxed diving ideal for a septuagenarian which I now am. Saw a picture of a tiny bungalow in between lush tropical forest and thought, hey this is the right place, I love to get my own room with nobody else around. Normally I favor the more costly direct flight to a stop over. This time my travel agent suggested the rather modest priced flights with Ethiopian Airlines via Addis Ababa. Well, why not try, this would mean 2 flights of around 5 h (a bit more home) with a layover of 4 h to stretch your legs and grab some cappuccino. I booked this the first time for Sept 2020, you can guess what happened. Only the fourth run worked, all others had to be cancelled cause the country closed it´s borders to Western tourists, maybe due to a rather low Corona vaccination rate in M. Ethiopian Airlines offered online check in which I tried only to find out I was not eligible ?! They had an upgrade offer to business for 480 € or you could vote yourself how much it´s worth it for you. Two days before departure they would tell you if your offer is acceptable. Would I have been eligible had I clicked on upgrade “yes please”?! With the machines at the airport it was the same problem. For my flight home they offered 1 free seat beside you for 80 € the whole row for yourself for 180 € - no thank you. Masks were not required on the long haul to Frankfurt, common sense however dictated that sitting tight together for 6 h, 60 % of the passengers did not think it necessary. A A seems to be a kind of turnstile for Africa same as Dubai or Singapore are for South East Asia. I saw all kinds of destinations shown on the board, some places I never heard of. Nosy Be is the so far best developed area of M. First it´s been the French who found this vacation place and started developing business and construction nowadays it seems the Italian took over that job. Safely landed on Nosy B, you need a visa for the country which you can apply for online, naturally it costs money, in this world nothing is for free any more. ¾ of an hour by car via streets full of holes and 10 min by boat got me to the beach of N S. Giorgia, an Italian marine biologist manager dive guide factotum for the lodge welcomed me. I got Mango 1, exactly the bungalow I had seen on the picture, however Jose the owner told me not to unpack too much. He actually gave me an upgrade to a lovely more spacious bungalow because I had stayed faithful with my booking for nearly 2 years of C 19. You reached that one via a so called “stairway to heaven” the bungalow sat nearly on top of a slope overlooking a lush blooming greenery with bougainvillea frangipani etc and the whole bay – awesome postcard scenery. It was stunning and in the evening I felt like a princess when I saw the queen sized bed covered by mosquito net looking like a canopy above. Mosquitoes I mostly noticed during sunset. My doc had given me Malarone as stand by just in case, I took some “no bite” spray with me, coils were offered but not really needed. N S has some nice trails leading along mangroves to sunset points, I was surprised that in some parts on the hillside the earth was nearly red, maybe iron in it. Butterflies, lizards, 1 chameleon and getting dark lemurs came out of their hiding places jumping around in the trees or messing in the garden but not really tame. Nature is all around you so don´t be surprised when a gecko is falling from the ceiling, a frog swims in your toilet or a hermit crab wanders across your sheets. Along the awesome beach you can visit a local village with some small restaurants, stalls selling souvenirs like ylang ylang or vanilla oil, handicraft like colorful sarongs and wood carvings. Kids are running around everywhere, they are cute and know, once you’ve taken a picture you can show it to them. You should watch their faces when they spot themselves on your cell phone or digital camera, surprise and delight showing clearly. I had booked half board. Breakfast was fruits, banana, pineapple, jack fruit, cold cereal, yoghurt, eggs to order, pancakes. Lunch offered different snacks like croque monsieur/madam, hamburger, sandwich, salads. Dinners were daily a new pleasure and surprise. It was magic to your eyes and taste buds what they served, whether it was fish meat or delicious concoctions of French and Madagascar cuisine, your whole being was feasting on it, mouthwatering highlights were the shrimps or squid fresh out of the kitchen. Tonight they served “nem” (Vietnamese) as entrée and fish shrimps and vegies cooked and brought onto your plate packed in banana leaves even tied with some rope. You had to open these and pour the contents over the rice, lovely indeed desert brought 3 pieces of pastry with vanilla cream, yummy. The staff soon learned that my drinks were like a traffic light either red or green – grenadine or peppermint syrup.
The dive center sits right behind the office and small shop. They have a lot of Scubapro rental gear and good for me steel 12 or 15 liter that means no extra weight necessary. You nowadays seldom find steel tanks on tropical destinations, some praise steel and detest aluminum, don´t know the advantages of either one in tropical climate. They offer Nitrox and even night dives with fluorescent light, the latter I was tempted to try, but when I heard I need extra filter for mask and camera I stayed away, am not that keen on diving in darkness.
To give lazy Mike a little push Jose the owner offered a two tank already early next morning. We went out of the bay far into the open ocean and lovely blue called Banc Louis. Water had 26 degrees C, vis was a good 15 m, we cruised through a nice coral garden with an astonishing variety and abundance of hard coral. Fish larger than 20 cm were rare, but those with eyes for small stuff would have been happy. We heard some whales singing, but under water it´s difficult to point out where exactly it´s coming from and how far away, might be a mile or even more for sound travels far. The boat has a platform reaching water level so entry and exit is easy with giant stride and push up. Dive 2 brought us inside the bay to Mireillas Garden not too far away from the resort. Vis was poor 6 m puuh, a bizarre coral garden with only 1 or 2 species covering whole areas in an unbelievable density. I call them plate coral some say Vietnamese hat, the expert calls them “Halomitra”. These are the concave/convex round things with lines running from the center outside, mostly brownish color with a bit of blueish ring outside. You find them mostly in diameters of say 20 – 30 cm, here however these were much larger. I made it a habit to turn them around when I spot one “upside down” with white “belly” which I feel the trigger fish are responsible for. But I noticed these creatures survive the upside down and often turn brown again on the belly, maybe the Polyps wander from the back to the front. The reason behind the abundance of only one species in a place has still to be researched. Are there ideal conditions on that site for this animal like you have one species of flower or tree sometimes? It will be interesting to learn more on that subject. Giorgia will find out what´s the reason behind this. Often she pointed out small creatures under water I didn´t know exist and would never have found on my own. She explained reef structure and built up to me. Often on safety stop we both admired the many different transparent plankton species floating around us, jellyfish, salps etc. ideal food for whale sharks which didn´t show. Next day however we encountered the real thing when we cruised out of the bay. 3 times a humpback was blowing, when we got closer he showed it´s fluke and was gone, too fast for the Hero to catch. They don´t allow you to go into the water with mammals like dolphins or whales if you´re not already in, whale shark ok whales not. This seems to be a good idea if it works and people follow that rules. All dive centers work together on that and when there is a sighting of big stuff a WhatsApp info goes round to everybody. Dive 3 was La Grotte, which not really is a grotto but a sort of deep window or tunnel where you can pass through with enough space around not to touch any of the really stunning coral all around there. Glass fish in a nearby overhang, sweetlips hovering around some table coral, some jacks rushing around us. We found some huge moray eels, one brown and some leopard, where the guide played with it´s tail to bring the animal a bit more out of it´s hole. The size of gorgonian nearly in all places are awesome, often you had a whole forest of them for example at Rosario. What surprised Jose and I was the fact that in some places you had such a variety and abundance of fish, you hardly knew where to look first and take pictures of. Other places showed nearly nothing bigger than 20 cm and pelagic you could count on the fingers of one hand. The best place was Mohavelona wreck, amazing soft coral on the wreck, glassfish in the wheel house, a blue juvenile angel with white rings hiding in the upper structure, this guy I just love, it´s such a wonderful creature. Above the wreck a mix of unicorn surgeon fusiliers striped barracuda yellow snapper in small schools danced around. On the wreck lion fish, scorpion underneath some winch a crocodile, a really very enjoyable dive. I dive with a 5 mm semi dry Beuchat 4 max which is a bit tight and the inner fabric makes it difficult to pull over arms and legs. So I got a Lycra overall as kind of rash guard, now it easily slips across. 5mm and 26 C for 1 hour are acceptable but still I happily soaked up the sun during surface break. Coming home from one trip I noticed the mangroves to the left of the bay only few m away from the resort. It´s worth snorkeling there, it´s the kindergarten for many species and when you continue onwards your pass a field of sea grass where often turtles cruise around and a bit farther away the so called pool, more or less their house reef. At low tide you sometimes had to walk 250 m into the bay to reach the boat, the captain had to make sure to anchor far enough away for him to make sure to get off again. High tide nearly reached the wall at the resort.
There are days where you better stay at home. We went out to a place called Unicorn. The captain checked with GPS and threw a marker buoy with weights on a long rope. We jumped in, poor vis and current hit us pushing away from the reef into sandy area in 25 m. My Uwatec beeped the whole time, I checked, it was switched to 99 % oxygen. At lunch time I had shown my buddy which settings there are on my computer and forgot to reset into regular dive mode. I expected it to soon go into emergency mode as we were in 24 m or on the surface at the latest – nothing of that, it continued working properly even for the next dives. Well we fought the current to at least reach the reef. After 20 min of doing this and not really succeeding an obese lady showed half tank. Later she had a good excuse during C 19 with all the pools closed at home she had no chance to exercise at all and gained 15 kg. After 30 min I gave the big X sign for abort and slow ascend. The guide lost 1 weight thus his buoyancy and couldn´t hold his safety stop. Urgs to all that.
Most days I did the morning dive outside the bay where the vis was better and more chance of big stuff. In the afternoon vis often rapidly decreased due maybe to tide so plenty of time for siesta and reading.
With Nosy Sakatia Lodge I found the most peaceful quiet tranquil place you can imagine. Ideal for all those who really need to switch off and don´t need TV and daily news every day.
The dive center sits right behind the office and small shop. They have a lot of Scubapro rental gear and good for me steel 12 or 15 liter that means no extra weight necessary. You nowadays seldom find steel tanks on tropical destinations, some praise steel and detest aluminum, don´t know the advantages of either one in tropical climate. They offer Nitrox and even night dives with fluorescent light, the latter I was tempted to try, but when I heard I need extra filter for mask and camera I stayed away, am not that keen on diving in darkness.
To give lazy Mike a little push Jose the owner offered a two tank already early next morning. We went out of the bay far into the open ocean and lovely blue called Banc Louis. Water had 26 degrees C, vis was a good 15 m, we cruised through a nice coral garden with an astonishing variety and abundance of hard coral. Fish larger than 20 cm were rare, but those with eyes for small stuff would have been happy. We heard some whales singing, but under water it´s difficult to point out where exactly it´s coming from and how far away, might be a mile or even more for sound travels far. The boat has a platform reaching water level so entry and exit is easy with giant stride and push up. Dive 2 brought us inside the bay to Mireillas Garden not too far away from the resort. Vis was poor 6 m puuh, a bizarre coral garden with only 1 or 2 species covering whole areas in an unbelievable density. I call them plate coral some say Vietnamese hat, the expert calls them “Halomitra”. These are the concave/convex round things with lines running from the center outside, mostly brownish color with a bit of blueish ring outside. You find them mostly in diameters of say 20 – 30 cm, here however these were much larger. I made it a habit to turn them around when I spot one “upside down” with white “belly” which I feel the trigger fish are responsible for. But I noticed these creatures survive the upside down and often turn brown again on the belly, maybe the Polyps wander from the back to the front. The reason behind the abundance of only one species in a place has still to be researched. Are there ideal conditions on that site for this animal like you have one species of flower or tree sometimes? It will be interesting to learn more on that subject. Giorgia will find out what´s the reason behind this. Often she pointed out small creatures under water I didn´t know exist and would never have found on my own. She explained reef structure and built up to me. Often on safety stop we both admired the many different transparent plankton species floating around us, jellyfish, salps etc. ideal food for whale sharks which didn´t show. Next day however we encountered the real thing when we cruised out of the bay. 3 times a humpback was blowing, when we got closer he showed it´s fluke and was gone, too fast for the Hero to catch. They don´t allow you to go into the water with mammals like dolphins or whales if you´re not already in, whale shark ok whales not. This seems to be a good idea if it works and people follow that rules. All dive centers work together on that and when there is a sighting of big stuff a WhatsApp info goes round to everybody. Dive 3 was La Grotte, which not really is a grotto but a sort of deep window or tunnel where you can pass through with enough space around not to touch any of the really stunning coral all around there. Glass fish in a nearby overhang, sweetlips hovering around some table coral, some jacks rushing around us. We found some huge moray eels, one brown and some leopard, where the guide played with it´s tail to bring the animal a bit more out of it´s hole. The size of gorgonian nearly in all places are awesome, often you had a whole forest of them for example at Rosario. What surprised Jose and I was the fact that in some places you had such a variety and abundance of fish, you hardly knew where to look first and take pictures of. Other places showed nearly nothing bigger than 20 cm and pelagic you could count on the fingers of one hand. The best place was Mohavelona wreck, amazing soft coral on the wreck, glassfish in the wheel house, a blue juvenile angel with white rings hiding in the upper structure, this guy I just love, it´s such a wonderful creature. Above the wreck a mix of unicorn surgeon fusiliers striped barracuda yellow snapper in small schools danced around. On the wreck lion fish, scorpion underneath some winch a crocodile, a really very enjoyable dive. I dive with a 5 mm semi dry Beuchat 4 max which is a bit tight and the inner fabric makes it difficult to pull over arms and legs. So I got a Lycra overall as kind of rash guard, now it easily slips across. 5mm and 26 C for 1 hour are acceptable but still I happily soaked up the sun during surface break. Coming home from one trip I noticed the mangroves to the left of the bay only few m away from the resort. It´s worth snorkeling there, it´s the kindergarten for many species and when you continue onwards your pass a field of sea grass where often turtles cruise around and a bit farther away the so called pool, more or less their house reef. At low tide you sometimes had to walk 250 m into the bay to reach the boat, the captain had to make sure to anchor far enough away for him to make sure to get off again. High tide nearly reached the wall at the resort.
There are days where you better stay at home. We went out to a place called Unicorn. The captain checked with GPS and threw a marker buoy with weights on a long rope. We jumped in, poor vis and current hit us pushing away from the reef into sandy area in 25 m. My Uwatec beeped the whole time, I checked, it was switched to 99 % oxygen. At lunch time I had shown my buddy which settings there are on my computer and forgot to reset into regular dive mode. I expected it to soon go into emergency mode as we were in 24 m or on the surface at the latest – nothing of that, it continued working properly even for the next dives. Well we fought the current to at least reach the reef. After 20 min of doing this and not really succeeding an obese lady showed half tank. Later she had a good excuse during C 19 with all the pools closed at home she had no chance to exercise at all and gained 15 kg. After 30 min I gave the big X sign for abort and slow ascend. The guide lost 1 weight thus his buoyancy and couldn´t hold his safety stop. Urgs to all that.
Most days I did the morning dive outside the bay where the vis was better and more chance of big stuff. In the afternoon vis often rapidly decreased due maybe to tide so plenty of time for siesta and reading.
With Nosy Sakatia Lodge I found the most peaceful quiet tranquil place you can imagine. Ideal for all those who really need to switch off and don´t need TV and daily news every day.