We relax in the nice garden of a good restaurant near the port of Nosy Be. My friend asks: so whats next for you? I say: I hang around in Craterbay marina in Nosy Be for a while. She says, why don’t you go to Russian bay, your friends of Umadum are there. They go to South Africa. You know them well and I already asked them to contact you, it will be nice to see them again. Of cause she is right, its a great idea and opportunity, but as usual I respond in defense: No, I will first go to Craterbay.
I bring my friend to the port, she will go to the airport on the mainland and I return to the ship. Ok, let me go to Craterbay now, before the evening. Arrived, dinghy in the water and I meet the owners Roland and Isabelle and the other sailors that are there. The pizza is very good and so is the THB beer. Everyone is very kind but it feels not the same as last year. It surely is not the place, something is missing in me. Lets see.
The next 3 days I clean the bottom of the ship and hear that the other ship we came with from Tanga is now near Ille St Marie on its way to Reunion but a typhoon is coming. I also must make a decision as next month the weather will be bad and typhoons can come at Nosy Be.
There are 5 options:
| Red sea | is now too late should have done earlier |
| East Africa | next time,we just came from East Africa |
| To the East | not a good idea, in the track of typhoons |
| Seychelles | sounds great but is too expensive for me |
| South Africa | is a good possibility but cannot do alone |
So as my friend already suggested (she knows me), I contact Umadum and they reply immediately:
“come, we are now in Majunga waiting for weather window to go to South Africa”
I tell Isabelle at Crater Bay Marina that I sail to Majunga, but first a night in Russian Bay.
