Madagascar Bound

Seychelles

20–24 September

After a few days of goodbyes, provisioning and a final top-up of diesel, we lashed the dinghy to the foredeck and dragged ourselves away from Mahé early on Sunday 20th September. Our destination: Nosy Be, off the north-west corner of Madagascar, about 700 miles away.

The forecast gave us a choice: leave in lively conditions and have them ease just as we reached the northern tip of Madagascar, or wait for a gentler start and risk a rougher rounding. But Cap d’Ambre has a fierce reputation. Wind and sea squeeze around the headland and can turn a pleasant sail into something uglier than a blobfish’s head. So, it wasn’t much of a choice at all. We chose the lively start.

With a reefed main, reefed genoa, and full mizzen, Jamala put her shoulder down, got on with it, and ran between seven and eight knots for most of the passage while the Seychelles dropped astern. No tacking or deviation from our course on this passage. We set the autopilot to steer to a 53-degree apparent wind angle and held on for the ride as Jamala bashed her way through the lumpy seas, with waves occasionally crashing over her from bow to stern.

Cap d’Ambre

It was as uncomfortable as it sounds. But our decision to take an earlier pasting paid off. Cap d’Ambre came into view on the afternoon of Wednesday 23rd, just as the wind eased as the forecast said it would. The reward for our beating was getting close enough to the cape to see it without a telescope.

In contrast to the Seychelles’ lush greens, the headland and surrounding hills were brown, bare, and scorched. It looked like the African coast we imagined. After rounding the headland, we turned further west, then southwest, to continue our journey to Nosy Be, wobbling our way mostly downwind.

The last leg down to Nosy Be turned into a gentle sail, then a motor sail, then a motor. Along the way, we met our first Malagasy sailing boats: wooden hulls, patched sails, and not an engine in sight.

Hell-Ville, Nosy Be

24–27 September

📍 Hell-Ville (Andoany) · 013°24.401′S, 048°17.108′E · Nosy Be, Diana Region

We dropped the anchor off Hell-Ville late on Thursday afternoon, after four and a half days at sea. Then came the business of clearing in the next day.

The officials needed to be collected from the shore, and the job of ferry skipper fell to me. Unfortunately, I had the electric outboard on the dinghy. It is quiet, clean and virtuous, but on a laden dinghy it is slow. The trip was completed at a leisurely pace, to say the least.

What’s in a name?

Before we made our boat’s name official (in other words, before we changed the paperwork on the maritime register), I searched online for the name JAMALA to see if it was offensive in any language. I found quite the opposite. In Arabic, it primarily means beauty, elegance, grace, or perfection. In Swahili, it is courtesy, good manners, kindness, or good behaviour. The only outlier I could find was that it’s also the stage name of a Eurovision Song Contest winner. So, aside from the singer (no offence), all good.

But when I heard the officials chuckling away to themselves every time they mentioned Jamala, I thought things were a bit off-centre. So I asked why.

It turns out that in Malagasy, Jamala is the name used for marijuana. Not the street name for it, the official name. Alternative names include candy, cake, or something else on the dessert menu. We got ourselves knowledged up innit by asking a local boat tour guide.

I’ll bet Jamala caused a bit of a stir when we put in the application to arrive. And that might explain the delay in getting our permission certificate to come here. They might not have been able to type it out for laughing. Still, a testament to the humour; it was all good. We didn’t even get searched.

Formalities ashore

Our friends on Aventure arrived at the same time, so after the officials had finished with Jamala, I piled them back into the dinghy and dropped them off on Aventure so they could be cleared in too.

Unfortunately, the Aventurians developed an outboard fault, so after they had returned from depositing the officials ashore, we collected the Aventure crew of three, and all headed over to complete the rest of the formalities ashore. There were forms, stamps, a fair amount of patient waiting, and a couple of ATM raids. It was a relaxed but expensive affair, and after it was completed, we were officially in Madagascar.

Lunch at Hellville

With the paperwork done, we could at last sit back, look around and enjoy being in a new country. Or, in our case, we went to Hellville restaurant for something to eat and watched local boats drift past. After Mahé’s traffic and hustle and bustle, it felt like a very good – and very different – place to be.

A footnote for sailors

We chose Friday to clear in so we could do it easily in daylight. That partly worked well. We didn’t know that this particular  Friday was a public holiday in Madagascar. That meant some of the fees were ‘enhanced’, some doubled, while others stayed the same. So be aware. Check Noonsite for current fees.

The first stop has to be the ATM. You will need to at least double-dip the machine because the maximum you can take out is 800,000 MGA per transaction.

Allow at least 2.5 hours to complete the clearance process. It is a very relaxed and friendly affair. You will get a receipt from all officials except immigration.

Jimmy, who helps with clearance, charged 140,000 MGA (around £24), and it is well worth engaging him to ease the process. He also arranged a trip around Nosy Be for us. You will also need change to give to Florent or Smiles to look after your dinghy. They charge 10,000, but that is for the day.

Keep your bags safe and stay alert. We didn’t feel unsafe here, but opportunistic theft happens. We wouldn’t hire a car or scooter here. The balance between risk and access to medical care is way out of whack. Even hiring a driver here isn’t risk-free. Khat is freely chomped on here in Nosy Be. Even some of the tuk-tuk drivers were at it – so choose your driver carefully.