October 2025
Kirsten and Steve arrived at Imagination at 09.15 on the 1st via speedboat from the place they had been staying at further around the coast, and Shawn picked Milla up from the dock at 09.30. Kirsten and Steve were returning for a second time having been onboard for the Borneo leg in June last year. After a great lunch at Bambou ( again!), the shopping was done in 2 stages. The first part in a very small supermarket with minimal choice and, after a return trip back to Imagination, the second part was done at the market was was a fabulous experience for some and overwhelming for others – one stall next to the other, all crammed close together, sellers, buyers, animals, children, noise, good smells, not so good smells! After chats and drinks onboard later, it was an early night for everyone. Shawn and Milla went off diving for the morning early on the 2nd and everyone else remained onboard. Once they got back, the anchor was pulled up and they moved back around to Hell-ville ready to do Domestic clearance first thing in the morning. Steve had been feeling a little unwell so he and Kirsten remained onboard on the morning of the 3rd while Ally and Shawn went to do the clearance formalities ( even staying within Madagascan waters, it is a requirement to clear into and out of the main Ports if you visit them) and some final shopping, and Milla went to Lemuria Land for a couple of hours.
They were back onboard by 10.45 and half an hour later, the anchor was up for the 5 1/4 hour trip down to Nosy Antsoha where they went ashore the next morning. Everyone enjoyed spending time feeding the lemurs bananas before doing the walk around the island. Once back onboard, they moved on to Nosy Iranja where they had drinks and pizza for lunch at Tiki Bar. A small boy came to Kirsten and climbed onto her lap for a while, making his way across to Steve and then to Milla – both he and the crew had a great time entertaining each other, despite the language barrier ( he only spoke Malagasy). It wasn’t long before his baby sister arrived, and wanted to sit with Ally and then she snuggled right in for a cuddle! A group of girls hanging out nearby really enjoyed the music being played by a local band that was entertaining a group of day visitors, dancing and running around, and even Milla joined in for a minute or two both with the dancing and running around playing chase with the little boy. Once lunch was over, Shawn and Ally sat in the warm shallow water while the others walked up to the lighthouse ( they did it last month), and late afternoon they returned to Imagination and all but Ally went to snorkel with turtles that were spotted on their way ashore earlier.
It was a full days sail down to Nosy Antanimora on the 5th, so it wasn’t until the morning of the Monday 6th that they went ashore to the small island to do a hike to the highest point. Even on that island, as small as it was, there were areas of green vegetation amidst very arid and dusty areas. Man, it was a hot walk with very little breeze which only increased slightly as they climbed up to the top. With little shade, they didn’t stay up there for long and descended to the path that would take them to the village where 1000 people live, apparently, although that doesn’t seem possible in such a small place. They were warmly greeted by an older guy who introduced himself as Jean-Jacques. He welcomed them to the village and thanked them for visiting before walking with them to show them a bar owned and run by his daughter, Daniella, of whom he was obviously very proud, and rightly so as she also owned all the goats and the only Zebu ( named Jackson, after Michael Jackson who she loves!). The beers came out cold and Jean-Jacques sat with the group talking with them about life in his village and his 3 children – it was a special time. Kirsten handed him a small packet of fishing hooks and he was utterly blown away, became emotional and was truly grateful – it was kinda sad to leave.
The following morning they sailed/motored with fair winds initially that eventually died, and they arrived at Nosy Saba at 12.35, catching a tuna along the way. Steve was very happy, as the last time he was onboard in Borneo, all efforts of fishing were unsuccessful. During the afternoon, Milla stayed onboard and the others went ashore to spend a couple of hours on the beach and snorkelling over some pretty corals. After arriving at Nosy Lava at lunchtime on the 8th and before they went ashore, Shawn gave a lone fisherman that had made deliberate moves to keep out of the way, a mask, snorkel and fins which he was super happy with. This island used to be the penal colony for Madagascar, with the prison being built by the French in 1911, housing up to 1600 convicts until it’s closure in 2002. On it’s closure, some prisoners were set free, others were moved to other facilities and some were released but forbidden to leave Nosy Lava, thus completing their life sentence. On approaching the beach, they were welcomed by a couple of small children who were given lollies by Milla. It wasn’t long before they were joined by several others who then escorted them as they explored the prison ruins. Conversation was impossible as they only spoke Malagasy, but they enjoyed each others company for an hour or so. Before they left the beach, they left a bag full off goodies at the small settlement to be distributed, including items of clothing, toothbrushes and toothpaste, colouring pencils, paper, some food items etc and last but not least, the kids were given a football which they were over the moon with.
There was an 8.5 hour sail on the 9th, to Moramba Motus, an area reminiscent of Palau with small islands undercut by the tides which are bigger in Madagascar than there. Just after anchoring, everyone but Ally went to look for a beach that would be good to BBQ on and so late morning on the 10th, they all got in the dinghy to go ashore. The tide was much lower than it had been on the reccy the day before, so it was a little more tricky getting to the beach, weaving between coral and rocks and then walking the dinghy to the shoreline. They had a very pleasant time together, and the BBQ’d tuna they had caught a few days before, was very well received. Almost as soon as they had eaten, the onshore breeze started picking up, coating everyone in a thin layer of fine sand and so the anticipated relaxed rest of the afternoon on the beach ended abruptly with everyone deciding it wasn’t relaxing anymore.
In order to get to the next destination, they had to do a 28 hour sail which involved dodging fishing nets at the last minute, good winds, low winds, engine on, engine off. The West coast of Madagascar is known for the on shore winds in the evenings and off shore winds in the mornings, with the time between being quiet as the wind switches from one to the other. The anchorage in Baly Bay was a bit of a disappointment on arrival, with a varied, rather unspectacular coastline of both dry areas and mangrove and very muddy water. Several fishermen in their tiny dug outs/pirogues were dotted around and off in the distance, along the edge of the mangroves, Flamingos were spotted through the binoculars. In the morning, there was a visit ashore and they took bags of bits and pieces to give away, including bedding, towels, saucepans, utensils, pencils, paper, paints, brushes, toothbrushes, hairbands. As they approached, groups of villagers sat in the shade of palm trees watching them and the crew were a little unsure if they were welcome or not, but once one child, and then another came forward to take a lolly, smiles started to appear. The whoops of joy and happiness, the smiles and looks of gratitude from these people as everything was handed out as they waited patiently, was so wonderful and it felt good that items that Ally and Shawn no longer had a need for onboard, would be treasured and used and make a difference. The crew had planned to do a walk and wondered if they’d be able to find someone to guide them….they needn’t have, because all the children and several women escorted them on a walk through the mangroves. It wasn’t quite the hike they had anticipated, looking for and watching animals. With the excited entourage, any animal would have moved out the way long before they go there, but they enjoyed the company of the kids for that hour. On the way back to Imagination, they got as close as they could to the flamingos for some photos and then later that afternoon. Shawn, Steve and Milla went across to another, uninhabited area to go for another walk where they did come across lemurs.
They next several days consisted of long sails, including overnighters, overnight stops and an occasional visit ashore to give gifts to the grateful people living in the remote, dry and somewhat barren islands. Having caught a Giant Trevally one morning, they handed it over to 2 lads out on a fishing trip – wow, were they happy!
Sadly, Milla had issues with flights being cancelled and rescheduled and was going to be leaving Imagination a few days early, but just a few days ago, her outward bound flight was cancelled by Emirates due to the recent civil unrest. She had to reschedule again and Shawn looked at the itinerary to figure out where would be safe for her to disembark, but as the West coast is exposed to the weather, it would be dependant on the conditions as to whether they would get to shore in the dinghy. When they arrived in Morondava late morning on the 19th, it was very evident that the rolling waves caused by the 25+ knots of wind they had a couple of days ago would make it too dangerous to take the dinghy onto the beach. Somehow, Milla was able to clean her room super quick and make arrangements to be picked up from Imagination within an hour or so of arriving, and so rather abruptly, she departed for her hotel in a canoe with 3 smiling chaps, fulfilling her wish to have a go in a pirogue since her arrival. It was a shame she had to leave so quickly with no real time for proper farewells, but what a way to end her time onboard!
Almost as soon as she was gone, the anchor was up and Imagination was on the move again, away from the rolling waves, but more importantly, the nearby port as they didn’t want to have to do the whole local clearing in and out thing. The destination they were heading for was just 30nm away as the crow flies, which would ordinarily mean a 6-8 hour sail, but the winds and seas were not cooperating with the plans and so it took them 24 hours (!!) with them travelling a total of 109nm to get to Nosy Andreangory. It was good to be on anchor, and even better to be anchored in the lee of a small, uninhabited island where they could go ashore and relax for a while without an entourage. Ally and Shawn circumnavigated on foot, while Steve and Kirsten explored inland a little where there are some concrete ruins of what looks like small accommodations. Ally was super happy to find the best shell she has found in a very long time!
They were off again on the morning of the 21st, heading out for an overnight sail down the coast around 70nm to more islands. As the day went on, conditions became more choppy and the winds increased in a very unfavourable direction once again. The decision was made by Shawn to head in to the coast and take shelter there, as it was clear that they weren’t going to make it to their destination before much stronger winds were forecast to blow through. The anchor went down in a random spot where they were more protected from the wind and the waves, and that’s where they remained for the rest of the day and all of the 22nd when the stronger winds went through. Making the most of the unscheduled stop, they all got on with some cleaning to make life easier at the final destination in a couple of days. It was a 5am start on Thursday 23rd with the winds much reduced and seas much more settled and they arrived in the lagoon just off of Efaty at 15.45 on the 24th. It wasn’t long before they were visited by 3 guys in their pirogue, offering fresh squid which Shawn was unable to resist. With Frodo’s ( pronounced Freydo) broken English and Shawn and Ally’s limited French, they were able to arrange a taxi for the following morning to do two fuel runs to Toliara, 22kms away, and to drop Kirsten and Steve at their hotel. It was an experience to be driven into town in a rickety old MPV taxi/bus with around 8 local guys, jerry cans and luggage on the roof, with several stops en route, some of which were police checkpoints. It seems every time they drive that route, drivers pay the officer varying sums of money to avoid being written up for an imaginary offence. Corruption is alive and well here. After the recent civil unrest and military coup, things have settled down again…hopefully, one day, they can eradicate this behaviour. It was sad to say goodbye to Kirsten and Steve, but they had more land based Madagascan adventures to come over the next few weeks. Shawn and Ally stopped for some provisions on the way back to the dusty village of Efaty where a multitude of people helped to carry the fuel out to the dinghy in the shallow water.
Shawn and Ally stayed onboard Imagination on the 26th, for what was meant to be a chill day, but turned into an industrious one sorting through all the gear in the dive “locker”, doing laundry, blog writing and sorting through photos. They had a visit from another trio of fishermen, one of whom was gifted a mask and snorkel and Shawn arranged for them to return in a couple of days to help clean the bottom of the hulls. At 8am on the 27th, they were ashore to meet Frodo again, this time for a visit to some baobabs on a zebu drawn cart. It was a great few hours passing through the village, out onto the road and then into the bush to eventually walk to several huge trees. On returning to the village, they had the usual onslaught of jewellery sellers, offers of hair braiding and massages and requests for bonbons from the many kids all of whom escorted them to the dinghy before saying a cheery “au revoir”.
On the morning of the 28th, 4 guys showed up at 8am to clean the hulls. With them working hard on the surface and duck diving lower, and Shawn deeper with scuba gear on, the job was done in super quick time. They sat in the sun warming up while enjoying orange cordial, cheese crackers and then peanut butter sandwiches, going away very happy with full bellies, t-shirts, fishing line, a bottle of juice and some cash, and they left Shawn and Ally the gift of a handmade model of a pirogue made out of local balsa wood. Mainsail repairs took up much of the day on Wednesday 29th, before Ally cooked a roast beef dinner ( zebu) and the 30th/31st were a little more relaxed with final prep made for the arrival of the oncoming crew and time to watch movies.
