Bonfires and Whale Watching - September Long Weekend, Madagascar Style

Just as I suspected when I wrote the last blog, this past weekend was fantastic.

Unfortunately, Matt had to get up and go to work Saturday morning, but that allowed me time to get up and ready and clean house at a leisurely pace. Our driver Bien and I went and picked him up at the office at noon and it was off to lunch with some friends to a place on the beach called Clare de Lune (sp?). It took about 1.5 hours to get our food, but you can't really complain too much when all of your pizza, including the dough, is hand made and then cooked in an authentic pizza oven. So tasty! It also helps when you are sitting on a "balcony" watching the ocean and drinking beer while waiting for your pizza.

After lunch Matt and I ventured off to get some groceries - we had the brilliant (?) idea to have a bunch of people over for dinner on Sunday being that Whale Watching was going to be done so early, then it was time to head back home and prep for the bonfire. Our friend Kent had brought back some bags of marshmallows the last time he was in Canada and as requested we made a batch of Rice Krispie squares with Mars bars melted on top. Omnomnom...they were delicious. We loaded up the cooler, hopped on the bike and the quad and were on our way to the Ops Camp where there is a large bonfire pit and some wooden benches. There is also a large cookout structure but it doesn't seem to function.

Starting the fire proved to be a little bit tricky, even though Kent had bought 40 bundles of what looked to be really dry wood. Turns out it wasn't all that dry. Three basketball magazines, one cardboard box, five fire starters and a bag of coal later and we finally had a fire. The weather was beautiful, the company great, and the music and snacks perfect. I have never had a "sit under the stars" experience like I've had here. There is almost no ambient light, unless you are in camp where they have put some street lights, and the sky is amazing and clear. We ended up playing charades for well over an hour, Matt and Ian acting things out, and me being the shocking ringer getting the most obscure clues correct. We roasted marshmallows and chatted, and it was an absolutely fantastic evening. Unfortunately it had to come to a relatively early end because we needed to be up and on the road by 7 am on Sunday morning to get to our Whale Watching Adventure.

Fire!

Once we got it going, the flames were beautiful!

Roasting Marshmallows



Can't ever just get a nice photo

Playing Charades - "First Word..."

Sunday morning came bright and early. No pancakes today! Matt had suggested having our pancake breakfast at 6:00 a.m., which was very quickly veto'd by most of us, though I was likely the loudest protester. Matt and I had our driver so we picked up Nolan and everyone else took a bus into town. We were to meet at Club Nautique, a private club right near the port, and find a guy named Bernard. He was right there waiting for us and we were on our way in short order to his little vessel.

Club Nautique

The "Norsk"

 

As we headed out of port, I snapped some shots of local activities. This is the only port on the entire island! It is very busy, both with big container ships, and with much smaller vessels.

 

Once we hit open water, the whale action started pretty quickly. These were humpback whales, similar to what we saw while on Maui. The action was relatively consistent, which was great for a 4 hour excursion. The two coolest things we saw was a double breach quite close to the boat, which of course none of us got on camera, and a mating routine, in which the male whale was continuously slapping his tail and doing all sorts of thins to show off to the females. We saw more breaches than I could count, though most of them were off in the distance, and so many babies. We even saw a baby that was sleeping riding on the back of it's mama. This is the third time I have gone whale watching, twice in Hawaii and once here. All three times have been different experiences, and they take different approaches to whale watching, but these beautiful creatures never cease to amaze me.
Below are a few shots from the day:

After the whale watching was over we started on our way back to the car, and we came across scooter races! Right on the streets of the city! We of course stopped and watched the action for a little while. I don't have the pictures ready, or the video, but it was quite a sight to see. Then we went on our way to a place called Calypso for lunch, where, naturally, a cow walked by. Then it was time to go home and prepare a rather large roast dinner for our friends, while Matt and Nolan took the quad out to see what it was made of. Matt came home covered in mud (and Zebu poop) with a big smile on his face, so I guess it turned out alright :)