Yesterday we had a day at sea and the crew put on a “country fair”. Each Department had a booth with different contests. For example Housekeeping had a race with 2 people competing to see who could put a pillow into a pillow case the fastest, the boutique had a race to dress mannequins, the bars a ring toss onto bottles, etc. you could win tickets and then there were draw prizes. Most people got into the spirit and had some fun.
Today we took a tour to Nosy Komba, one of the Madagascar islands. Madagascar has about 30 islands, 5 large ones that are inhabited. We anchored off of Nosy Be (Malagasy for Big Island). Nosy Be is about 5 miles off the northwest coast of Madagascar and is the largest and busiest tourist resort. As we sailed in toward the anchorage we passed small islands, many small sailboats, a very rickety looking ferry boat, several rustic looking canoes. It was a beautiful scene with the lush volcanic islands, sandy beaches, boats dotting the water, white houses on the islands and a colorful port area. It wasn’t long before several of the canoes were around the boat trying to sell fruit, fish, carvings, shark teeth, small carved boats. The canoes usually had a paddler and a bailer working – didn’t seem to be very water proof. The canoes seemed to be like a dug out with an outrigger on one side and a couple of poles out the other side where the sail was stored when not in use. When the sail was up in looked like a patchwork of whatever material they could find, often with holes and/or patches, it was a simple square rig.
We took a water taxi over to Nosy Komba where we visited the local village and the lemur sanctuary. The villagers had their crafts on display and were playing music, dancing, displaying animals etc. Everyone including the kids had their hand out looking for money. Kids selling vanilla beans, little girls doing the local dance – like the hula but with no hand motions, just the hips and they were all pretty good!! The women did embroidery (many embroidered tablecloths for sale), the men did carvings, the kids danced, played music, sold flowers and vanilla. As they followed us along we made quite a parade through the narrow dirt streets. Many of the women and girls had their faces painted with white paint. The guide said they did it to look beautiful and to provide some protection from the sun.
The main language is Malagasy and there is quite a bit of French as well. The people are of Asian and African descent
There were 2 colors of lemurs – black (males) and brown (females), we also saw tortoises, snakes and chameleons.

Thanks to everyone who is commenting on the blog. It is nice to know you are following along with us. Nancie and Ross, great picture of Mason and Caelan playing with the balloons! Mosey, yes, I am on antibiotics and am feeling much better.
We have 2 days at sea now as we have about 1200 nautical miles to our next port. So we will be toasting y’all while cruising the Indian Ocean, enjoying the warm ocean breezes and our champagne.

Happy New Year