Meandering around Mayotte

First order of business after arriving in a new port is to take care of the formalities of checking in. Here in Mayotte, this consisted of getting the forms from the small, local yacht club, completing the one page form, taking a taxi to the airport, finding immigration there and getting the form and our passports stamped, then taking the form to the Customs officials, getting another stamp, and lastly, returning the form to the yacht club, who, as a courtesy, would take care of the final step, which is getting the form to the Port Captain at Mamoudzou, a ferry ride away on the big island, “Grand Terre”. (We are anchored off Petite Terre, at Dzaoudzi).

This is a map of Mayotte.  The red line shows our track into the anchorage at Dzoudzi on Petite Terre, the small island on the right

Things don’t happen at a hectic pace here, so we had to wait until 11:00am, when the yacht club opened before we could get the form we needed. Then it was a walk back to the ferry terminal, where the taxi stand was located, to catch a taxi to the airport. The thing we liked about the taxis here is that there is a set price, regardless of where you are going, and no haggling required! The charge is per person, (€1.4) and the taxi can pick up as many guests as can fit in the car. So off we went. At the airport, there is a nondescript telephone with a message to call a number should you require assistance (for clearing in). Our pretty much non-existent French was met by a totally non-existent English speaker on the other end, and it took a while to explain that we had arrived on a boat (Baton), no, not a plane, and we required police clearance.

Eventually a lady came out and reviewed and took our passports. While we waited, Dave decided to go and investigate car hire. Since we had such a short time with Stephan, we decided the best way for him to see some of Mayotte would be by car. So off Dave and Stephan went, and not 10 minutes later, the police lady returned, asking for Monsieur du Toit (Stephan). After tracking him down at Avis car rental (the only ones who had a car available), he returned to face the French police. Where is your visa, she asked? You are on a South African passport, and you need a visa to enter Mayotte. If you don’t have a visa, I have no choice but to put you in jail. GULP! Stephan explained that he also had an American passport. She seemed a little doubtful. “Give me”, she said, wiggling her fingers, motioning him to hand it over. It’s on the boat, Stephan replied. She asked us to give her a minute, as she wanted to speak to her captain. She came back a few minutes later, and gave back all our passports. To Stephan she said, “Go back to the boat, get your American passport, and come back”. To me she said, “I am not stamping your passports yet. Once you all come back with Monsieur du Toit’s passport, we can start all over again”. By now it was almost 1:00pm and we had not accomplished anything!

Dave secured a car, which also took forever, and we drove back to the boat. We got Stephan’s US passport, and headed back to the airport. Back to the non-descript phone, and another futile conversation explaining we had not arrived by air, but by boat and wanted to clear in. Luckily, our lady happened to walked past, and we were able to give her our passports. Off she went, and soon came back with our stamped passports. 1 down, 2 to go… On leaving, Stephan jokingly said, “Is the food good in jail?”, to which she replied, “But of course! You are in France!”

Jail Food :-)

Off we drove to the customs office. There was only one person there, which was a good thing, because we were worried no-one would be there as it was now Friday afternoon! The gentleman lead us into his office and when we said we were from Cool Runnings, he said, “Ah oui…you met our Interceptor last night…oui!”. Um…oui, yes….that was us…sorry….forgot to radio you…oops! Oh well…at least we’re well known on Mayotte! We got our second stamp and headed back to the Yacht Club. The last stamp needed was from the Port Captain in Mamoudzou, which the Yacht Club was going to take care of for us. It was about 3:00pm by the time we were officially checked in! We decided, since we had the car, and time was running out for Stephan, we’d take a drive around Petite Terre, which didn’t take long at all, since it’s very small! The one sight to see is “Lac Dziani”, which is a lake in an extinct volcanic crater, and due to the Sulphur content, is an emerald green color. Unfortunately it was raining by the time we walked up the sandy track to the crater’s rim, and we didn’t experience the majestic green color, but it was cool to see regardless.

Not quite emerald green on this rainy day!  

The next morning we used the car to complete our boat chores, namely filling up with diesel. While Dave and Stephan did 2 trips to the petrol station to fill up the jerry cans, I packed, made lunch and got the boat ready to be left for 2 days. We were going on a road trip to the big island! We took “le Barge” (the ferry) over to Grande Terre and disembarked into the chaos of Mamoudzou! 

On the ferry to Mamoudzou

Looking onto Mamoudzou from the ferry

We decided to head south since that was the lesser of the traffic jams! We drove through village after village, around bay after bay. Unfortunately there were not many look out points, and the foliage on the side of the road was not trimmed, so it was difficult to see the scenery, which, from the few glimpses we had, was very pretty. We were also unlucky with the weather, as it rained, and sometimes, poured, on and off all day. 

Mayotte is a Muslim country with mosques at every corner

Dave enjoys a well deserved beer break after driving around for hours on crazy roads!

A typical town...through a rainy windshield (sorry!)

Kids enjoy a game of soccer on the large beach created by the huge tidal ranges

We found these Optimists and a Laser just sadly forgotten and in disrepair.  

What a gorgeous little face!  When she eventually smiled, she had two huge dimples!  So sweet

Near the southern point of the island we started seeing Baobab trees…huge ones with their branches sticking into the sky. You can see why legend says they were mistakenly planted upside down! Another lovely surprise was seeing the lemurs, locally known as “maki”. They made grunting noises and were quite curious, their amber eyes watching you as you walked by and jumping effortlessly from tree to tree!

First lemur sighting!

A close up look

Baobab on the beach

It's difficult to capture the height of these trees

This is one third of the trunk of one of the baobabs!

We started looking for a place to stay around 3:30pm. The choice was limited! We found Mayotte was not really geared towards tourists, and although there were places shown on google maps, or listed in the (French) guide book we had, the signage was so bad, we generally couldn’t find them! Or if we did find them, they were shuttered up or just vacant buildings. This is definitely more Africa than France! Two places we did find were fully booked, and when we stumbled on “Perle du Sud”, we really didn’t have a choice but to stay there. We got 2 rooms…one for Dave and I, and one for our 3 kids, Stephan, Benjamin and Gaby! We also ate dinner there…it sounded promising, but when we heard the constant “ding” of the microwave, we knew we shouldn’t expect much. For what we got, it was really, really expensive. Feeling a little dejected, we left early the next morning. At least the rate included breakfast, which was probably the best part…hot coffee (black) and a plate of crepes that we ate with our fingers (no plates, knives or forks provided)! 

Stephan peruses the dinner menu while our hotel proprietor looks on...lots of sign language was used to communicate!

We had planned a hike up Mont Choungui, the tallest mountain on Mayotte at 594 meters, and once again, the signage was terrible. We found the road that, in theory, should have led us to the start of the hiking trail. We parked our car on the side of the road, the only indication that this might be the right place being a few other cars parked there. We found one trail, but it went DOWN, not UP, as one would expect when hiking up a mountain. It also seemed to be going away from the mountain and not towards it. Dave and Stephan walked down the muddy path for a while, but then we decided it must be the wrong place. We later found out from Shuti that it was, in fact, the right place, and you had to go down the path first, and then it later turned to go up! The only reason they managed to do it, was that there were people there that they were able to ask. Oh well, what a pity! We continued driving, and got Stephan back to the ferry terminal in time to catch a ferry back to Dzaoudzi, from where he would take the dinghy back to the boat and collect his luggage (his kite surfing gear was too big to fit into the car with 5 of us!!), and then he took a taxi to the airport to catch his flight to Nairobi, Johannesburg, and then Cape Town! Thanks for joining us, Steph, and we hope you had a great time! You certainly got a good dose of what this cruising life entails! Check in and check out procedures, light winds, strong winds, night shifts, beautiful anchorages and fancy marinas, deserted atolls and crowded third world towns! We hope we answered all your questions, and hope to be following YOUR blog in the not too distant future!!

Stephan relaxing at Le Chato Cafe...a cool little place we found near the southern tip of the island

After Stephan left us, we continued driving along the north coast of Mayotte. There were more beautiful bays, but looking at the charts they are too deep for anchoring, and the tidal ranges here are huge! This means you can’t anchor too close in, because you’d find yourself aground at low tide, or alternatively, on a reef. Further out, the depths are too deep for anchoring. We took photos instead and enjoyed the scenery from the land! 

One of the few viewpoints on the north tip of the island...unfortunately littered with litter!

Beautiful bay...but no white sand beaches here!

Another look across the lagoon to some of the smaller islands

We have never seen so much corrugated iron in one concentrated area (ie. Mayotte) in our lives.  It was EVERYWHERE!

By Sunday afternoon we got word from Shuti that they had checked into a place in the forest, near a town called Combani, a place that had been recommended to them by another boat, “Ui”, that we had both met in Chagos, and that had left the day after we arrived. We decided to head that way, and check it out for ourselves. Being a little weary after our previous accommodation, we told Shuti not to commit to anything on our behalf, and that we would be there soon. We were pleasantly surprised by this funky little place in the forest called Le Git Du Monde Combani. We were shown a room with outside toilet and showers. The room itself was pretty basic, but the grounds of the “resort”, if you can call it that, were beautiful. They had little platforms/decks with hammocks scattered all over, and over a beer and a beautiful view, we caught up with Momi and Lilach while the kids played mini golf, tag and hide and seek in the surrounding rain forest! We also managed to score a wonderful dinner, and breakfast was also included, again, delicious! Our faith restored, we left the next morning and headed back to the ferry terminal to take “le Barge” back to Petite Terre and to our boat. 

These little ghekkos were so pretty!  Bright green with red markings

Beer time with Lilach and Momi from Shuti

Dinner for 9...5 Shuti's and 4 Cool Runners!

The little bar (very important!)

Beautiful flowers and fruit at the reception

Resident Lemurs (maki)

Our little abode...sleeping room on the right, separate shower in the middle, toilet in the door to the left!

Gaby relaxing in one of the hammocks on one of the hideaways

This little guy was eating the papaya on this tree

Cruising kids...with the Shuti boys

And once again in height order!

The ferry workers had been on strike since we had arrived a few days before, and all ferry rides had been for free. Dave had purchased a pass for the car and driver when we hired the car, so when we finally arrived to board the ferry (it was absolute chaos, gridlocked traffic), the guy directing the cars onto the ferry asked for the pass and for the passenger’s tickets. I guess the strike was over. Ben, Gaby and I had already gotten out of the car, since we had learned on the way over that no passengers were allowed in the car when driving onto the ferry. But then the guy asked us for our tickets, which we did not have. We also did not have any money, using our very last Euros to pay for dinner the night before! At the last minute, Dave told me to grab my wallet and his phone, and the next thing we knew, Dave was driving onto the ferry, and the kids and I were left behind!! 

The ladies of Mayotte with their painted faces and beautiful cloths.  This one is not the  most colorful one I found, but it it considered rude to take their photo, so I had to do some clandestine photography!!

 I walked to the ticket counter and asked if they took credit cards (ha ha! Highly unlikely, but it was worth a shot!!) Of course the answer was no. So off I went in search of an ATM. The reason we had no cash was because a fraud alert had been put on our card when we first attempted to draw cash here, and the only way to clear it, was either by calling the US, or going online. Internet access had been sketchy to say the least, and Dave had tried the link to say “Yes, it’s OK…I am in Mayotte, and I tried to draw cash”, but his mom had emailed us to say the bank needed us to call them, which was not possible. So anyway, off I went, wondering what to do if I couldn’t draw any money! I found an ATM and tried our debit card. Nothing. “Contact your bank” was the all-too-familiar message. Now what to do? I tried my credit card…hold your breath…YES! €20 approved! I was so happy to see those 2 notes coming out of the machine! The transaction fees are probably more than what I drew out, but at this stage, I just wanted to buy 3 tickets and get on the ferry!! Dave met us back at the ferry terminal in Dzaoudzi and Team Cool Runnings was together again! We returned the rental car, and went back to the safety and familiarity of our floating home! 

Ben and Gaby at the ferry terminal...Gaby not too happy with the whole situation!

People getting off the ferry

Some more clandestine photography!  

It was after our window cracked that we first entertained the thought of skipping Madagascar and heading straight to South Africa. Stephan had been to Madagascar twice to go surfing, and confirmed what we had started suspecting. It was pretty much like Mayotte, except poorer. And since the beauty of Madagascar was inland (we suspected), with the avenue of Baobabs, and rain forests with lemurs and unique flora and fauna, and inland travel in Madagascar was not an option for us, we started thinking seriously if we wanted to go. We had read of reports of corruption and bribery (OK, it’s Africa), but unless the anchorages were spectacular, with crystal clear water and the scenery stunning, like nothing we’d seen before, we were starting to think that getting to South Africa early held more of an appeal to us. As we did more research, and found both pro’s and con’s, we found that probably our biggest con was that “fear of missing out”. So many of our boat friends were heading there…Shuti, Ui, Aerial IV, Peregrine…how could we say we were not going?! But getting to South Africa a month earlier was even more of an appeal. We had so many boat things we needed to get done there…new sails, the window repair, hauling out, painting the bottom, and we wanted to be able to see all our friends and family, and tour South Africa without feeling rushed, and still be able to leave in time to enjoy the Caribbean and Bahamas before heading home for good. We had a family meeting, and were surprised to find that the kids were more than OK with skipping Madagascar and rather heading straight to South Africa!

So we had to break the news to Shuti, which is one of the sadder parts. We had planned to cruise Madagascar with them, and make the crossing to South Africa together, but we also knew they had friends coming, and they could meet up with Aerial IV or other boats and cross with them. It was sad to think we’d traveled so far with them, and we would part ways in Mayotte. But we will see them, and Moby, again in SA, and pick up from there! So, with the decision made, we started looking for a good weather window to make the long trip down the Mozambique Channel towards South Africa. We will get as far as we can, with the option of pulling into Mozambique to shelter and wait out bad weather. It is a 1,300 mile journey from here to Richard’s Bay in South Africa, so it’s not a hop, skip and a jump, but we are ready! We spent the last few days in Mayotte getting the boat ready, doing laundry, getting the kids to do some schoolwork and checking out. We even managed to squeeze in an afternoon of Optimist sailing for Ben and Gaby, borrowing 2 boats from the yacht club!

Gaby and Ben getting ready to launch the borrowed boats

Pottering around among the moored boats...walking in their father's footsteps? (Or should that be, sailing in their father's wake?)

Ben looking cool

Gaby doing her thing

We leave with mixed emotions. It’s always tough to have to miss a place, but we are super excited to get to SA a little earlier and enjoy our time there! Click on the “Track us Here!” tab, at the top, right of this page, to see where we are and watch our progress down the coast of East Africa!  

PS:  On a completely different note...we just learned that our "Garden Fairy" (John, our FL neighbor) has just returned from diving with Great White Sharks off the coast of Mexico, so John, we think this deserves a promotion from Garden Fairy to Garden Elf ;-)!  Thanks as always for all you do, and for dropping us a note yesterday - it's always great to get news from home!

Seychelles to Mayotte, with one short stop

When Dave had completed all the paperwork for checkout of the Seychelles on Wednesday, September 13th, 2017, we were ready to go, except, of course, for the small issue of the passport situation! In an attempt to get them back earlier, Dave told immigration that we would be leaving at 6:00am the following morning.

“Good, we’ll see you at 9:00am”, came the reply.

OK…you win some, you lose some!

Considering a lot was done on “island time” in the Seychelles, we were pleasantly surprised when 2 ladies from immigration arrived at the boat at about 9:15am on Thursday morning, with our passports in hand (phew!!). They stamped them, and wished us well. The Seychelles stamp, by the way, is the cutest we currently have in our passports, in the outline of the “coco de mer”, the famous coconut that resembles a backside, and that are only found in the Seychelles, and, in fact, only on the island of Praslin, in a reserve in the center of the island that we unfortunately did not have time to visit.

The cutest stamp in our passports!

In theory, we would NOW be able to leave, as Shuti did shortly after the return of their passports. We helped them untie their docklines, waved from the jetty and said we’d be in touch later in the day, as we were making the journey to Mayotte together with them. We also rendezvoused with Moby and had a more emotional goodbye, as they were heading to Mauritius and we would more than likely only see them in South Africa, and even then, we were not sure if we would be in the same place at the same time. But plans were made to stay in touch, and hopefully get together in SA. We waved to Moby as they too motored past us and were on their way. Why, do you ask are we STILL stuck in this darned marina???? Well, it had to do with our Hawaiian Sling, a type of spear gun, but that has an elastic band instead of a trigger/gun type mechanism. Our sling was confiscated by the Coast Guard on arrival in the Seychelles, which, in itself is ridiculous, as we saw the exact same thing for purchase in the fishing shop in the marina!! The previous day we had tried to find out who had our sling, and after quite a few “let me check and get back to you”, we were promised that someone would bring it to us, also at 9:00am the following morning.

When 9:00am came and went, and Shuti and Moby had left, we still didn’t have our sling. Eventually we saw a Coast Guard boat that seemed to be patrolling the marina. We waved them down, and during a heavy rain downpour, they came along side our bows and onto our boat. It took 1 boat, with 2 big engines and 3 guys on board to bring us our sling, which turned out not to be ours. It was an old, rusty spear gun. Not ours, we said, and had to find a picture to show them what ours looked like! I was having serious doubts that we’d ever see it again! But off they went, and said they would have another look, and if it wasn’t at this station, they would have to go to the other one in Port Victoria, and look there. Sigh….10:30am came and went and we waited. Soon thereafter, Dave’s phone rang, and they said they had found it! They would be there in 10 minutes (5 minutes to do the paperwork, and 5 minutes to get to our boat). About 20 minutes later, they came back…1 boat, 2 big engines, and 3 guys, to deliver our little sling! But we had it, and we could leave!! Just after 11:00am on Thursday, September 14th, 2017, we FINALLY left the Eden Island Marina on our next leg of the Indian Ocean!

Our sling delivery boat!

The wind was blowing a good 17 – 20 knots, and we left with 2 reefs in the main and a slightly furled jib. Rounding the top of Mahe was pretty bumpy, but we knew the wind was forecast to lighten, so we sucked it up and bounced along. By evening conditions were already better, and the next two days actually produced pretty flat seas and lighter winds, but with the angle, we were able to reach, and have some pretty good sailing. Every now and then, we would encounter these pockets of current, where the sea was very disturbed, and we’d bounce about for a bit, and then it would calm down again. You could actually see them quite clearly…a section of white caps amongst an otherwise generally calm sea.

Conditions were great for trawling, and we caught this lovely Mahi Mahi!

Saturday evening saw the winds start to pick up, and it was while we had just sat down to have something to eat that we heard an almighty “crack”! It was unlike any sound we’d heard before. We thought it was something on the boom, but a quick inspection didn’t show anything out of the ordinary, and everything seemed to be in working order. On Sunday morning, while Dave and Stephan were walking around, doing a quick inspection, we found the cause of the noise. Our salon window had two cracks in it…about 27 cm long! The cracks were in the painted section of the window, right at the bottom where it joins the deck, so we could not see it from the inside. The constant flexing of the boat in the rougher conditions had probably caused the window to crack. We quickly sent a message to Lagoon to make sure that it was not structural (they confirmed it is not), and put duct tape over it to stop any further leaking/cracking. Because it is Perspex, it can temporarily be repaired by drilling 2 small holes on either side of the crack to stop it from going any further, and then filling the crack with some epoxy. It is a repair we will probably do in South Africa, although Lagoon has offered to supply a new window at their cost if we pay for the install. Thank you David Farrington and Lagoon in France for your excellent support and customer service. We are so glad we chose a Lagoon to sail around the world in, for many reasons, but the customer support they have provided us along the way is certainly a big plus factor for us!

The crack in our window

The boys catch a nap while the conditions are still calm!

By Sunday night the wind was really strong, and we experienced one of the worst nights we’d had in a long time. We were having to almost beat into the wind, and we ended up going quite far downwind of our course, in order to try and minimize the bashing, knowing that we could make it up later, when we would reach the wind shadow of Madagascar, and would be forced to motor. We had previously discussed stopping at one of the atolls that were scattered along the way to Mayotte. Aldabra is a World Heritage Site, and we would have liked to have stopped there, but it was a little off our course, and we had not obtained permission from Seychelles Island Development Group, so did not have a permit. We could have tried to stop without a permit, but had heard that they were quite strict and could have asked us to leave had we stopped. On our way was another, much smaller atoll called Cosmoledo. We researched the possibilities of stopping there, and found out that one could not get into the lagoon, but it was possible to anchor in the lee of the island, and get some shelter. After our rough night on Sunday, we were keen for a rest, and Cosmoledo was conveniently coming up at daybreak. We also wanted to show Stephan what it was like to go to a deserted island, and worked out that we could stop, and still get him to Mayotte in time to catch his flight on Sunday the 24th. So just after sunrise on Monday morning, September 18th, we sailed into the lee of Cosmoledo, and found a spot to drop the anchor. It was still a rolly anchorage, with currents ripping past us at up to 3 knots at times, and with the wind blowing at 20 – 25 knots, it wasn’t exactly calm, but it was nice to be able to rest.

Cool Runnings at anchor off Cosmoledo, way in the distance

We soon discovered that we could only reach the shore at high tide, as the entire island was surrounded by a coral fringing reef, and we could not get our dinghy over the reef and onto the beach. So we waited a couple of hours and then headed to land. While we waited, we reveled in watching the whales that gently played in the waters not even 2 boat lengths from us! There seemed to be a whole family with moms and calves. They would blow a big puff of water in the air, take a breath and we could see their big backs and at times, even their tails! Benjamin has a great shot with the sunset, and a whale tail!

Once the tide was high enough, we explored the beach, marveling at the hundreds of sea birds that called the island their home. Beautiful shells littered the beach, and the water was nice and cool. Turtles swam up and down the beach, in the calm section between the beach and the fringing reef, and popped their heads up periodically to check us out. They are so cute! We also saw very big, very fresh, turtle tracks up the beach to indentations in the sand, where they must have come to lay their eggs. We were very careful to give those areas a big, wide berth, in order not to disturb any eggs that may be there. We think, judging from the tracks, that they were leatherback turtles that had come to lay their eggs. With the wind still blowing so strongly, Stephan just couldn’t help himself, and had to go for a kite surf. After all, he couldn’t bring his gear all the way with him, and then not use it!!

Ben and Gaby cool off in the water...the little dot in the middle is a turtle poking its head out the water!

The turtle tracks looked the tracks from an All Terrain Vehicle!!

Stephan gets his kite ready

He launched off the beach and then disappeared around the corner. After a while, we got a little concerned, because we couldn’t see him anymore, but eventually we spotted his kite coming back around the corner. He had kited all the way across the inside of the lagoon to the other side, and back again. On his way, he saw a 4ft tiger shark swimming just feet from him in the lagoon!! That’s the time to NOT wipe out!! With the sun getting low in the sky, and the tide going out again, we had to make our way back to the boat to avoid being stuck on the island for the night! We enjoyed more whale sightings, and enjoyed sleeping a whole night, (ie. No night watches!), even if it was a bit rolly!

Stephan in action

The kids exploring in the tidal pools

The fringing reef we couldn't get past at low tide

Another spectacular sunset at sea/anchor

We stayed another day at Cosmoledo, watching the whales, and relaxing in the morning, and once we could access the beach, we explored a different part of the island, and found that there had been a settlement there at one time. We found some old graves, as well as ruins of some buildings, including 2 jail cells! We have not had internet to be able to research what may have been there, and why no-one lives there any longer, but it would certainly have been an isolated existence for the souls that did call it home.

The birds were very curious and even had a go at our fishing rods!

Some of the ruins on the island

The deserted beach and protected bay - pity we couldn't get our boat in here!

An old boat, high and dry amongst the ruins

The remains of another building

Desolate beauty

The old graveyard we discovered

Because I'm usually always behind the camera!

I just love driftwood on the beach!

Stephan exploring the beach on the other side of the island...more turtle tracks in the foreground

Time for a wash!  The kids give Dave a good scrub with the sand!

Steph relaxing as the sun goes down

On Wednesday morning, once it was light enough to see, we picked up the anchor, and headed out for another day of punishment in “washing machine” conditions of the ocean. Under different circumstances, we probably would have stayed, and waited for the wind to die down before leaving, but that was not until the following week according to our grib files, and Stephan had a plane to catch, so we unfortunately had to head out. I’m sure Stephan would have enjoyed a few more days of kite surfing as well!! The day was bearable as Dave took it upon himself to hand steer most of the way, thereby being able to anticipate the wave action and minimize the pounding we would otherwise take. As day turned into night, the wind started to die, and by midnight and into the early hours we were doing about 4 knots boat speed in about 8 – 10 knots of wind. We had reached the wind shadow of Madagascar, the island is so huge, that it literally blocks the south east trade winds, resulting in an area of “wind shadow”, where the wind dies to nothing. Soon we were motoring, but the problem with motoring is that you can only go so fast, and in our case, we also had a generous current AGAINST us, as usual, and while our boat speed was around 6 knots, at times we were only doing 4 knots through the water, so our arrival in Mayotte got later and later. 

Stephan joins in the tradition of raising the Q flag and the French courtesy flag

We did not want to spend another night at sea, and drifting off the entrance of Mayotte was just not an option for us! We were very lucky in that Shuti had decided not to stop at Cosmoledo, and were already safely anchored in Mayotte. We knew we had our own guide in the harbor to steer us clear of any dangers, so we decided to keep going. We reached the entrance of Passe M’Zamboro at the northern end of Mayotte at about 8:30pm. It was already pitch black, literally, as this was the night of new moon, meaning there was no moon!! This was the first time we had ever attempted a night entrance. We were also confident that the markers would be lit, and the charts accurate, as Mayotte is administered by France, and we’ve had only good experiences with French islands! And it turned out fine. The entrance had a lot of current flowing through it (about 3 knots against us), that swept us sideways, but we were prepared for this, and steered accordingly. The pass entrance was also wide, deep and very well lit. Mayotte is almost completely surrounded by reef, giving it the world’s second largest lagoon, but it also meant that we still had 13 miles inside the reef, after the entrance, to go to get to the anchorage. We were about half way down the channel when we saw a boat coming quite rapidly towards us, and then shining a bright light at us. At first Dave thought it was a fishing boat, and flashed our spotlights back at them, but then quickly thought…perhaps not a good idea. And rightly so…the boat turned behind us, the red and blue lights started flashing, and the spotlight stayed on us. It was the officials! We slowed down and put the engines in neutral, and prepared to be boarded. It was our first night entry, but it was also the very first time we had not radioed the authorities. Normally we ALWAYS radio at about 12 miles out, identifying ourselves and asking for permission to enter that country’s waters. Sometimes we get an answer, sometimes we don’t, but we always do it. We had read that in Mayotte you just come in, and don’t have to radio anyone. And so we didn’t, but shame on us, we should have known better…especially arriving at night!

Two armed customs officials came on board and asked to see our passports. They were very nice and very professional. They said that they have a big problem with illegal immigrants coming in from the Comoro Islands, and routinely patrol the perimeter of the island, especially at night. After they saw we were just a cruising family, they let us go on our way, and we apologized profusely for not radioing ahead and announcing our arrival and intention to enter the pass. This delayed us a further half hour or so, and poor Momi and Yoav were waiting for us in the anchorage. We let them know we were coming, and stayed in radio contact with them, as they hopped in their dinghy and went to a mooring buoy that we would pick up. They signaled us with a flashlight and we headed towards the light. By 10:30pm we were safely attached to a mooring buoy, happy to have made it to Mayotte! Our thanks to Momi and Yoav for their help…we could not have come into the harbor and picked up the mooring in the pitch dark, especially not when we woke up the next morning, and saw how many boats there were!!

The anchorage at Dzoudzi - none of these boats were lit at night!

We had made it to Mayotte, another leg over and done with! Now we had 2 ½ days to explore before Stephan had to leave us, but first, we had to clear in…that story and an account of our stay in Mayotte will follow in the next blog post. Stay tuned!