Sailing North to the 16th century Pirate Haven the fabled Mitsio Islands.

Early the following morning we sailed with the high tide, things were nice and comfortable as we threaded our way through the passages between the many small Islands, we had the sails up and were making good speed. This would not be the way things stayed as once we rounded the last headland we were immediately buffeted by the full force of the wind and waves generated by the cyclone still churning away in the Mozambique Channel. However we were in luck and the cyclone maintained it's predicted course and was not increasing in strength.

Before we reached open sea Richard explained how to operate the topside camera

Our skipper Woody showing the strain of having to act as interpreter as well, yes the language barrier was an issue at times but it all worked out ok in the end.

The wind was not too bad as it was from the right quarter to ensure we made good speed up the coast, however the waves were another story, they were just the right height and distance apart to make things very uncomfortable for us. As I suffer from seasickness I took the opportunity quickly down a sizable dose of my favorite drug of choice and spent the next couple of hours in a drug induced haze of semi-consciousness in my bunk. Some considerable time passed before my bladder inconveniently chased me out of my bunk. Having dealt with that minor inconvenience, I decided a cup of tea and something to eat may be the way to go, and we ate a light lunch as we sailed North toward the 16th Century pirate haven of the Mitsio Islands.

The Mitsio's are located on the far Northwestern coast of Madagascar and we planned to use them as a sheltered anchorage for the night. Just as centuries before us Pirates preying on returning Dutch East India men used those very same islands. The rugged shapes of the islands and their tall volcanic peaks hid the masts of the ships from patrolling naval vessels sent to rid the Indian ocean of the pirate scourge. The stretch of water between the Horn of Africa and the Northern tip of Madagascar were once a favorite haunt of pirates in the days of sail. Days of wooden ships and iron men, months spent at sea living on bully beef and hard tack biscuits, washed down with a daily tot of Rum. Years spent away from home in the hope of making some money, but usually ending in death from any number of mishaps, a fall from the rigging, scurvy, fever or falling overboard and drowning as the ship sailed on, or worst of all at the end of the hangman's rope after torture and trial then for ones body to hang in the gibbet.

Dull leaden skies but at least the wind has dropped and we are in the lee of the islands now.

After a full days sailing we dropper anchor shortly after dark in the shelter of the Mitsio islands, it was a welcome relief to be able to eat and move without being thrown around. I for one was not feeling the best and it takes me a good day or two to get my sea legs at the best of times. I was definitely hoping for calmer weather over the coming days. Once we had anchored up and eaten we all set to bed for a welcome rest.

A jungle waterfall and a Cyclone.

We spent most of the day packing our gear, double checking we had everything and that all the camera batteries were fully charged. We took things slowly and made sure we hadn't forgotten anything. While we were eating lunch the owner of the Villa asked if we would like to accompany him to a waterfall and swimming hole that afternoon?  How could we refuse an offer like that, so after lunch we all piled into the back of his pickup and headed off.
We traveled through what looked like an old abandoned sugar cane plantation, the locals were now living in what remained of the old buildings and huts. We crossed a small river with women washing clothes and kids running around everywhere before parking up in a clearing. We then walked a couple of hundred meters down a trail with trees and vines growing overhead. The sound of falling water got louder and louder until we rounded a bend and the trail opened up to reveal a beautiful waterfall. There was even a small cave behind the cascade and a rock ledge to climb up and jump into the pool from.

Walking through the jungle to the Waterfall.

The Waterfall and cave.

Local scenery.

We were only too eager to swim and the water was refreshingly cool after the walk in, Greg and I swam across the pool and climbed the rock ledge before jumping into the pool. We then swam under the waterfall and had a look in the cave, it went a fair way back into the rock certainly further than it looked at first glance.
Richard and Chris both had a swim and Chris took some amazing footage of the waterfall with a GoPro mounted on a Quad copter, flying in between the trees to film the cascade from above.

After a relaxing couple of hours we had to head back to the beach and meet the yacht, we only had a couple of hours when the tide was high enough to bring the yacht into the bay and load our gear. A small zodiac was launched from the yacht and with this we ferried everything out to the yacht and stowed it securely.

Our home for the next leg of our voyage.

The next high tide would be in the early hours of the following morning and we were making use of that to board the yacht depart on our voyage North. For the last few days a cyclone had been hovering over the Northern waters of the Mozambique channel, this was a major problem for us. If it continued to move South West things would be ok and we could use the wind to hasten our voyage, however if it turned and headed due South or South East we would be in trouble. Unfortunately we would not know which direction the Cyclone would take until we set out the following morning.