Madagascar east coast Sep 2015

A huge dolphin playing at our bow.  A whole pod of them played by us and rod the bow wave for quite a while as we sailed from Reunion to Madagascar.  They were some of the biggest dolphins we'd ever seen.

Jason playing around, looking through the silicone hotpad we use to keep the bowls of dinner from sliding around while we eat.

Karen looking back at him through her silicone hotpad.

Karen outside the Customs office in Ile Sainte-Marie, Madagascar, where we cleared in.  The Customs officer didn't want his photo taken.  Evidence, perhaps?

The Coast Guard in his office.  Another payoff/fee required here.  The Coast Guard here didn't have a radio or a working boat.

This typewriter is still used here!  Not for our clearing in, though.  Just a handwritten receipt for us.

Not sure what this building is, but it is undergoing extensive building or renovation.  The stick scaffolding was all in place, but we never saw anyone working on it during the two weeks we were here.

A statue of a humpback whale jumping over a dugout canoe.

An old Anglican church on the island, a local landmark.

One of the flat cargo carts making the crossing on the causeway between the main town and this little island, Ilot Madame, where Customs and the Coast Guard are.  These carts get overloaded and pushed along the roads to deliver cargo from the ferries to all the destinations here.  That white box is a chest freezer on the cart.  This is a pretty light load compared to what we saw being pushed through town.

The main street in town on Ile Ste-Marie.  The town's name is Ambodifotatra.

A man drying cloves next to the supermarket.  The air smelled wonderful around these cloves.

One of several very bald tires on a delivery truck.  Hey, if it still holds air, it still works.

Jason in the Police/Immigration office at the desk.  The stacks of bound paper behind him are the filing system.  You can see another of those old typewriters on the lower left shelves.

The view from YOLO looking into the small boat harbor at Ile Sainte-Marie.

Local ladies in their tribal finery, out for a walk.  Lots of folks here still don't want their photos taken so you won't get to see many candid shots of locals.

This is public housing, Madagascar style.  The walls are woven mats and cloth hangs to cover the opening of the door,

A very old piece of machinery along the road.

The steeple of the old Anglican church.

This table is too low for Jason to even sit at.  Made the lady laugh when he tried to sit there just as a joke.

Women still carry most of their loads on their heads here.  Baskets, tubs, crates and bags were all carried on the heads here.  It was funny to watch them swivel to reply to someone talking behind them.  The whole body has to turn to avoid dumping the load.

A cat sitting on a roadside stall on a back road in ISM.  It never flinched at the ducks and ducklings parading around below him.

Jason and I stopped here to rest and read our guide books on the island.  I like the bent coconut palms over the water.

More bent coconut palms looking the other way from our rest stop.

Our dinghy tied up to go to the Customs office.  Behind us is a mostly-sunken boat, using 55-gallon drums as flotation devices.  They weren't helping much.  The dock in the background was where we tied up the first day and got scolded by a man who told us it was a private dock for the fish processing plant there.  They don't cater to yachts and dinghies here.

 A little boy climbing on the whale statue.

A small children's fair along the road.  A tiny carousel, ring toss onto Coke and beer bottles and a roulette wheel here.

Some colorful carving at a local restaurant. Like a Malagasy totem pole.

The local antenna made of an old bicycle wheel, minus the spokes and tires.

The festival of whales banner.  The whale part was in July and now the 4-day festival was just for music.

Look closely and you can tell this is the skin off of the head of a cow.  Those are its nostrils looking at you,

A fruit vendor at the local market.  This was the first stall as you entered the market lanes.

The only bakery in town.  We bought our baguettes here.

Local dugout canoes on a stream we crossed while walking to the other side of the island.

A rice field along the road, tucked back from the hustle and bustle of town.

Helga and Rene from Austria off the boat Amigo, walking with us after a morning rainshower left puddles in the road.  That's Jason in the rear, catching up slowly.

A Zebu beef cow in the front yard of this resort.

A lady sorting through her basket of drying cloves.

The ocean on the east side of Ile Sainte-Marie.  The shore is sheltered by a fringing reef.  Lovely turquoise water out there.

Karen and Jason on the eastern beach of ISM.  No shells here.

A local poled his dugout canoe ashore while we were here.

Kids find fun in simple things.  A couple of sticks and an old reel from twine or fishing line kept this little fellow entertained.

Just walking along carrying a goose.  And the girl has on a Santa hat???

This lady is tossing rice to let the chaff blow away.

A local was carrying this tub of fish on her head but didn't want her photo taken.  She took the tub off and removed the branches that were covering the fish from the sun so I could take a photo of the fish, though.  I had to oblige.

A typical grouping of homes here on the island.  All made of sticks and woven walls, with thatch roofs made of pandanus leaves.

A convenient rock in the river provided a place for this local lady to scrub her clothes.