Piscene Naturelle and Pirate's Cemetery

 Two women fishing in the rain in front of our hotel.

 Our guide Franklin at the Piscene Naturelle.

 Graham, Lynn and I.

 A rusty old decommissioned lighthouse.

 Zebu on the road, geese crossing...

 makes for interesting riding.

Tombstones from the 1800's pirate's cemetery.

Wednesday, November 22^nd.

I woke up at five listening to the island wake up... the cockerels crowing, the people talking in the huts behind the hotel or walking down the road and the motorcycles racing along the road.

Then it rained hard for over an hour. When it let up I went for breakfast and then met up with Graham and Lynn. We had ordered a couple of scooters for the day as we wanted to complete the ride to the north end of the island. I led and we headed out for the fifty kilometre ride. It started out cloudy but soon got sunny and hot. We drove past all the island people going about their normal daily life until we reached the town of Ambodiatafana where the three piscine naturelle (natural pools) were. We parked our bikes and talked to the man there. We were required to book a guide to take us to the pools. This is to protect the area from disrespectful tourists and to give locals a job as guides. Our guide Franklin led us along the road past a village and over a hill to the coast and then down a hill. It was the typical tropical place with palm trees, pounding surf and sand. There are three pools here and our admission allowed us to swim in one of them. So our guide led us to the first and then the second and the third. From there we climbed a hill to get a great overview of the area. Franklin told us about the significance of the place. It is a spiritual place for the local people and they come here to sacrifice zebus to appease their god and to ask for guidance or help with problems in their lives. They toss coins into the pools to make wishes.

On the way back we stopped at pool number one and the guide and I had a swim. Graham and Lynn didn't have their bathers. I went in with my shorts and shirt, it was a great way to have a bath, do laundry and enjoy the beautiful clean water all at the same time.

After the swim we climbed back up the hill to our bikes, bid farewell to Patrick and retraced our ride back to the south. We stopped several times for photos before getting to the main town. We decided to have lunch there. We found a local restaurant and ordered hamburgers and chips. When we left I bought another kilo of lychee nuts.

Then we refueled our bikes and decided to visit the pirate cemetery. This island was used by pirates from England, France and Spain during the 1800's and some of them died and were buried here. Again we had to hire a local guide who walked us the kilometre to the cemetery. He explained the history and pointed out the pertinent head stones. After that we decided to ride to the southern end of the island (a distance of ten kilometres to the airport), that way we rode the entire length of the island. Then we retraced our steps again back to our hotel.

I ate some of the lychee, went for a cool off in the ocean and then read for a bit before dinner. Florien, Graham, Lynn and I enjoyed a last dinner together and had a couple of drinks outside by the pool. This was our last night. Graham and Lynn headed off by 9:30, I worked on the computer and Florien went clubbing with some of the hotel staff.

When I left the restaurant/bar area the manager gave me the modem to take to my room. While things were uploading I spent some time walking along the beach, looking at the stars, listening to the surf, smelling the sea and enjoying the darkness. I was asleep by midnight.