Day 104 out of 137
The Mariner is anchored off of Pointe Mahabou
Today is a Tender Day
Mamaudzou, Isle di Mayotte, Grande-Terre, Comoro Islands, Comoros
Good morning! It is a bright and nice day. It is not too hot here nor is it too humid. We are anchored off of Mayotte. Actually this is probably as far off shore as we have anchored so far. Like yesterday the island is surrounded by small coral outcroppings and very small islands peaking out of the bay. This probably means the water is fairly shallow. Which would explain mooring so far off the island.
Officially the Union of the Comoros, but often shortened to just Comoros, the country is made up of three islands. It is located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It has been independent from French since 1975. It is the only Arab country which is completely in the Southern Hemisphere. They have three languages, Shikomori, French and Arabic.
This is the third-smallest African nation by area. Mayotte, the island we are visiting today, has some confusing background. Comoros claims Mayotte is part of its area. It is part of the same archipelago clearly, however Mayotte cited against independence with France. France has vetoed the United Nations Security Council resolution which would have affirmed Comorian sovereignty over the island. Mayotte uses the Euro as its currency and France administrators it as an overseas department.
Even with all of that, the Comorian Flag flies over the island. It maybe that the people on this island consider themselves to be a part of France because since the independence movement began in 1975 they have been some twenty coups or attempted coups, and various heads of state have been assassinated. Since the Comorian Flag flys here we are counting this as Comoros, this another country.
We have an excursion this morning, however it involves some one-hundred-twenty-two steps and a one-hundred-and-twenty-meter change in elevation. It is still over 29 degrees and the humidity is still high, although not as bad as yesterday. We decide it to be the better part of valor if we sit this excursion out and just take our own walking tour in town and stop some where for lunch. They have just announced that we have been cleared for landing, which is great. However, they also followed it with the swells in the bay about a meter high and tendering will be particularly difficult so be very careful.
We are waiting to board the tender. It is somewhat disconcerting to watch people trying to get on the tender as it bobs up and done on the waves next to the small boarding platform. People are doing it. It is really just waiting for the up swell to step on the tender. It’s our turn! Up, down, up, down, on the county of three, up (1), down (2) and up (3) board. Easy peasy. They render is only about half full when we cast off. They are running three tenders today, maybe four but I only see three. As we leave the ship one is leaving the dock, and the third one is approaching the dock. It takes a good twenty minutes to traverse the bay and arrive at the dock. Not sure which is worse going with the swells or having them hit you from the side. Going with them means bobbing up and down, with a feather nasty crash on the bow on the down. Hitting the tender from the side doesn’t sound a whole lot better, and you get the sway side to side. Now it is obvious why the tenders are packed like they usually are.
We pull up to the tender mooring. Still a little bouncy even this deep into the bay but not as bad as it is out where the ship is. There is a floating dock here, which means it is rising and falling with the waves along with the tender. It makes it easier to get off the tenter, but harder to walk to solid land. Made it!
There is a market right at the pier. Not your normal trinket market but a proper market where people can buy just about everything. Pants, shirts, skirts, shoes, socks, balls of every description and even cooking instruments. There are a couple stalls selling tourist trinkets, but for the most part just a normal Walmart, though we didn’t see any food stalls.
This is also where the inter-island ferry docks. So there are a couple of restaurants or maybe a restaurant and a bar. Hard to tell. Lots of people milling about, probably waiting for the next ferry. There is a car ferry on the other side of the market. It has just arrived and people are rushing to get off. People first then cars and then some fairly large trucks, finally a few more cars.
There is a good sized traffic circle just “above” the market. The market is set down from the street by a meter or two. So we walk up to the circle, watch people crossing to figure out how it is done, then follow one group. Now we are on the other side of the traffic circle and the streets are all leading up hill and away from the wharf.
On the other side we chose the street on the right, Rue de la Pompe. There is a small park on the left and then Pl. du Marche. It is possible that the original market is what occupied the park in the center between the two street. Marche means or translates to market. We walk up the street until we see Pharmacie Mahoraise. We stop because Maria needs some more bandaids. We ask the pharmacist where we should go to lunch, he goes an fetches someone who speak some english. He suggests the Hotel Caribou around the corner and up the street.
It is still a little to early for lunch, so we continue to walk up the street. The street is in disrepair but fairly clean, or very clean compared to say Bali. Up the street a little further is a supermarket called Douka Bé Mamoudzou. We decided to take a look. Clearly the freighter that supplies this store with food items just came in. The staff is trying to get it on the shelf. The customers are trying to get whatever they want before the store runs out. Quite a bit of chaos. Excepting the writing on the packages, we could have been in a small Safeway in the states. There was a lot of 50 kilo bags of rice, a main stable of the islands. Most other things look familiar. Nestle’s Quick, chocolate and strawberry. Pringles. Everything that shouldn’t be exported because it isn’t healthy.
We leave the store and walk back down the street. I have been looking at a smaller bag than my Tumi. The Tumi is good for carrying the iPad, but other wise it too big for everyday use. Maria spots on in a little store. We try to ask how much, but the man kneeling at the street seems to be telling us to go inside. Inside we go. There is an old woman behind the counter, who immediately call out the price 20 Euros. Asking if $20 US was ok, was acknowledged by 20 Euros.
We gave up and walked back down the street towards the market. A little further on and we find an ATM machine. Well we will always be able to use euros. So in goes the ATM card and out comes 300 euros. I leave Maria in front of the bank and walk back up the street with my new crisp 20 euro bill. Back at the shop the old woman is gone, but the man is still there. Pointing to the bag, and holding up the 20 euro bill, we come to an agreement. The bill is handed over and the bag handed to me.
The bag is good. It will hold my sunglasses case, phone and our passport. Maybe a few slips of paper. But that is what we want. Maria is somewhat tried of carrying both paris of sun glasses. We link back up in front of the bank and walk up Rue Mariaez. This street is split by another park in the middle, well more a rough patch of grass and some bushes, with cars sort of parked all over it, one side goes up hill the other side goes down, one way on each side.
We walk up the hill looking in the shops. Nice little shops. One for children, another for shoes for children, one for men’s dress clothes and shoes, purses, a bookstore, a cell phone/electronics store, a nice selection. We walk up one side and down the other and end up in front of Hotel Caribou. The restaurant was attached next door. It has a real life pizza oven!
Where are our French speaking grandchildren when we need them? The lady behind the counter spoke a little english. The menu was in French with an English translation which made little sense. The the chef walked bay and said no “something” today. Not sure what they didn’t have.
We stuck with Pizza aux quatre fromages et aux olives. Four cheese pizza is generally good. Olives aren’t my thing. So we worked in the waitress to make a four cheese pizza with olives on half. She came back and asked if we wanted two pizzas. No, one pizza with olives on half. A few others joined the conversation until some one seemed to get it.
We did get a pizza with four different cheese, although the blue cheese seemed to dominate the flavor. Half the pizza had olives and half not. There was a LOT of cheese on the pizza. We reduced the cheese by about half and enjoyed every bite. It was good. It was hot. Except for the amount of cheese it could have been Italian.
After lunch we walked back through the market and boarded the tender. Out timing was off as one was just pulling away as we arrived, but the next one was heading in. It was two by the time we got back to the ship. We were tired.
We will be in Maputo tomorrow morning. We’re getting off the ship after our excursion. Right now it is time for rest. Probably skip dinner tonight. The pizza was that good. Off to have a cigar while Maria showers and rests. Packing and getting ready on the list for this evening. Did a couple loads of laundry before heading out this morning. That still needs to be sorted into going to Zambia or not.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria.
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