Adventures in the underwater world

We get up quite early because our snorkeling trip starts at 8 a.m. Pedro said yesterday that it would be quite windy and it would be difficult to go out. At 4 a.m. it was super stormy, so I had a few nightmares about myself snorkeling at sea. I am a bit excited. First we go for breakfast, an omelette, fruit and some bread. Delicious. Then we go to the beach, meet Pedro and his boatmen. He shows us our boat and introduces us to our boatman. We try on snorkel masks and fins and off we go into the canoe. I'm a little afraid to go out on the open water in a canoe, but it's not my first time. And we only go to the reefs and not into the completely open ocean. First the two men paddle, then a sail is put up and we set off. After 45 minutes we slow down and stop at a buoy. Our boatman points to the sea and points to the right and left: “You can just start snorkeling here.” Uh, okay. Just like that? All right. I put on my mask, put on my fins and bravely jumped into the water. I need a moment to get my bearings and get some swimming. It's wavy and rocky and I'm a little worried that I won't find the mini boat again. “There!” calls our boatman and points into the distance. Well, take it easy, I'll do a few test laps near the boat first. But it is beautiful and colorful fish, corals and starfish look at me as soon as I put my head under the water. I see clown fish, puffer fish and many more, single fish, yellow ones, schools and lots of sea urchins. I'd rather not touch them. Colorful corals and entire landscapes. Actually like in the movie. I am very impressed and swim through the landscape. Every now and then I swim back to the boat as a test, I don't really trust the whole thing. But it works surprisingly well, with a bit of adrenaline included. After half an hour we get back on the boat and head to a second reef. This is almost more impressive and even more colorful and colorful. Lots of starfish, sea urchins, fish in the most colorful colors. And the corals also shine brightly. Another canoe stops and I meet another person in the water, also quite pleasantly. It's quite shallow and I have to be careful not to accidentally touch the corals. After a while I'm glad I survived and climb back onto the boat. Very reassured that it is now done. Kevin says that he touched a jellyfish with long tentacles and there are lots of red pustules on the spot. I'm a bit shocked that there are poisonous jellyfish there and I definitely won't go in again. In the wind we jet back to the beach. That was definitely adventurous. I am immediately greeted by two girls who want to paint me. Well, I think. Maybe today I'll do it. So I put her off until a little later, change my clothes and go to the beach. They wait for me and come running straight away. I sit down on the sand and they immediately paint my face. Two women arrive straight away and want to braid my hair. I try to brush them off, but only half-heartedly and they start braiding my hair into tiny braids. Well, I'll do it for once for my own sake. Two more women come straight away and the four of them work on my hair. It took about 45 minutes and then they braided all of my salty, matted hair into mini braids. Already impressive. And painful. At lunchtime we go to the local restaurants again and this time try one of the others. For me there is Riz cantonnais. As always, very good and a lot. There is a small reserve with medicinal plants and turtles in the village. We'll take a walk there. At the entrance, or at the supposed entrance, there are various men waiting who want to sell us a tour and entry. Everyone claims the right entrance is behind their hut. One seems quite serious, but also not quite right. Another seems very strange. “He’s a junkie.” Says the first. It's right for me. I ask him where the guide he promises us is and he doesn't really answer. Well, we'd rather look for ourselves and walk along the path. After a few 100 meters we see the correct entrance to the reserve and a serious price list. That looks better. We book a big tour with turtles and plants and our guide is called. He has been working here for 10 years and shows us various enclosures with turtles of different ages and many medicinal plants. The turtles are only found in Madagascar, the radiated turtles and spider turtles. After the tour, we walk back through the village, past hundreds of street stalls that are everywhere. Now brave enough to just walk through the hustle and bustle. Here they don't want to sell us anything and most of us smile in a friendly way. I'm looking for bananas and I find them, we buy a whole bunch and walk back to the bungalow. I start to open my hundreds of braids and it's not very pleasant because the salty hair is quite sticky and the braids are very finely braided. After half an eternity it was done. We decide that we're pretty full by lunch and I'll just drink a hibiscus juice in the evening and then go to sleep. Our whale watching tour starts tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m.