On the high seas by canoe

Our day starts very early, I get up at 5 a.m. in anticipation of the whales. We get ready and go out of the hut when the little kitty comes running straight from the beach and runs into our hut. Purring loudly. I grab her and put her out and slip after her, but she runs right back in. So I take her in my arms and wait until the door is closed. She looks pretty clean and definitely doesn't have any strange illnesses. Hopefully. We walk to the beach when Pedro comes towards us and takes us to the boat. He explains that we have three boatmen because we are going further out today. Great. I'm a little scared, but whatever. It's pitch black and we get into the canoe, the sails are tightened and off we go. It's a miracle that they can see anything at all and, above all, know where we have to go. In any case, I don't see anything except that right next to us is the big dark ocean. After half an hour, some sunlight slowly appears and we are still heading towards the horizon. In the distance I see huge waves breaking. Basically a whole line along the horizon. I'm worried about how we're actually going to overcome this front with the boat. That's probably the reef there, up to that point the water is pretty low and there are various reefs, behind that the real ocean begins, complete with sharks and of course whales. That's probably the reason why sharks don't come directly to the beach on the west side of Madagascar - the reef keeps them away. But of course we have to go to the other side to see the whales. We're getting closer to the waves and I'm getting scared. The men shout sentences to each other and all start paddling. On one side to get the boat in the opposite direction. I see a gap where there is no surf, the water is probably deeper there. So we want to drive there for a long time. I just trust in the skills of the boatswain. And we actually drift elegantly between the monstrous waves. Phew, done. Now it's just rocking, but at least without the danger of us being completely turned around by these waves. We drive a little further out and the coast disappears behind the surf. No idea how we'll ever find that opening again, but good. Suddenly on the horizon there appear many small canoes, many small fishing boats with one or two men each. They paddle purposefully towards the coast. Probably after a successful fish catch in the morning hours. Well, if there are so many boats here, it'll work. Suddenly one of the men calls out excitedly and sure enough, a few hundred meters in front of us something big rises out of the water and a fountain. A whale with its calf. We set sail. The men take the paddles and off they go after the whales. We see them several times and eventually disappear. We see a few more whales, all humpback whales, they are currently rearing their young here. The waves are rocking the little boat quite a bit and I'm getting a little dizzy. After a while we make our way back. The wind has decreased, so it's a little slower. We are approaching the surf. The men are shouting things to each other excitedly and I'm a little scared again. Somehow we are drifting quite strongly towards the surf. The waves there are huge. Maybe you can surf it, but I definitely wouldn't want to go in there with a canoe. The men obviously don't either, they paddle heavily on one side. There is a small critical moment, but then somehow we are through, back on this side of the surf, in the reef and on the way towards the coast. We let the sail drift us the rest of the way and the trip went without incident. Back on the beach, I'm quite happy to have solid ground beneath me again. We go for breakfast and then I relax on the beach. With a view of the sea and some massage offers from the women on the beach. I take a walk to the less inhabited areas of the coast. Nevertheless, some children come running and want to sell jewelry or wooden whales. In the afternoon I drink coconut juice from a coconut. When it's gone, I open it with stones and pull out the coconut meat with my knife. Delicious. Definitely a highlight of the coast, the fresh coconuts. Manantsoa arrives again in the evening and we go to one of the Malagasy restaurants to eat together. The rice portions are simply incredibly huge. Not to be compared with tourist gourmet restaurants. You leave there hungrier than you went in.