Turtle Cove

We sailed, sometimes with good wind, down to the SE portion of Mayotte and were blown away by the beauty underwater. There's a cute boutique hotel on an isolated beach and a beachfront restaurant with wildly overpriced food (but tasty coffee)... and not much else.

Except the reef. Which is healthy and fabulous. And the lemurs, which were curious and fun to watch. And the baobab trees: Seussian and enormous. And I've seen at least 10 turtles, many of whom weren't the keast bit bothered by swimming akongside a hairless ape.

We stayed two nights, moored to a really nice buoy that is located practically on top of a large coral head - a coral "patata" in local parlance. The french call everything a potato.

I spent hours swimming amongst the brilliant colors and looking for fun things to shoot, with my camera. Everything inside the lagoon of Mayotte is protected from hunting and commercial fishing, which helps explain why it is so healthy and vibrant. Good policy (well enforced) helps everyone. Apparently the fishing just outside the lagoon is spectacular.

Phil and Kimi have been generous and affable, I enjoy their company very much. They'll be pushing on towards South Africa soon and I hope our paths cross down the line somewhere.Read more