The Bazaruto Archipelago

The crew preparing lunch.

Once in Vilanculo, we signed up for a couple of dhow safaris out to the Bazaruto archipelago, where we could have stayed had we not minded paying between $250 and $8,000 per person, per night at the different lodges...


Bazaruto island.


Turquoise waters.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get on a Sail Away trip (the most recommended company) so we had to go out with a different guy who turned out to be the town rascal -- the type of dude who borrows money from one client in order to make change for another... you get the picture... Anyway, his trips turned out to be more expensive than we were led to believe, but whatever, this was kind of a little vacation week-end so we were like, meh...


Sand at low tide...

Let's just say, though, that this guy's crew is not going to win the America's Cup for Mozambique anytime soon... we kind of ran aground on a sandbar heading out to the big island -- even after a bunch of fishermen who were standing only knee-high in the water a hundred metres away, started yelling and gesturing (waving or drowning?) for us to turn around. Anyway, so there we were, stuck, with these able seamen out pushing the dhow off the sand... priceless...


Looking at a starfish when we ran aground...

To be fair, though, we did get to the island and then to the reef for some spectacular snorkeling -- the quantity and variety of fish was amazing, even if the coral was somewhat bleached. And, it must be said that our crew were great cooks. They prepared some grilled barracuda with rice, sofrito, fresh steamed crab and ripe mango for dessert. We ate in the shade on the beach. Not bad at all.

Sailing back had it's thrills, too. First, a bunch of us saw a big ray fly out of the sea just off port and then some massive thunder and lightning started up over shore and we tried to beat the storm as we headed back to base...


Me on the dhow (with a seemingly worried Ilse).

The next day, we ended up with the same company since nobody else was going to the smaller island. The boss was happy to see us and even gave us a discount for our loyalty. Hmm, maybe we misjudged his character... just as we were about to cast off, though, he freaked out on one of his workers, wading out into the surf and screaming at him for not respecting him, etc. All of us on the boat were like, nice...

Afterword: that wasn't the last that we saw of that dude... turns out further that he's the one who procures you tickets for the bus back to Maputo and then picks you up at 3 in the morning to drop you off at the depot -- for a price of course... I'm sure that he'll be mayor next time I visit Vilanculo...


Preparing to unfurl (the sail is held with bits of reed that explode when they pull the sheet).


Unfurled.


Sailing back to port.