Day 17 – Manda Beach

We met K for breakfast in our hotel as it was considerable nicer than hers as we experienced the night before. Then, we caught a tuk tuk to Manda Beach which we had seen from the point of land the day before. After getting out of the tuk tuk, we were immediately mobbed by a group of guys trying to sell us on their tour of the reef in a pirogue. After we negotiated the price on the tour, the lead guy, short, slim, in his early 20s and wearing large Ray-Bans, immediately proceeded to sell us lunch that would be ready when we returned. Eventually we agreed on a price for lobster that was higher than the better restaurants we'd frequented. The pirogue is a hollowed out log often with one pontoon that can be fitted out with a sail. It is from these boats that the people fish and take tourists out to see the reef. We all sat in row with me at the back. When the water became particularly shallow I would get out however this was not encouraged because there are all sorts of nasties in the water there like sea snakes and spiny sea urchins. We had two guides, one at the front of the boat and one at the back, neither was the dude in the Ray-Bans. Both were in the early 20s and wore long shorts and a t-shirt, one with pants he was constantly tugging to keep up and the other of a more muscular build. . We weren't in the water long before both guides got out and started searching for creatures. They first pulled out a creature “droopy pants” called a serpent which means snake in French but was more likely a sea cucumber because it could suck its “head” back into its body, a lovely sight. Then he showed us a dead piece of coral and then a live piece, both of which he threw back into the water. Then the muscular dude pulled a small fish out from under a rock and plopped it into the boat where it proceeded to flop around until he killed it with the end of his shovel. (To be sold I would guess.). Then there was the sea urchin that sucked itself into the front of the boat only to be tossed off later. And surprisingly, there's very little coral and very few creatures left alive on the reef.

Much to our surprise, lunch was not ready when we returned to the beach. We were given two chaise longs and a bench to sit on under an umbrella and were then inundated with people selling us many different products but mostly food. K is quite adventurous with local cooking so we stopped one of the ladies carrying around a tray of such. She was quickly joined by others. On display was a dark brown stringy cookies sized item which turned out to be baked coconut which was sweet and really delicious. Then there was a honey flavoured cookie with two sides and a filled with some kind of nut. We tried a number of fried, donut style products all with fillings, none of the sugary kind at Tim Hortons however I have no idea what they were. Also for sale were live chickens with their feet tied to a stick being carried around by a man of shorter stature and ragged clothing. I was offered one for purchase however declined. We also declined the coconuts, the inflatable toys, sea shells, and shrimp.

When the lobsters finally arrived, they appeared suspiciously like the jumbo prawns I'd eaten at Vakona Lodge with a more rustic presentation. That said, they tasted fabulous as were the mixed vegetables. The wind and rain picked up just as we finished eating and the guy in charge of the umbrellas tried to use some as a wind break but we were done and it was time to head back to our hotel and then Tamatave but not without one more altercation with the Ray Ban dude who used very excuse to pull more money out of our pockets. This time, he claimed that we'd negotiated a price for the meal higher than the three of us could recall. As we knew the extra funds would go in his pocket and not those who'd been responsible for our culinary delight we held fast and he was left pouting.

Along the road, some ladies were selling more of their local baking very much like that we'd purchased on the beach. We sampled a variety and then drove the rest of the way into town and back.