[Password] brucelaura
[Position] 16 03.2 S 046 17.9 E
[Status] We are anchored at Baly Bay on the west coast if Madagascar. We will wait here for a good weather window to make the jump across the Mozambique Channel to Africa. Our goal is to get to Richard's Bay, South Africa and eventually Cape Town but we will most likely stop at Bazaruto, an island off Mozambique, to wait for weather to continue on. There is a strong current running south along that coastline. When a 'buster' blows from the south with 35+ knots of wind, the wind-against-current kicks up huge sea conditions can break the back of a freighter! After a 'buster' the wind will clock around and blow from the north, providing a few days of favorable conditions. So we will sail when conditions are good and hunker down when it blows from the south. This is one of the most challenging parts of our journey so stay tuned! Meanwhile, we've had good sailing down the coast of Madagascar and enjoyed the scenery, snorkeling, baobab trees and friendly lemurs. There are quite a
few
cruisers here, many of whom we met in Malaysia and some new to us, so it's been a very social month. We now have an HF radio net so we are talking to cruisers on passage. It's always good to share experiences and to hear a familiar voice when offshore. We are in touch with 4 boats that left for Bazaruto laxt Monday and are halfway there. We are hoping that there will be a window for us to jump this coming Monday. But patience is the name of the game!

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

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