April 8, 2011
Fly Fishing in Madagascar – Day 9
We have not stayed still for more than a short nights sleep since we got off the plane here in Madagascar. We have fished every day. But yesterday was our last guided day with George so today we slept in to a whopping 6 AM then relaxed most of the day.
It simply began with a couple nice cups of coffee while enjoying our incredible view from camps porch. Then we had breakfast including a couple fried eggs each. Then I caught up on my journal so I can keep these reports coming.
By 10 AM, I’d sat still long enough. It was time to go snorkeling. Granny and I drug our gear all the way. I like snorkeling because I often find some fish to throw flies at later. I was just about to head for the room and gather our stuff when out came one of the room cleaning gals with a scorpion that she found while sweeping our room. It’s just another daily hazard you run into in this neck of the woods. I’m sure glad Granny or I didn’t step on that thing!
The snorkeling was decent. There is better snorkeling near here and we
could have hired a boat to head to the better reefs, but Granny and I wanted no part of being on a schedule today. We simply wanted to be on our own which meant snorkeling right in front of camp. We saw some neat fish. There were lots of parrotfish and angel fish and we even saw several saddleback anemonefish. And amongst those highlighted fish were tons of other little guys in every color you can imagine. In fact, we snorkeled for over two hours straight and got out of the water pruned up and burnt up. Not a good combo at all.
For the rest of the afternoon Granny opted to read in the shade the. I grabbed my 8-weight Ross FW rod, my new Ross F1 Series reel rigged with Scientific Anglers Saltwater Sharkskin line WF8F and headed for the treacherous rocks. The tide was very low but just starting to rise. I could see coral heads scattered everywhere and normally areas like this hold plenty of fish, but here has been heavily tapped by the local fishermen. I only ended up with a few crazy looking sand lizardfish.
When the sun got low I retrieved Granny and took her on a short hike. We were hoping to find one of the famous Madagascar Chameleons. I’m sure we walked past a bunch but they were too well camouflaged for us to find them with the untrained eye. Instead it was good exercise and we reached Sakatia Island’s highest point. From there we watched the sunset over the Mozambique Channel. It was spectacular to say the least.
We just finished up our last night with our camp staff. We had a few drinks
with dinner and its time for a nap. We will relax most of the day here but tomorrow night we leave and fly to Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar to begin the next part of our adventure.
Stay tuned for more fish and who the heck knows!
Fly Fishing in Madagascar – Day 9
We have not stayed still for more than a short nights sleep since we got off the plane here in Madagascar. We have fished every day. But yesterday was our last guided day with George so today we slept in to a whopping 6 AM then relaxed most of the day. It simply began with a couple nice cups of coffee while enjoying our incredible view from camps porch. Then we had breakfast including a couple fried eggs each. Then I caught up on my journal so I can keep these reports coming.
By 10 AM, I’d sat still long enough. It was time to go snorkeling. Granny and I drug our gear all the way. I like snorkeling because I often find some fish to throw flies at later. I was just about to head for the room and gather our stuff when out came one of the room cleaning gals with a scorpion that she found while sweeping our room. It’s just another daily hazard you run into in this neck of the woods. I’m sure glad Granny or I didn’t step on that thing! The snorkeling was decent. There is better snorkeling near here and we
could have hired a boat to head to the better reefs, but Granny and I wanted no part of being on a schedule today. We simply wanted to be on our own which meant snorkeling right in front of camp. We saw some neat fish. There were lots of parrotfish and angel fish and we even saw several saddleback anemonefish. And amongst those highlighted fish were tons of other little guys in every color you can imagine. In fact, we snorkeled for over two hours straight and got out of the water pruned up and burnt up. Not a good combo at all. For the rest of the afternoon Granny opted to read in the shade the. I grabbed my 8-weight Ross FW rod, my new Ross F1 Series reel rigged with Scientific Anglers Saltwater Sharkskin line WF8F and headed for the treacherous rocks. The tide was very low but just starting to rise. I could see coral heads scattered everywhere and normally areas like this hold plenty of fish, but here has been heavily tapped by the local fishermen. I only ended up with a few crazy looking sand lizardfish.
When the sun got low I retrieved Granny and took her on a short hike. We were hoping to find one of the famous Madagascar Chameleons. I’m sure we walked past a bunch but they were too well camouflaged for us to find them with the untrained eye. Instead it was good exercise and we reached Sakatia Island’s highest point. From there we watched the sunset over the Mozambique Channel. It was spectacular to say the least. We just finished up our last night with our camp staff. We had a few drinks
with dinner and its time for a nap. We will relax most of the day here but tomorrow night we leave and fly to Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar to begin the next part of our adventure. Stay tuned for more fish and who the heck knows!
Travel well, and thanks for sharing your adventure.
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