-Chuck Rapp


By the last two days on Nosy Mitsio my body clock was pretty well adjusted. Bedtimes were early (no 10:00 news), and I awoke rested shortly after 5 AM.

Here’s a shot of Tuesday’s sunrise taken from the front porch. Pretty nice way to start the day.

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A SPECIAL TREAT…

On our last day on the island, one of the village young men stopped by the house with a special treat. Two fresh coconuts. He deftly cut away the shell with a machete and opened each top. The larger one had about three cups of sweet coconut water.

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TIME TO TRAVEL…

Travel to / from the island is a pretty major production. Departure time is dictated by wind direction and speed as well as the tide schedule at port. Fortunately for us high tide at the port was shortly after noon so we were spared a middle of the night trip.

We covered the 20 miles in a little over 3 hours. Next up was the drive to Ambilobe. Our “bus” had to be push started and about half way we had a blowout from the “road” conditions. Fortunately I was able to sit up front, but I have to admit that it was a bit disconcerting to be able to see the ground through the floorboard!

Upon arrival at our hotel, team members Adam and Steve told me that this was their smoothest trip ever. Wow!

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