Early morning in Belo sur Mer is beautiful. No, magical. The tide is very low, there is no wind and the light is excellent for photographing the boats going out for the daily fishing activities.
The speed boat took us off shore, about 18km to a small sandy island formed by the low tide. The sea was calm and on the way we spotted a pod of dolphins. We anchored the boat some 50m off the island and swam to it. There were a bunch children playing, waiting for their parents to return from fishing.
There were shells everywhere and we grabbed the opportunity to collect some really nice ones. Unfortunately we could no snorkel as the waters were not clear and visibility was rather poor.
We were told that the waters are frequented by humpback whales but were not able to spot any until, in a moment that I will remember for the rest of my wildlife enthusiast life, I shouted “La, a droite!”. A couple of whales had just dived and ten minutes later we were able to approach as they emerged form the water. We followed them for 20 minutes and even saw a third one. Beautiful creatures. Unfortunately we had to return to be on time for the ride back to Morondava.
After an excellent lunch with fresh shrimp, we drove back to Morondava and checked in Chez Maggie, a decent lodge, nothing extraordinary though.