The tall ships of Tulear

Along with all the pirogues are a few tall ships that seem to come out of the 18th century.  Not just one trying to make a living as a tourist venue, as you might find off the coast of Massachusetts or Michigan, but a small fleet of at least four.  And they carry cargo.

Sal has actually had the experience of sailing on one.  Coming back from Anakao one year someone arranged for him to get a ride on one.  Not just a ride it turned out, it was the annual regatta and Anakao to Tulear race.  They are all wood, canvas, and rope.  No motors, no electronics.

Sal also claims the following story is true.  It has  some elements of plausibility so I will recount it.  One of the early European colonizing powers here -- Sal says the Portuguese, and he could be correct, but that sounds quite early -- back in whatever century they were trying to make an imprint, set up a ship manufacturing facility in what eventually became Tulear.  The colonizing powers did not stay the course though, they packed up and left, but the shipbuilding by then was in the hands of the locals, and the building traditions from then are used to this day.

What is clear is that these ships are not for show, they are really used.  I can't think of too many other places where sailing ships are still used to carry cargo.  Chinese junks in some places perhaps, and perhaps Arab dhows along the coast of East Africa.

At anchor

At low tide

Leaving in the morning

Unloading

Tulear scenes

Meat market.  The meat looks good now at 7:30am.  Not so much at 15:30 later in the day.

Coffee shop on the way to IHSM.  Yeah, it's the table and bench under the tree.  I am pretty sure they serve food also.

Boy with homemade toy truck -- a bit hard to make out.  I am often at a distance when I take pictures including people.

The WCS office at IHSM (Institute Haliotechnique et Science Marine).  Only the two blue doors.  Very small but it was good to have a place to work.

The Za Za disco club . . .

. . . has some nice art outside . . .

. . . and some wild times inside.

The restaurant (hotely) where I ate my first Malagasy meal.  Very good.  Tahine took me there at my request.  Big ball of rice, a small dish of beef in red sauce, and a somewhat larger dish of what appeared to be pickled shredded turnip and carrot.  All very tasty and not spicy hot.  Not even close.  But there was a tiny dish of brownish green sauce that was some of the hottest I've ever encountered.  I only used a few dabs, but almost started hiccuping when I ate a whole dab in one bite.  And oh yeah -- I paid $2.50 for both of us to eat.

My second hotel.  Rooms cost $10.  Not sure what the Nauti Club is but it sounds promising . . .

The view from my balcony

The coffee stand across the street from the hotel.  I've never been a customer.  I always go next door, the Bo Beach, a French run restaurant with internet.  Cafe au lait avec croissant runs about $1.50 there.

The departure point for the boats to Anakao is at the end of this road.

The boats are loaded and unloaded by zebu cart.  Zebu carts are widely used for hauling things around.

And this is one of the boats to Anakao.  A pirogue.  There are a few motorboats for hire, but most people travel in these.

Another pirogue.  This one's been fishing.  They are everywhere.   I still haven't figured out quite how they work.  There's an outrigger, a mast held up by three stays, the v-mounted gaff, and a square sail.  They seem to sail in all kinds of wind.  But I don't know how close to the wind they can point.  But they can really rip.

And a lot of the guys who use them are really ripped too.

Mal de Sal

Back in Tulear.  Thought I had left it for good after the last post.  And it was incredibly difficult to leave.  Not emotionally.  Physically.  Endless problems trying to fuel up the boat, trying to get supplies on the boat, and with getting permission from customs to leave.  There is some suspicion that bribes were being sought, but none were paid, and we finally did get off the next morning.  Sal was stuck in town all that night after a late-night session with customs.

We sailed south to finish up some of the transect legs south of Tulear, then did the first leg to the north of Tulear (all the rest of the trip will be to the north), ending at a small village north of Tulear called Ifaty.  Ifaty is protected from the open ocean by a fringing reef (as is Tulear) and it was a bit dicey to get Zanj through the narrow pass in the reef, but once through it is a nice anchorage -- calm and stable no matter what the wind.  And there was work to do in Ifaty.  Norbert has a long time project interviewing local fishermen.  I think this is the first time he'd been to Ifaty.  Among other things, they told him they do indeed see blue whales, but only in May and June.  This is new information.  We also at these nearshore anchorages are out in the zodiac looking for nearshore cetaceans (expecting humpbacks, Tursiops, Sousa, and spinner dolphins).  Sal went out with Pina and found a right whale mom and calf.  This is huge.  Only the third right whale he's seen in Madagascar, and the first calf reported ever.  Young enough that it was certainly born here.  Southern right whales in South Africa are said to be a success story.  As with other parts of the world where right whales roamed, they were hunted nearly to extinction in South Africa.  But with protection, the population has come back.  Grant, the Zanj skipper and a South African, says that Southern right whales are now easy to see, especially around Cape Town.  Where they jump boats (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10712323)

But Sal has now brought us back to Tulear.  Well, just me actually.  Sal has been working himself ragged, and last night he came down with a fever -- 103F or 39C.  Bad enough to be worried.  No one wants to be back in Tulear, but since we were close, and had the WCS vehicle and driver at out disposal, we decided to make the hour drive south and visit a clinic.  He's there now.  He probably has better meds in his kit than he can buy here, but it seemed prudent to try to get some kind of diagnosis.

So I get to blog more, get another hat (my first blew off already), and send a postcard.  I would have stayed in Ifaty and gone ashore to see the spiny forest and local birds, but we are also now in the market for a portable generator (don't ask), and I am the designated buyer.  But the drive down was very interesting -- through some of that same spiny forest I didn't get to walk through.