December 2001 Picture in your mind clear turquoise seas gently lapping over secluded white beaches, palm trees swaying in the light breeze, a yacht moored in the bay. Hot days and balmy nights, swimming, diving, fishing, snorkelling, or just strolling on the beach. Sounds like bliss, doesn't it? Of course it is, but this time I am not going to bore you with an account of how wonderful it is - ok, you’ve got me, of course I am, but at the same time I am going to tell you of about a few things that could have made this trip a disaster if we weren’t able to get things sorted and under control. We decided to do another trip to Madagascar, this time in December 2001. It made such an impact on us the first ... read more

June/July 1999 Bonjour Madame…welcome to our island! Moheli was a sight for sore eyes after my unpleasant experience of seasickness and nearly losing my husband. We were approaching calmer waters, far better for my constitution. Having sailed from Grand Comore throughout the night, as dawn broke we decided to trawl for some fish before we got close to the island, for our dinner that night. Shortly after that we heard the familiar zing and Jacques was the lucky one to catch a Wahoo of generous proportions. Not bad for a morning’s work! We anchored at Sambadjou beach near Miremani and it felt like there was a welcoming committee waiting for us. We were soon approached by the ‘Gendarme’, wanting to see our passports and giving us instructions where we had to have them stamped – right ... read more

June/July 1999 It was the following year after our trip to Madagascar. What we needed was another family holiday. By now the travel bug was nibbling away steadily at all of us. Where would we go? We just didn't seem to have the energy to do a usual trip through a foreign country, using bus, car or train, traipsing around sightseeing. At a destination with a beach of course! Does there seems to be a pattern here? Where to go? Paul was keen to do the exact same trip to Madagascar and contacted Willem & Elize to quote us for another trip on Bossi, sailing around some of Madagascar again. But friends of ours had gone to Comoros earlier in the year and thoroughly enjoyed themselves,. They had spent a week at the Le Galawa hotel ... read more

1998 Nosy Komba Having spent ten days on board Bossi, with most of our decisions being made for us it was a bit of a jolt to now do our own thing where very little English is spoken. It was like having our safety net pulled out from under us. Komba didn't quite have the pristine beaches we frequented the last ten days. No problem, because we would be experiencing a different side of Madagascar. We first needed to find a place to stay overnight so that we could put down our heavy bags and found a little place consisting of reed huts. Pretty although very basic inside, but came with mosquito nets which were essential. It was going to be strange for us to be sleeping on land again, as we all still felt as ... read more

1998 First day on board Bossi and we left our overnight mooring spot heading south of Nosy Bé. Our holiday had started and as the boat moved, exhaustion took over from excitement and lack of sleep. Jacques and Philip took a catnap. That didn't last long though, because while we were moving we put fishing lures in the water and started trawling, We decided to take turns to catch fish and Jacques was first, seeing that he is the most ardent fisherman in the family. The first wzzz was heard as something took the line and Jacques jumped up, grabbed the rod and started reeling the fish in - quite exhausting as it took a while with the fish putting up quite a fight, but once it was reeled in, someone had a very wide and ... read more