L’île Sainte-Marie

I’ve re-learnt how to do nothing. The last few days, at l’île Sainte-Marie, off the east coast of Madagascar, all I’ve done, is work a little bit, cycle around the island, read and write, and look at the ocean. It's been wonderful.

Once, while walking on the island, I saw two whales swimming by the ocean, and then later that day, I saw two more (I suspect the same ones) from the balcony of my room.

Yesterday, I went whale watching, and a baby whale decided to jump out of the water. My first thought “Shit, I couldn't get a picture of it!". I wish that thought didn’t cross my mind and that I would have enjoyed the moment more fully. But so be it. When the whales swam right next to the boat, and we managed to see a part of the body of the mother whale, my body momentarily froze. It’s huge. It’s very impressive, and graceful for such a huge animal.

According to the guide, around 12000 humpback whales visit the oceans around Madagascar every year between June and September. They swim here from the Antarctic to mate and then swim back after September. They come here to mate and breed because there are no predators here (i.e. the Orca).