Day 65: The Emerald Sea

If Day 11 in Madagascar had felt like paradise, it had nothing on Day 12! We joined a French family heading out to La Mer Emeralde for a full-day excursion to a seculded islet in the sea. We walked down to the beach, hopped aboard, and sailed out past where we had walked the previous day (we couldn't see the Three Bays, so we realized we'd made the right decision turning around from our search).

The captain shared some insight into the depth of the bay and the types of boats that could go through, but we were up near the front so the wind swept most of his French words away. The basic gist was that the bay was very deep, but the canal we would be passing through was extremely shallow, so it meant large boats found it impassable. This helps keep the traffic down and the islands more secluded. It was easy to see how the sea had gotten its name, there were kilometers of crystal-clear emerald waters that glimmered like jewels.

A huge ray that was outpacing us

About an hour later, we turned a corner and saw our destination - a small island that rose quickly from the emerald water. We didn't waste any time getting into the water and settling into the sand. The rest of our group chose to accompany the crew back out in search of our lunch, but we stayed behind to enjoy true paradise!

Upon their return, we shared a lunch of the freshest fried fish we'd probably ever had, along with rice and salad. It turned out, the French family (a Mom, Dad, and 13 year-old son) was also travelling for a year! They follow a similar schedule to us, ending up in Vietnam around the same time we're scheduled to be there. So we exchanged emails and talked about meeting up or at least exchanging tips on the area.

We had another hour or so relaxing in the water, then sailed back to shore, this time spotting a giant sea turtle flying by. It was the perfect ending to our day in paradise!