The last couple of days, we’ve been meandering our way through a bunch of different islands and coves. They make me wonder how they’ve all been created. That’s something I’ve thought about a lot on this journey. How did this beautiful little island just pop up here in the middle of nowhere? Often it is because of volcanic activity, such as Hawaii where the land is created from the overflow of the volcanic eruption. Other islands, such as Christmas Island, which we visited in May, were created not from the overflow of eruption but from volcanic activity pushing up and creating an island that way.
I turned to my good friend, Dr. Google, for answers. He says (yes I used the masculine pronoun for google, but I do love mother earth, so I feel I am somewhat balanced) these islands were created just as Madagascar was created when it separated itself from the supercontinent Gondwana, 165 million years ago. Its top was apparently still connected to India until 88 million years ago, so now the mystery is solved. Read here for more details about Madagascar.
Regardless of how they were created I thank mother earth for creating them in such a beautiful and spectacular way.
We are a few miles outside of Nosy Be now and should be anchoring there today. I’m looking forward to catching up with other cruising friends we have enjoyed along our passages.
That is one of the wonderful things about this cruising lifestyle, the friends you make and meet who are all doing the same thing. Some of them are on shoestring budgets and others are not. We all seem to band together and watch out for each other.
Patrick and Rebecca, on Brick House, have a blog called WhereIsBrickHouse.com, a Facebook page of the same name, and a YouTube channel. Keith and Mildred have a Facebook page called Traveling with Atalanta. Jan and Rich have a website where they cover all of the refits they’ve done to their boat, Slip Away, in detail (I’m secretly in love with this boat, by the way, and they will be selling it next year. I just hope I’m in a position to buy it by then.) Dave and Agnes Broyles on a catamaran called Gostoza Tu, have shared several cups of coffee and breakfasts with me as well as a dinghy rides in Cocos Keeling and Reunion. All of them have touched me in one way or another and I’m grateful for their friendship, as well as that of my shipmates, Brian Domander and Carol Letman.
I’m also grateful for my father, Glenn Ray, who turned 81 yesterday, which I missed because our lack of Internet. But I’m grateful for him in my life. It’s been 2 years since I’ve seen him and my beautiful kids and I look forward to seeing them some time in the coming year.
As always, don’t forget to follow the adventure on email by subscribing, or you can follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and Path! Here are some pics of Northern Madagascar Islands from the past couple of days.
Living Large by Living Little! 