Mayotte - cont.
The following day we’d booked an excursion to swim in an ‘impasse’ but the corals weren’t great, nor did they look very healthy (more bleached than colourful). There were not many fish either. I was seriously disappointed as Mayotte’s lagoon is supposed to be ‘The Pearl of the Indian Ocean’ and it has the unique geological feature of having a reef within a reef making the water very still. Only one other place in the whole world has got this unusual feature (New Caledonia or Papua – can’t remember which).
We then went back to the lodge for lunch and went on another water excursion in the afternoon. We passed some turtles that were swimming nearby but we never saw them laying their eggs (you have to stay about a week to be guaranteed to see that). Mayotte is supposedly famous for its ‘dozens of turtles, so many that you will find them from knee deep’ but I didn’t find it to be true late October.
The next boat trip, however, was much nicer, the water was more shallow and its colour was just a mesmerising turquoise with much healthier corals. I really wished I’d had an under water camera to remember it all. I felt hugely frustrated as I know that my memory won’t last very long ! We didn’t see a huge variety of fish but many different types of corals and long stretches of them too. The sunsets at the end of the day, were also truly amazing.
We’d been really lucky with the weather because prior to our arrival it had rained non stop for 3 days with some pretty heavy downpour and it would have seriously limited what we could do. There, with glorious sunshine, visibility was down to 35m deep with just naked eyes. Unbelievable.
In its best areas, the reef was truly spectacular and one of the healthiest I had ever seen. Ever. Relatively unspoilt. We came back at 4.30pm and the makis were waiting for us in the car park (they know the times the boats come back).
The following day we’d booked an excursion to swim in an ‘impasse’ but the corals weren’t great, nor did they look very healthy (more bleached than colourful). There were not many fish either. I was seriously disappointed as Mayotte’s lagoon is supposed to be ‘The Pearl of the Indian Ocean’ and it has the unique geological feature of having a reef within a reef making the water very still. Only one other place in the whole world has got this unusual feature (New Caledonia or Papua – can’t remember which).
We then went back to the lodge for lunch and went on another water excursion in the afternoon. We passed some turtles that were swimming nearby but we never saw them laying their eggs (you have to stay about a week to be guaranteed to see that). Mayotte is supposedly famous for its ‘dozens of turtles, so many that you will find them from knee deep’ but I didn’t find it to be true late October.
The next boat trip, however, was much nicer, the water was more shallow and its colour was just a mesmerising turquoise with much healthier corals. I really wished I’d had an under water camera to remember it all. I felt hugely frustrated as I know that my memory won’t last very long ! We didn’t see a huge variety of fish but many different types of corals and long stretches of them too. The sunsets at the end of the day, were also truly amazing.
We’d been really lucky with the weather because prior to our arrival it had rained non stop for 3 days with some pretty heavy downpour and it would have seriously limited what we could do. There, with glorious sunshine, visibility was down to 35m deep with just naked eyes. Unbelievable.
In its best areas, the reef was truly spectacular and one of the healthiest I had ever seen. Ever. Relatively unspoilt. We came back at 4.30pm and the makis were waiting for us in the car park (they know the times the boats come back).
posted by Sylvie at 9:39 PM
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