October 1st,
We awoke refreshed at six, having had slept well!! Yahoo! 🙂 Readied and went to breakfast. We were served fresh paypaya, and a medium-sized banana; bread with butter, jam and honey. Then choice of eggs- me fried over easy, Jeff chose the plain omelette. Also had fresh grapefruit juice – plus coffee and hot chocolate.Packed and met George at 0830!! (He gave us some, much-needed leisure time.)

We hit the main street and tended business – bank for some money, gas and water for us all for a few days, and also Pharmacy (but it was for George he is congested from all the dust). Chores all accomplished we went on. We leave Morondava and head further south to Belo sur Mer. It is driving along a meandering river. We crisscross several times and he had to shift in and out of 4WD and using the snorkel at least two times that I remember.

Across some of the areas, the earth seemed to move! It was a bunch of little crabs and then I could not stop seeing them. They were facinating to watch – always going sideways away from the vehicle.

Then a bad thing happened – our “patched” tire went flat! George pulled over to change it out. We got out. He got it jacked up and the flat tire off – when the jack gave way and the vehicle slammed down on the tire axle!!! Thankfully George was not under the vehicle any longer! Jeff and George went to get wood pieces to help build it back up. There are no rocks around and it is just sand. Someone did stop but his little hydralic jack was no help. Anyway, between Jeff, George, about 4 stout pieces of wood, and multiple steps…. the spare was put on.

One hour later we were on our way.
We arrived at our place, Ecolodge du Menabe. It was around 2pm. We were checked in and shown our bungalow. It was low tide and the water was out quite a way. The owner said it will come up 4 meters (17 feet) when its high tide! He also said it is one of the highest tides of the year – equinox.

We unloaded and went back to order our dinner. Free afternoon – so we went back to our bungalow. Siesta time. I actually took a nap as well – like 40 minutes. I was exhausted. When we got around, we showered and headed out. When we went out, sunset was gorgeous out over the water (which is now right up to our bungalow). At the restaurant we worked on our blog – internet works but it's slow because everyone is on it. Supper was served to everyone at 730pm. We had starter of diced tomatoes and clams(?) I picked around the meat in case. Main was grilled meaty fillet pieces of a fish, a pot of cubed, baked potatoes seasoned well – very good just way to much food. Dessert was a dark chocolate mousse. Talked with George some and then to bed at nine.