On our passage south from Mayotte to Richards Bay, South Africa, we stopped off at the Mozambique island of Ilha do Fogo to hide from some strong southerly winds. On the way in we had a nice greeting from these dolphins. Since we were not cleared into Mozambique, we were a little unsure about stopping anywhere. The island was supposed to be uninhabited and it is located about 10 miles off the mainland in an area with no cities.
At some point in its history the island must have been important in navigating the Mozambique Channel as it has the remains of a large, powerful navigation light. We were the first boat to arrive and anchor. In the next few hours another 5 cruising boats arrived, all with the same plan to get out of the upcoming southerly. The boats had started their passages from Seychelles, Mayotte and Tanzania, yet all arrived within 4 hours of each other in this remote island. This is the first anchorage in a long time that we have been in with cruising boats where there were no catamarans. All of the anchored boats had made the long trip crossing the Indian Ocean.
The uninhabited island was actually inhabited by about 5 workers who were very slowly building a small eco-resort. The waves wrapped around the island making the shore landing tough. We decided to anchor our dinghy ashore outside the waves and swim in, rather than entertain the workers with a dramatic surf landing. We were greeted by this guy who was very friendly and invited us ashore with hand signals and a few words of English.
After an hour and half of beachcombing we walked back and were greeted by this display of shells that the workers had kept in their huts. After a little negotiation Chris picked a few she liked and agreed to trade for some sugar and coffee.
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