It's my last blog from Andavadoaka and it seems fitting that our final week here has been one of the most hectic of all.
On top of doing 'end of expedition' admin (which is always hectic and time consuming), sorting all our stuff out into three piles (ditch behind, take travelling, send onto meet us in Tana) we've also been doing as much handover to Axelle as we possibly can so that she is well equipt to deal with her first expedition.
The days seemed to have zipped by in a whirr and I have barely had time to reflect or feel too sad, because as soon as we stop, we fall into bed and pass out. It has been a week of highs and lows - which also seems appropriate. Our goodbyes have been prolongued and drawn out. On Thursday we said goodbye to three vols (leaving two days early) as well as Georgi, Louis and Bic who were going to the south to do some diving for Georgi's project. It was hard to say goodbye to them all, but hardest to say goodbye to Bic who has been a big part of expedition life and who I may never see again.
On Wednesday evening, we had our final party night and I got drunk and stayed up by the bonfire with the volunteers until about 3am. It was good fun, but my head definitely suffered the following day.
I had my FINAL dive on Friday morning. We went to 007, one of my favourite reefs here with a really high percentage of hard coral cover. It was a stunning and relaxing dive as there was no current and fantastic visibility. We stayed together as a group and I was happy to see over 50 different species of fish, including some of my favourites from our stay here. Alec took lots of photos including some of me, which will be a great memento. Justin unfortunately did not dive as he still had sensitive ears.
On our final final night (with the volunteers), we had a lovely sendoff as the Coco Beach staff sang us two goodbye songs, the Malagasy staff sang two more and we were presented by an amazing gift by the Coco beach staff - a wooden model baobab. The BV staff gave us a model clown fish and a lovely card. I was quite overcome and gave a long speech about
how fantastic everyone had been.
Rather appropriately for our last expedition, the camion arrived more than 24 hours late but the volunteers finally left at 6pm on Saturday and since then we have been doing more training, more packing and saying our final goodbyes to the village and people in it. I am sad to say goodbye and have shed many tears. I am extremely sorry to say goodbye to all of the staff here and it makes me sadder because I do not know whether I will see any of the Malagasy staff again.
The wind had dictated our final week here and has also dictated our exit strategy. We were not sure how we were going to leave, we only knew that we were going north. However, the wind has meant that leaving bypirogue is impractical, the tides and winds means that there are no boutres (cargo) boats to hitch a ride on and so we will leave tomorrow on a 4x4 which will take us up to Morombe, and perhaps beyond to Belo Sur Mer.
I'm not sure how much internet access we will have from now on, but I'll try and keep this blog updated whenever possible. It's been an interesting experience. I have never worked so hard or such long hours in my life. And I never hope to again. But my tears at saying goodbye are also a good indicator of how attached I've got to the people here and to the life and I will be sorry to say veloma Andavadoaka and veloma Blue Ventures.