Day 2: Ile Sainte MarieToday you can do what you want. Many excursions are organised on the spot. A tropical isle with luxuriant vegetation, Ile Sainte Marie is also a nice place for an exploratory walking adventure, or for cycling, snorkelling and diving .
There are also interesting sights around Ambodifotatra and the Baie des Forbans, in the town there is also a Catholic church built in 1837, and the Pirates' Cemetery which marked the European passage in the island.
On a promontory accessible in low tide and facing the Ile aux Forbans, lies a green cemetery: the place of eternal rest of adventurers of the southern seas.
One of the burial stones carries that very known emblem: a skull and 2 crossed tibias. In fact, this peninsula is the burial place of pirates, outlaws, civil servants of the colonies and foreign convicts. There are also numerous tombs for sailors and dealers of which some date back to the beginning of the eighteenth century. In one instance, it seems that a captain was buried standing, in another, a sailor's best friend has carved an unusual epitaph for him.
Night in La Crique Hotel(bed and breakfast). |
