Day 65 May 11 – Mayotte, French Comoros

Day 65 Monday May 11th (55 days to go) — We arrived to Mayotte, French Comoros around 8am and had a departure scheduled for 4pm. Our excursion today was an Oceania excursion called Lagoon Catamaran Cruise. It was scheduled for 3 1/2 hours and we were supposed to cruise past islets and beaches while snacks and drinks were served onboard, with the possibility of stopping at a beach for swimming, weather permitting.

Mayotte is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, situated between Madagascar and Mozambique, which serves as an overseas department and region of France. Although geographically part of the Comoro Islands, it voted to remain French in 1974, while the other islands gained independence. It is known for its French-based culture, Euro currency, and coral-reefed lagoon. It is one of the 18 regions of France, with the same status as the departments of Metropolitan France. It is an outermost region of the European Union and, as an overseas department of France, part of the eurozone.

Key Aspects of Mayotte

• Political Status: Mayotte is a fully integrated overseas department and region of France (since 2011), meaning it is part of the European Union.
• Relationship to Comoros: While located within the same archipelago, Mayotte separated from the Union of the Comoros to remain with France. The neighboring island nation, the Union of the Comoros, maintains a claim over the island.
• Geography & Culture: Located between Madagascar and Mozambique, the island is surrounded by a large barrier reef, creating a popular diving lagoon. The culture is a mix of traditional Comorian customs and French influence.
• Language & Currency: The official language is French, and the currency is the Euro (€).
• Capital: Mamoudzou is the capital and largest city.
• Key Attractions: Plage de N’Gouja, Plage de Moya, and extensive diving sites within its coral barrier reef.

Mayotte is a French island part of the Comoros archipelago in the Mozambique Channel. It is divided in two islands. A smaller island called yje island Petite Terre where the airport is located, and Grande Terre, the biggest. These Islands of the Comoros are the 101st department of France. It is part of French overseas territories. This is why French is the official language of this departmental collectivity. French Comoros is the little island (dot) to the northwest of Madagascar.

The flag of Mayotte

The Coat of Arms for Mayotte

The islands are surrounded by a barrier reef, to create the biggest closed lagoon in the world. We were told by the catamaran captain that chances are we’ll be the first of your friends to discover this French overseas department in the Indian Ocean. The tourism industry has not been particularly developed and most visitors come to visit their family on the island.

Mayotte is called “The island of death”. The name is believed to come from Mawuti, contraction of the Arabic جزيرة الموت Jazīrat al-Mawt – meaning “island of death” (maybe due to the dangerous reefs circling the island) and corrupted to Mayotta in Portuguese, later turned into French.

We arrived on the shore from the tender and were lined up next to this boat. We did not see a catamaran and passengers started questioning whether this was our excursion boat. Since the staff on the dock spoke little or no English, I think passengers were starting to panic with some expressing the desire to get back on the tender and head back to the ship. 🙂

This was a building in the harbor area across the water from our dock. We could not go to view or take photos of the dancing women greeting cruise passengers although we were able to capture a photo and video of the activities

To everyone’s relief the catamaran arrived to begin our excursion

We had to remove our shoes to board the catamaran and while passengers quickly filled the bottom deck because there was a covering, Jackie and I headed upstairs and were followed by two gentlemen from Washington DC, Roger and David, along with a couple from Miami, Laurie and Skip. The six of us made the right decision as we had a private area with a constant breeze while those below although under a cover had little or no breeze.

Our catamaran captain

One of the deckhands

The Vista as we sailed by

Some views as we sailed away and along the trip

The ferries between Mayotte and the other islands never stopped

We were given the opportunity to go to this beach and swim and snorkel. There are a couple of photos of this island and a video. One of those little boats would come pick you off the catamaran and take you to the beach. You had to jump out the boat and wade to the beach and then to return you had to wade back to the small boat and climb into it. We decided to pass on this activity and stayed on the catamaran on the top deck. On the video at about the four second mark you will see everyone on the beach trying to find the only shade available on the beach under a small tree.

Jackie took advantage of the opportunity to control the catamaran.

Roger is screaming for his life at his lack of confidence on Jackie steering the catamaran. 🙂

A few stock photos I found for Mayotte

Coral reef at low tide at M’Bouzi island

Each year, Mayotte hosts a somewhat special championship: the iconic tire race.

To master the “Formula 1 Mahoraise”, young athletes must show skill and speed.

The Mahoran formulas consist of a tire and two sticks. Therefore, speed and agility are there!

Tire race Mayotte: To say that tire racing is a tradition in Mayotte is an understatement. For more than thirty years, races have been organized in the streets of the island. They even turned into a championship in 2015 to the delight of children and adults are led by Jack Passe, former sports teacher.

Thus, four stages took place in 2017 to qualify the participants for a grand final in Mamoudzou.

More than 4,000 spectators came to applaud the 200 children selected and the 380 adults on July 1. The success is such that draws are compulsory to select the participants.

A tire, one or two sticks of wood and you are equipped to run for 2km. No advanced technology here. Indeed, an armada of recovery tires and two pieces of wood per competitor act as power steering. Then the soap acts as engine oil.

Endurance, dexterity and a bit of mischief will lead the participants to the finish line.

Away from game consoles and electronic games, the tire race reminds us of the simplicity and shared joy of convivial moments.

All competitors guided by the desire to win and honed by hours of intensive training.

It is one of the charms of Mayotte that all visitors enjoy praising.

It is now on the calendar of major events.

Dziani lake is the result of an ancient volcano that went extinct approximately 500,000 years ago.

Le Panier Traditionnel Mahorais

• Manufacturing: These baskets are woven from coconut leaves, a skill considered a local art.
• Usage : They are used on a daily basis, especially to go to the fields or to markets, such as the one in Coconi.
• Crafts: Weaving is a key element of Mayotte basketry, often visible in local shops such as Sada.
• Symbolic: The coconut leaf basket represents the authentic craftsmanship of the island

We got off the catamaran around noon and asked the catamaran captain for a recommendation for a place to grab some lunch to eat something different than ship food. He recommended the Auberge Du Rond-Point. It was a 15 minute walk from the dock which is not bad until you consider it is all uphill. 🙂

We made the walk and had lunch with Laurie and Skip. It was wild as the menu was on French and we had zero cell service on the island to translate the menu.

Auberge du Rond-Point – Restaurant Mayotte

Beautiful panoramic terrace on the lagoon,
Ideally located in the city center, in front of the Mamoudzou Town Hall, magnificent setting in front of the sea, the restaurant is open every day except Saturday lunchtime and Sunday

Walking into the restaurant with Laurie and Skip leading the way

The view from our table

They started us out with this. Skip was elected as the person to try it first. Turned out to be tuna fish on a baguette and only was missing the chopped up boiled egg. All four of us enjoyed the meals.

Looking at the menu, we knew that gambas was shrimp so Jackie picked that

And in looking at the menu I knew that saucisse was sausage, so I picked that. It was an additional item on a board next to the table. I should have known since it was Monday that it was red beans and rice!!! Actually, it was legumes and rice 🙂

It was now time to head back to the dock to grab the tender back to the ship. We took stairs down to the waterfront passing next to the bus depot. Check out the people waiting for busses.

There was just as many people to the left of this photo.

We walked through the crowd of people and Jackie and I loved it as people were speaking French. They could see we were tourists and one woman decided to be smart and told me “bonjour bonne journée”. She stayed stupid when I told her “Bonjour, Comment ça va ?” She stared at me eyes wide open, think I caught her off guard and she started to walk away and I told her “Attends, parle-moi”. I think it was too much for her as she was embarrassed and took off but then I heard Jackie speaking French to a woman who had said hello to her. They had a great conversation and the lady asked the usual questions, where are we from, why are we here, etc. It was short, about a minute but she ended with “Merci d’être venu(e)s, revenez-nous un jour et bon voyage”.

At the pier we went and take a photo next to the welcoming sign before heading back to the ship.

Last night was an Oceania Club party that the eight of us attended. I think the free booze while it is an attraction, it can present issues later on in the evening as the group turned into Carnival Cruises passengers. I am not saying this is a bad thing but certainly frowned upon by the other passengers on an Oceania ship. After the party we decided it was time to eat and went to the Polo Grill to get a table for eight. Since we have left Singapore, we have noticed that it has been difficult to get reservations in the specialty restaurants. We have asked our butlers to get a table for eight and they tell us it cannot be done. But, when one of the couples eat in a specialty restaurant, we have noticed that nobody is seated after 7pm and also the restaurants are often 75% empty. So, with alcohol in our systems we showed up at The Polo Grill and John informed them we were here for our reservations for eight at 7pm. And we were seated!! Tonight we try this new technique again at a different specialty restaurant. After dinner, we all attended the comedian’s performance, and it was really funny. It was totally clean, but very funny. John found us eight seats together in a row and because there were other passengers at the ends of the row, some in our group decided to climb over seats to get to the row. No doubt if we repeat this tonight, we will start hearing about our behavior 🙂