Ile Sainte-Marie

Long Thin Island About 60 Km In Length With Beaches, A Pirate Cemetery And 17th 18th Century Pirate History; The Best Known Place In The World To Watch Humpback Whales From Shore And Boat Between Roughly July And September · Ambodifotatra, Analanjirofo

Ile Sainte-Marie, called Nosy Boraha in Malagasy, is a thin island about 60 km long off the north-east coast, rarely more than a few kilometres wide. In the 17th and early 18th centuries it was a pirate base, and the old pirate cemetery near Ambodifotatra still holds weathered graves with skull-and-bones carvings. Today it is a quiet holiday island of palm-fringed beaches, small family-run bungalow hotels and dirt tracks, with scooters and bicycles as the main transport. Its fame is humpback whales, which come to breed in the channel between the island and the mainland, roughly July to September, and can often be seen from the shore. Ile aux Nattes, a tiny islet off the southern tip, adds the prettiest sand and the easiest swimming. Do not expect resort polish: roads are rough, power is patchy, and it is humid and rainy in the cyclone season. Getting here is the hard part, by small plane or by boat.

Island off the north-east coast, reached by plane from Antananarivo or by boat from Soanierana-Ivongo, Ambodifotatra, Analanjirofo, Madagascar

The island is open all year and there is no gate or entry fee, so the beaches and the pirate cemetery are FREE to visit. Whale watching is seasonal, roughly July to September, and boat trips do not run when the sea is rough. Many small hotels and restaurants close or shorten service in the low season and the cyclone months (roughly January to March), so confirm with your hotel. Flights and boats can be cancelled by weather. Times are not fixed, so confirm locally.

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