Today is New Year’s Day, and it is a beautiful sunny day here in Tana.  Below is a view from our breakfast table on the terrace.

After breakfast, Nadine’s family picked us up at the hotel and we went back to their place to relax for the day.  We played some games, had a nice lunch, and the kids packed for our trip tomorrow.  Nadine’s family will be joining us tomorrow for our trip to Ile Sainte Marie for 4 days, and the kids are very excited about it.

In the evening, we headed back to the hotel to pack for the trip tomorrow.  Our flight out will be very early, so we need to get packed and rested.  Before going to bed, we take a moment to take the laptop down to the bar (where the internet connection is) to briefly check e-mail and weather reports.  It seems that we have another tropical cyclone to look out for.  Tropical Cyclone Clovis is heading for the eastern coast of Madagascar, which is where we plan to go tomorrow.

In the map above showing the path of Cyclone Clovis, I’ve added a big red dot showing where we plan to go tomorrow and stay for 4 days.  It looks like the heart of the cyclone will miss us, but it may cause some pretty bad weather while we’re there.