Every morning on my way into work along the Corniche de Ouest I can see the Isles de la Madeleines, lying just a couple of kilometres off the coast. The islands are completely uninhabited and have been designated a National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Despite seeing them every day, I’d never had the chance to visit until last weekend when Sacha, the ever resourceful ‘el president’ of the Dakar Swiss Circle, organised a trip, including bbq and, for those that wanted, the chance to camp out on the Island overnight. About 20 of us met at the departure point near Fann, very close to the apartment I was living in when I first arrived in Dakar.
While waiting we witnessed the local police/military arresting a local ‘fisherman’ suspected of fishing using dynamite – the guy was not very keen to be taken in, and put up a bit of a fight – which was more than a bit stupid as he was heavily outnumbered – and the police were all armed, one holding a pistol ready cocked. All a bit scary – no idea what happened to the guy, but I don’t think it will have been very pleasant.
After this interlude we took a pirogue across to the island – it was a beautiful, hot sunny day, and luckily the sea was very calm (can apparently be quite an ‘exciting’ trip if the sea is a bit choppy). On arr
ival and after unloading all our gear on to the beach it was time for a swim and snorkel. We were in a little cove on the far side of the island – the water was crystal clear with lots of colourful fish, beautiful, but certainly a lot cooler than it had been for the Goree swim only 2 weeks before.
While waiting we witnessed the local police/military arresting a local ‘fisherman’ suspected of fishing using dynamite – the guy was not very keen to be taken in, and put up a bit of a fight – which was more than a bit stupid as he was heavily outnumbered – and the police were all armed, one holding a pistol ready cocked. All a bit scary – no idea what happened to the guy, but I don’t think it will have been very pleasant.
After this interlude we took a pirogue across to the island – it was a beautiful, hot sunny day, and luckily the sea was very calm (can apparently be quite an ‘exciting’ trip if the sea is a bit choppy). On arr
ival and after unloading all our gear on to the beach it was time for a swim and snorkel. We were in a little cove on the far side of the island – the water was crystal clear with lots of colourful fish, beautiful, but certainly a lot cooler than it had been for the Goree swim only 2 weeks before. Then it was time to prapre the bbq and to explore the island – the views of Dakar from here are spectacular.
Another quick swim and before we knew it was 5 o’clock and then time for the ‘day-tripp
ers’ to take the pirogue back to Dakar (see pic). 
This left just 5 of us ‘overnighters’. Sacha had a tent and various other luxuries to make his stay as comfortable as possible – I, on the other hand had just a sheet and blanket to sleep out on what is also known as Ile Serpents (Snake Island). I have no idea if there are snakes there – I certainly never saw any, but who knows? We chatted and played cards (I can now play Yass?) until it was time to turn in. I’d hoped we’d get a really nice night sky – nearly new moon, and no lights (Dakar not visible from this side of the island), but unfortunately the sky was a bit hazy, so only the brighter stars were visible, but still it was a lovely night. Next morning – breakfast of banana flambé (interesting) and then the pirogue for the trip back to Dakar. A really nice evening - we’re already planning to do the whole thing again, perhaps in February.
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