Beaches of Fort Dauphin and other weird french words

Fort Dauphin is a town of surprises:

• It has the smoothest roads we've even seen in Madagascar (with shoulders!--unheard of in Mada) thanks to QMM (aka Rio Tinto).
• It's also one of the more undeveloped and quaint towns (and it is a town--not a city by any stretch of the imagination) as far as Madagascar tourist destinations go.
• For the uninitiated, the word 'dauphin' is french for both 'dolphin' and 'heir apparent.' In this case it was named after then-heir apparent to the throne of France (Louis XIV) back in the 17th century.  

But the reason we came to Fort Dauphin is to quench our thirst for one of our great loves--the sea. The beaches here were lovely and the water warm.   Fair warning, though, the tides and currents here are strong--you need me pay attention to your little ones here.   There are three main beaches (at least that we explored):

• Talinjoo Beach (down some very steep rickety stone pathway)
• Libanona (walking distance from the Talinjoo)--strong waves but great sand.  KEEP AN EYE on your bags--LOTS of beggars.  We had one young girl who was inexplicably standing three feet from where we were ensconced just starting at as until I (politely-ish) asked her to leave--very uncomfortable.
• Ankoba Beach (a 10 minute cab from Talinjoo)--while there grab lunch and drinks at Chez Marcelline.  There's also a surf school there.  

We came here in January--it's always a gamble traveling during the rainy season but Fort Dauphin is probably one of the best bets during that time of year.

We stayed at the Talinjoo during our stay and I'll post more on all that here.

Libanona Beach

Talinjoo Beach aka Coronado Beach on Google Maps

The path down to Libanona from Talinjoo

What shoulders in Madagascar?!!

Other Fort Dauphin Links: 
Beaches of Fort Dauphin and other weird french words