Our first impressions of Pangane were not great. The beach was ok, but not the palm fringed oasis we were expecting. The inhabitants were again using it as the local toilet and a storm had washed a great deal of sea grass ashore.We arrived at the campground and although Boner and Susie were nowhere to be seen, we were relieved to see their clothes hanging up to dry. We asked a few questions of the owner and it became apparent they would return later.The beach opposite the camp round the point from where we had landed was much nicer, although nothing compared to those we had seen during the day. It was cleaner, it wasn't a toilet, but there was still a large amount of sea grass. The camp itself sat on fine white sand under numerous palm trees overlooking the water. We went for brief walk and a swim, whilst waiting for the others and by the time we returned to camp we found they had arrived along with James and Jen our travelling friends from Pemba. Kaz and I had bought and octopus off a local fisherman and organised for our host to cook it for us for dinner, it could've been nice but for all the sand and grit throughout our meal. We sat at camp, drinks in hand and discussed our adventures since we had all last met up. It was an early night for us though, and a relief that the sea breeze would finally allow us a good night sleep.We took it easy the following day, we spent hours snorkelling and exploring the reef, It perhaps wasn't the best reef around, but there were patches of interesting soft corals, anemones, the odd moray eel and the occasional crayfish to try and catch. With no luck catching dinner, and no real shop or market in town, I harassed the local fisherman for their catch, which they were more than willing to sell. As the sun went down, we retired back to our comfy chairs under the coconut palms and devoured our 7 crayfish, which I'd purchased for all of $10.The following day started much like the last, with a long snorkel out on the reef, but that's where the similarity ended. With only 3 days left on our visa and a couple of days to the border, it was time to move on. We were still unsure whether the ferry to Tanzania was yet running, but on a similar path and timetable, James and Jen had headed off the day before on a reconnaissance mission. Phones in this part of the world were unreliable, and even when connected, information was often undependable, but James and Jen were to be in contact once they had some information. We drove to the main highway, stopping at Macomia to get phone reception, talk to J&J and make a decision on our movements. By now it was almost lunchtime as we had given our friends plenty of time to get some information. Phone reception was patchy, but the message was clear….. the ferry to Tanzania was not running due to flood levels and may not be operational for a week (probably meaning 3 weeks). With our visas running out we were left with no choice but to backtrack 1200km or so and make our way West to Malawi……...a massive deviation from our original route. We did not realise at the time the potential problems that lay ahead.