Port Louis, Mauritius

Port Louis is a prosperous, bustling city. It took most of the day to clear into the country. After the formalities, the crew of the Marcy felt like this stone lion. The paperwork was formidable - all of the officers were friendly but very thorough.





Once cleared, we moved Marcy to a small basin where most of the yachts are tied. It was very convenient to just step ashore anytime we wanted, but it took some time for us to get used to the gawkers. We lived our daily life in a fishbowl, every evening a parade of families walked the quai walls.





We were in the shadow of a big hotel, unfortunately making radio communication with our friends that were still at sea almost impossible.



Our neighborhood was a shopping village done in faux “old Europe” and developed by a South African company. It was an attractive environment, full of restaurants, shops, and happy pedestrians.



To explore further afield, we teamed up with Swedes Christina and Jan, hired a taxi, and spent a day on the road. At our first stop, we saw land turtles and water features.







We stopped at a Tamil temple with wonderful painted statues and designs.









We saw monkeys at the Hindu temple on the hill with the gigantic statue of Shiva.









We stopped at a ship model manufacturing shop, one of the island’s signature cottage industries.







On the drive back to the boat we were treated to views of the landscape and ocean.



Exhausted, we made plans to head out to sea the very next day. We missed having our daily chat on the radio net and needed to get moving again. Destination, Madagascar: land of lemurs, vanilla, and rum.

Day 3 Mauritius to Madagascar

We seem to have good weather luck on this passage, as we get closer to the north cape of Madagascar the wind is moderating and the seas are growing calm. As this area is known for huge seas and higher than average winds, we are looking forward to the light winds that have been forecast when we round the cape in 2 days. Our last full day in Mauritius was spent touring the island with Swedes Jan and Christina from the boat Christina. It was a full day and we enjoyed seeing much of the island. Leaving
Mauritius was uneventful except for the tedium of dealing with too many officials but all was handled in under 2 hours and we were on our way. We'd been a bit under the weather on Mauritius and the head colds we have been fighting made us both more prone to sea sickness as we put to sea. It's bad enough to have one crew member sick but both crew members sick at the same time is tough. By the second day we were both feeling a bit better though Peter's ability to recover quickly with an amazing
ability to eat steak and other hearty meals continues to be astonishing to Ginger who has only now graduated from saltines to rice. The weather is getting warmer as we head north and we're starting to anticipate great swimming conditions when we anchor at Nosy Be. Blue skies, small seas and steady 12 knots of wind are making for a fairly comfortable passage. Happily, this is nothing like our last few Indian Ocean hops. As our charts say "Madagasikara" here we come!

Rodrigues Island

Our passage to Rodrigues Island was wet and wild. The motion was enough cause an explosion in Peter’s expresso pot, further degrading an already compromised standard of living. Lucky no one was burned as the pot shot forward, spraying hot coffee as it went. Instant coffee was served the rest of the trip. At one point we sailed for 24 hours, at speed, covering 180 miles, with only 2 feet of the jib unrolled - otherwise showing no sail at all. As a big wave came on board, we lost our trusty storm jib overboard and suffered a rip in the dodger. The same wave managed to defeat our air vent plugs on the inadequate flying saucer vents and send gallons of salt water onto Ginger as she slept in her bunk. What a rude awakening!







You can imagine how happy we were to see the port of Mathurin appear behind our wounded dodger.



After formalities, and the confiscation of our speargun, we eagerly explored. As it turned out, the pretty little town easily furnished all that we needed. Peter was pleased to learn that local fishing is daily done under pole and sail on the nearby reef.



The lateen rigged boats show the influence of Africa . With our front row seat (Marcy was anchored within feet of the reef) we were able to observe the techniques of tacking and jibing, and saw how the rig is reefed. These boats went out in all sorts of serious wind.



The town has wonderful little shops.







Ginger enjoyed the open air food market. It was crowded, bustling, and full of delicious food.





She even braved the meat market – and Peter appreciated that very much.



A little bit of everything is sold here. People could not be friendlier, and most spoke English as well as French and Creole.



Like us, a local dog is exhausted watching all the activity.



To get back to Marcy, we needed to walk to the quai.



Then jump at least 3 feet down to the tug.



Then hop into Sniffy and head out to Marcy.



Back onboard, Ginger tries to figure out what to do with the cucumber the size of a small watermelon.



So she tackled the dodger repair.



After rest and repair, we decided we were ready for the hop to Mauritius. The Coast Guard gives Ginger a ride back to Marcy after clearing out. She carries our speargun, and we are free to depart.

Rodrigues Island, Mauritius

We're anchored in the harbour at Rodrigues Island. Our arrival was in a squall with sheets of rain and gusty winds. The island revealed itself from the clouds when we were only a mile away. We cleared in with the friendly officials at the quay and then moved out to anchor in the harbour. We explored town yesterday long enough to find some baguettes and the supermarket. The winds remain strong in the anchorage so we're staying on the boat today and drying out.
Our modem for sending emails is acting up (the on button won't stay on) so we may not be able to reliably send and receive emails from the boat until we can get that repaired, probably in South Africa.
In a few days we'll depart for Port Louis in Mauritius. We expect to be in Mauritius until the end of September.

Smelling the barn - Rodrigues

After 8 days sailing under jib or partial jib our gale force winds finally calmed the afternoon of the 11th, The seas were still too big to raise the main because the boom would have dipped into the water on every roll but the 20 - 25 knots of wind were a welcome change. We raised the main on the morning of the 12th, launched the towing generator and made some water. Our batteries are now recharged and our water tank is once again full. We're sailing down wind, with only 165 miles to go to the
island of Rodrigues. We expect to arrive tomorrow if the light wind holds. We've had rain showers off and on all night so the deck is getting a welcome and thorough rinsing. We've considered opening all the hatches and just letting it rain down below as well to clean off some of the salt. With such a rough trip cooking was all but impossible for a week so we still have some carrots and cabbage to eat. Spirits are high and we're looking forward to making landfall. Our Dutch friends on White Haze
should be arriving within an hour or two of us so we'll have an arrival celebration with them when we all get there.