Farewell to Rodrigues

Hiking view to the south showing reef.

Hiking through farm land - pigs in background

Birds fishing on reef

Kite surfing resort along beach in background

Statue to the Dodo which was endemic to Mauritius - the Dodo is the one on the pedestal!

Farewell to Rodrigues 

June 20 2016

This morning we gave our 24 hour notice of leaving for Tues. There is a bit of an improvement in the weather (lower instead of upper 20's on the wind speed) until Fri. That should give us time to do the 330nm trip to Mauritius. Four boats have arrived in the last few days from Cocos so it is getting crowded here. We met Convivia in the port office doing their check in work. We met them first in Sabang and they took over the net from Alicia. They broke a shroud underway, as well as a few other things. With children aboard, they are looking forward to a long visit here with Mares and Caminante, who also have kids the same age.

For us, it is time to move on.  I think Bob is anxious to get home. Tom Tom and one or two other boats will also leave so we will have boats to be in touch with.  When we get to Mauritius we hope that we can do some travelling off the boat, especially to Madagascar.

Some of you have been asking why we would not be going on to Africa shortly. The trip to South Africa ( about 1500 nm) is best done in the spring or fall as the gales are more frequent and stronger in the winter, July and August. The temperatures here for June average between 15 and 25, which we are enjoying. But Durban in Sept, when we arrive, is more like 8 to 18. On the water, and/or in the rain it will feel cold. Some boats are following our route. But many are choosing to go to the north of Madagascar and down the Mozambique channel. That trip is longer and also rough and some of the locals have crime problems, but you see more places instead of paying for a marina to wait two months.

Thursday and Saturday we again had to vacate the harbour and return a few hours later. It is starting to be like a race to get a good spot. We won't miss that. Friday, Bob and I did another hike. (Rob has been fighting a cold so rested.) It was the best one from my point of view. Again we took a bus to the top of the island, and walked to a church that is the largest in the Indian Ocean. The Catholic churches here are more simple in architecture than elsewhere. The cemetery, on the other hand, was well decorated. From the trail head, we followed a creek for awhile. Then we passed through terraced farmland, and many cows, pigs, and chickens on the rolling hills. At sea level we followed the coast through two towns, had lunch on the beach,  and continued to a kite surfing resort before taking the bus back. There were over a dozen kite surfers out at all levels of expertise.

Back in town, we have done some more wandering about with regular market visits. Near the harbour there is a statue commemorating the once common bird, the dodo. This was its only home but it is now extinct. We also found the brewery, a school for handicapped children, and a few restaurants.

Friday night seven of us had dinner together on Padoja, from Halifax. Saturday night we had Gaia over for dinner. It is always interesting talking to other cruisers. Saturday and Sunday, Chris worked on replacing the forestay that he had ordered from England. Bob worked with him all of both days. Rob helped Saturday, as well. There are still some problems but he feels ok about getting to Mauritius. Today at four pm the press want to interview any sailors willing to meet with them. We will probably go in.

Just this afternoon, I decided to clean one section in the floor where I store milk. There was a small amount of diesel running underneath the container, but it was continuing to run. Rob has been working on finding the source and cleaning up for the last three hours. It looked like it was coming right from the bottom of one of the fuel tanks which would not be a good thing. The tank is down a quarter of its volume even though we are not using that tank now. But he closed the hoses to the generator and that seems to have stopped it. We will be leaving tomorrow, after all.