Rodrigues to Mauritius

Bob - a proud fisherman with his catch - a good size dorado!

Fianl sunrise as we approach Mauritius

Entering Port Louis harbour

View of Caudan Marina on the right as we motor to the custom's dock

Maggie on the custom's dock

Maggie rafted to Tom Tom in the small Caudan Marina

Rodrigues to Mauritius

June 21 to June 24, 2016

Tuesday morning we met with customs, immigration, and coast guard to get cleared out. Four boats were leaving, Tom Tom and us to Mauritius and the other two to Reunion. By 10:30 we were ready to go. The first day was windy but sunny so covered a good distance. That night and Wednesday were squally so not as pleasant. I got dumped with salt water on watch. I'm writing the beginning of this on Thursday and it is much nicer again. The sun is out and the wind is down just a bit, although the seas are still high.

Rob got the wind generator repaired in Rodrigues. He wrote the company and they gave him the new wiring plan they now use. Our switch had broken and they knew that was a repair issue for owners. It was good to make the passage without having to use the generator to keep the batteries charged.

Winter has officially started this week. We have jackets, long pants, and a blanket at night in the cockpit. Latitude is close to 20 degrees South. We are passing many freighters as we are close to the path between Capetown and Singapore. We are lucky that we have a full moon which makes the nights more friendly.

We caught our first fish from the Indian Ocean, a dorado (mahi,mahi, or dolphinfish are other names). We fried some of it for lunch and the rest is all filleted in the freezer. Very delicious! Thanks to Bob for his perseverence in fishing and for the superb filleting job!

We are slowing down today to arrive Friday morning. Bob has a flight out Saturday. He is heading to South Africa, then on to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls, and then home.

The diesel leak, unfortunately, is still a problem. Once we were in seas, the fuel continued to leak into the bilge. Once the tank was half empty, the flow stopped. This is not going to be an easy problem to solve as the tank is closed with wood on all sides except the top where the hoses are. The hoses and top of tank are fine. It is inside a cockpit lazarette with an opening smaller than the tank.

I am finishing this entry from a dock in Port Louis. The arrival procedures went fine, although it took half a day, and docking is not one of our favourite things. The quarantine dock is a high concrete wall, especially at low tide with a full moon. We needed to stand on the stern rail and pull ourselves up another few feet. From there we moved to Caudan marina. It is just a small bay with room for about 12 boats around the walls and not much room to manoeuvre. Most boats have another one rafted to them. There was one small spot available which Tom Tom took. Then we came over and rafted up to him. It feels good to be secure for awhile. Time to get at the cleaning and projects and seeing Mauritius.