Reunion to Durban Days 1 to 5

Leaving Reunion

Tahawus under sail

No Regrets under sail

Maggie sailing wing and wing into the sunset

Chartplotter showingmany frreighters off the south coast of Madagascar

Reunion to Durban  Days 1 to 5

Sept 9 2016

The trip so far has had all the variety that we expected. Winds have ranged from 5 knots to 33, from the SW, NW,N, NE and SE. The first day we were in the wind shadow of Reunion and sailed NW on the sea breeze. Our target this week is south of Madagascar, about 260 degrees. We stayed in an area of low winds another day, while the other two boats got out of it and well out of sight. They are about a day ahead of us. We finally spent one night motor sailing until the winds filled in. Since then we have been mostly in the mid twenties, gusting to 32. We have had the spinnaker up and down twice and the pole out for the genoa. It is a straight downwind run to our first waypoint which is 60 miles off the south coast of Madagascar, but that is not a point of sail that Maggie can do easily. We have been gybing from one side to the other.

The wind and seas are normally higher to the south and east of Madagascar. That is what we are in today. It is ok but uncomfortable. We are hiding out below to stay dry. There is a regular track along here with freighters traveling in both directions around the cape. We can read their destinations and course on the AIS, and call if necessary. There was no moon when we started Mon but a bit more each day.

With 2 people we do a long watch each and then nap extra when we need it. Rob stays on from supper to midnight or 1. I'll cover until about 5am. While on watch we try to sleep in 20 minute intervals between checking things. We've both read a few books during the day. It's great to have the autopilot working. We only have to steer when we use the SSB as there is interference between them. We are calling the other 2 boats on SSB at 8:45am and 6:45pm each day. Chris, on Tom Tom,  left Reunion yesterday and has joined the net.

The only boat damage so far is the bimini starting to rip in 2 places. A few waves have crashed onto it. Also we are having difficulty connecting to sailmail. We have someone advising us on the weather but haven't been able to receive emails for a few days. It is hard to get an available frequency with so few around here. We are going to try to use the sat phone to get emails. If you want to get in touch this week, send message to

robharvey@myiridium.net.

Photos to be added once in Africa, but so far only water and sky to see.

Reunion Island

Deep gorges

                                    

Road along bottom of crater

Crater floor - moonscape!

Viewing scale model of volcanic crater

Eclipse of the sun - Reunion best location for viewing

On crater rim floor - site of latest eruption!

September 9, 2016

Reunion is a dependency of France so its citizens are part of France and the EU. About 100,000 of its 800,000 inhabitants are directly from France. Many of the rest would be descendants of slaves. Although unemployment runs at 60% there is a welfare system in place. With European money they have built great roads and highways. With all the mountainous areas, it must have been expensive. It is very clean and stunningly beautiful. Sugar cane is still a big industry. Tourism is also important.

Tourists come predominantly for the hiking. There are well marked trails, hotels to stay along routes, and organized special events. We have seen many parasailors as well. The beaches are not very protected from the surf. Reunion is a younger volcanic island so doesn't have a well established reef around it and is quite steep to. This is also why there are no good anchorages.

They have been having problems with shark attacks so some resorts have put up nets to keep them from shore. A surfer lost an arm and leg last week. We needed our prop cleaned here, but paid a diver to do it for us. The locals know when and where it is safe. There are also whales in the area. No Regrets saw one, and some of the dive boats, but have not been that lucky ourselves.

On Thurs. there was a full solar eclipse from 11:30 to 2 pm. There were quite a few viewers by the harbour as there was an unobstructed view from there. We were lucky to have a sunny day and a local family gave me a spare pair of the special glasses for viewing. On Tahawas the boys have a telescope that they used to project an image on paper. You could also view through the sextant that is designed for sun sites to get your position.

We used rental and borrowed cars to get up into the mountains on Fri, Sat and Sun. Each visit must be made on a separate road, switching back and forth up from sea level. Fri we visited a "cirque", which is a collapsed crater. There are villages in each of the three major ones. Two have car access on a narrow, winding, 2 hour trip. The third only has access by hiking in about half an hour. Supplies come in by helicopter. Other mountain communities are 4 hours away from any roads. The road we travelled is closed when it rains hard and when there is a potential earthquake. The town, restaurant, and backdrop reminded me of being in the Alps or Banff, but with almost no tourists. (Mind you this is low season).There are also no fees to pay to visit the park areas.

Sat we drove to a central high peak, about 2300 m. From there you could see in every direction around the island. The deep ravines are impressive, even though they make transport difficult. Occasionally, they will have snow on the 3000m peak, Piton des Nieges. For us, the temperature dropped from 25C at sea level to about 10C. Trying to hike, you can feel the change in altitude.

Sun was the most interesting drive up to the volcano. It is one of the most active in the world. Since being discovered 350 years ago, it has erupted 200 times, the most recent being in 2015. The most active crater is on Piton de la Fournaise, at 2631 m. In 1640 the eruption lasted 10 years. Most of the lava flows east to the sea. There are no towns along that side but there is a coastal road. You can't see into the crater and down that side without hiking 4 hours to the top. We drove up the western side and hiked about an hour onto the old lava and a few small cauldrons. There was quite a bit of info posted for touring. We'll post some photos from there when we get to Africa and internet. Photos can't do justice to huge panoramic views, I'm afraid. Helicopter tours seemed quite popular, although expensive. If we had more time we would like to have seen the museum and done some hiking.

La Reunion Island - BPO travel and plans

Carol at the Helm - unusually cool morning!

First glimpse of Le Port, Reunion Island

Maggie at rest on the wall

Eclipse of the Sun - Reunion was the best place to view!

Carol on the climb to the top of the crater

View down into the crater

Rugged landscape

Crater rim

Hang gliders in the crater

Observation point on crater's edge

On the edge

September 5, 2016


Luc and Maggie have kept us so busy this week that I have not had time to sit down and catch up with our blog. Today, our first underway to Africa, I will outline the what ,how, when, where of the trip at the moment. Tomorrow, I'll write about what the highlights of this island were for us.

We left Mauritius Aug 30 and arrived the next morning. The winds averaged about 30 knots on the beam so it was a fast trip. It was also a wet and tiring one for us, as it turned out. Both the bow thruster and autopilot were not working. They had been fine when we returned to Canada so didn't think of checking before leaving. Boat equipment doesn't like to sit unused. This meant that we had to hand steer the whole way. With the beam reach, waves and wind are on the helms person. Fortunately, we were giving Kate a ride to Reunion. She had been on the boat rafted to us. Despite being seasick for a few hours, she took turns steering, one hour on, one hour in the cockpit on watch and one to sleep.

We have had the autopilot repaired. The fluxgate compass needed replacing, probably the only part of the system we didn't have a replacement for. We thought replacing a burnt out fuse would be the simple solution to the bow thruster but it looks like the batteries will need replacing. Instead of being in a slip in the marina we were tied to the entry wall. At least, all the marine services had their offices there. The showers were a 15 walk away with only cold water, this that didn't happen often.

Luc flew in from the Philippines for the 6 days. There are three boats in the BPO now. We have a weather router to help us on this next leg, considered the most difficult long passage of a circumnavigation. Fortunately, he has forecast today as the best day to leave. The schedule allowed us to wait up to 2 weeks. We will be happy with longer in South Africa. There is much to see, and you need to do a lot of waiting for the right weather as you travel along the coast.

As well as sightseeing, we made many trips to the markets to restock the fridge and freezer. Because we had rental cars for a few days, it was a chance to stock up on other heavy things, like beer, pop, and milk. (Probably not in that order of priority.) A number of other cruisers that we have met elsewhere are in this area. We had Gaia over for dinner and they filled us in on others' plans as they have been here awhile. Most boats will be leaving soon to go around the north of Madagascar, along Mozambique to SA. It is 1000nm longer but has more places to stop, plus the chance to see that island.

Last night we had a farewell dinner, particularly to say goodbye and thank you to Luc.
He has joined us in five cruising areas. He invited his host from town ,whose home was offered on Air B and B. He, in turn, introduced us to a good mechanic and a local sailor who shared tips. The restaurant was a well known creperie by the sea. A good farewell to France! We have 1440 nm to Durban and expect that to take 10 to 12 days.

Back to Mauritius

Red sky in the morning over the mountains east of Port Louis

Public beach with reef in background

Le Mourne and the World Heritage Site park

We saw many colourful birds

Kiters in a protecterd bay

Lunch stop with Klaudia, Norm and boys from Tahawus

Chamarel rum distillery - very beautiful gardens as part of it

 

Black River Gorge viewing location - lots of monkeys looking for food!

Another great public beach

Picnic lunch at north end of the island - islands faintly seen in the background

Back to Mauritius

August 28, 2016

We are now back to the boat, still tied up in Port Louis. We enjoyed the visit back to Canada, especially visits with family and friends. It was also a chance to order parts and supplies. We flew with two suitcases each plus the two carryons. We have finally found a home for all those things and given away the bags. We left Toronto Wed morning Aug. 17 and arrived here Fri afternoon which included two overnight flights, a stopover in Paris and the time change. We treated ourselves to a night in a hotel next to the marina to start the next day rested and clean.

The first days' work was to reinstall the sails and canvas. They had been sent in for repairs. The winds were calm last week in the mornings for that. Another boat, Indigo, was rafted outside us and Tom Tom was inside. The fenders and toe rail took a beating being the sandwiched boat. A few days later, Chris and Linda left for some cruising around the island. It was a major shuffle to get Tom Tom out, Indigo against the wall and us rafted on the outside. Fortunately there were many hands available to fend and hold lines.

 Tahawas had arrived the day before us. It has been good to catch up with them since last seeing them in Thailand. Another boat, Calypso,  had checked in to the net during our Indian Ocean crossing here. They are from South Africa but Maureen is from Oakville originally. They will be finishing a 13 year trip soon. We learned some more about the trip to and along SA from them. Both those boats have been busy with repairs.

One of the major projects of the week has been to reprovision the freezer for the trip to Africa.  Most cruisers do that job here as the prices are lower than in Reunion and the stores are closer to the boats. It has turned out to be an expensive mistake. There is an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Mauritius and starting this week all fresh food will be confiscated in Reunion to prevent its spread there. Boats have emailed back that they are taking all meat, fish, dairy, and produce. This even includes UHT milk cartons and a thorough search through the boat for hidden supplies. This has cost some boats several hundred dollars.

Our plan is to leave for Reunion on Tues Aug 30. The BPO schedule is for us to arrive in Reunion the 31st. Luc will be there for several days of help and organize activities. Zeke and his next crew on No Regrets arrived this weekend. Joyful has decided to ship their boat to the Med, so we are down to three boats. Joyful was still in Australia's Christmas Island so they will have to get the boat to SE Asia instead of here. The weather has been fine all week until today. There is a low pressure system coming from Africa that is causing higher winds and seas all this week. It is supposed to be slightly better on Tues for the 120nm trip. We'll see.

We could have left sooner but didn't want to leave Mauritius without seeing its most famous sights. On Fri and Sat we rented a van and went touring with ourselves and Tahawas. It was worth seeing how beautiful this island is. Fri we drove down the west coast to the south and back through the highlands. Along the coast are many resorts as well as huge public beaches. There is a reef surrounding the island, so the beaches on all sides are protected from high seas. It is stunning with the mountains as a backdrop to the turquoise water below.  In the SW corner there is a high rock outcrop called Le Morne. It is now a world heritage site commemorating the fight against slavery here. Runaway slaves hid in this area and sometimes jumped to their death rather than be recaptured. There are large rock carvings donated by various countries in the park.

Driving up into the mountains, there is the Black River Gorge National Park. From there you can see over the deep gorge and around the island. If you had the time there are many trails, and lots of monkeys and unique birds about. We also stopped at one of the waterfalls and a Hindu religious site. Also in the highlands was Le Chamarel rum factory with its great setting in sugar cane fields and gardens. We enjoyed the tour and sampling.

On Saturday we drove part of the northeast coast, north and northwest to Grand Bay. This was not as mountainous, although you can see them all around. There was a forest national park with visitor centre and trails. There were miles of sugar cane fields and large loose rocks from previous volcanoes. We stopped for a picnic at one of the many beaches. We finished the day in the tourist town of Grand Bay. We met the crew of one of the boats we had met in Rodrigues in the grocery store. A number of that group of boats are anchored there or already in Reunion. It was a good two days of sightseeing that has made us appreciate the island more. Rob did an admirable job of driving on the left side in a manual gear car.

Mauritius Week Two

Outside the Market

                                                                                

Park commemorating Mauritian history

Old Immigration Depot

                                                                               

Cathedral with citadel on hill behind

Mauritius Week Two

July 10 2016, at home

We continued to enjoy being in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. The tourism office and sites are not advertised very well so it took awhile to track down some of the more interesting places. I guess most people are on tours.

There is a Unesco World heritage site along the harbour called Aapravasi Ghat. It is the former immigration building where the indentured workers first disembarked and went through their few days of getting checked in. It has been rebuilt as a museum. When the British government abolished slavery in their colonies, they chose Mauritius for what they called the "Great Experiment", ie the use of indentured labour to replace slaves. Its success there led other colonial powers  to adopt the system.

We spent a morning reading all the details and history in the museum. The museums have been free which I enjoy because you don't feel you have to read everything in one day. There was some abuse of the system over the years, but pressure from abroad kept improvements happening. Most of the population of Mauritius arrived this way between 1834 and 1920.

We also visited a small natural history museum. There were many displays of the fish, insects, plants, animals of the area. There is a citadel on one of the hills in town built by the British. The climb to the top gave a great view of the city. Today it overlooks the horse racing track. Being a Saturday, we watched a few races. We have walked enough streets now to have found the Chinese and Indian areas, and seen much of the old colonial architecture.

During the week other boats were arriving from Rodrigues. We enjoyed visiting and sharing info during  several "happy hours". The day we left was the last day of Ramadan and all the stores were closed so no last minute shopping. I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful Indian dresses being worn around town. At 5:15pm we took the last bus to the airport, an hour and a half trip to the southeast.

The four boats in the BPO are to sail to Reunion Aug 30. Two of them have still not crossed the Indian Ocean. The consensus now is to do the trip to Durban about mid Sept. From there we would work along the coast whenever the weather allowed to Cape Town. On average this takes about a month. Rob and I haven't decided yet whether to spend Christmas in Cape Town or Brazil. Lots of water under the keel before then.

First Week in Mauritius

Grand Baie anchorage

Grand Baie

Caudan Waterfront Promenade

Maggie and Tom Tom at Caudan Marina

One of many parks and many more monuments!

Music festival on the waterfront

Customs wall - quite a climb up at low tide!

First Week in Mauritius

July 1, 2016  Happy Canada Day!

We are enjoying our visit to Mauritius. Of course part of that is knowing we are secure for a few months. There are lots of boat chores, cleaning in particular, but no imminent deadlines. Some of our guide books say the harbour is dirty, your boat is not safe from thieves, and the island uninteresting. But we have been pleasantly surprised.

Mauritius is a real mix of peoples, cultures, religions, and standard of living. Most speak French or Creole among themselves even though the official language is English.  About half the population are descendants of indentured Indian servants and are mostly Hindi. Many of them wear traditional Indian dress. There are Africans, Chinese, French and English, as well. In this area there are also many tourists. There are very modern buildings, old colonial buildings, and simple shacks. There is a huge market near the bus station with better prices than the high end shops near us.

The marina is part of a waterfront development that includes a shopping centre, restaurants, promenade, museum, hotels, etc that encircles the harbour in the downtown area. It looks quite new. There is a lot of art about and usually live music. Last weekend, in particular, there were many performances as part of a music festival. The hotel across from the marina often has a live (and loud) band. The motorway from the north to the south of the island follows the water through town but two pedestrian underpasses have been built to get into the downtown area.

The tour vans park right next to the boats so there is a steady flow of tourists around. It is amazing how many have stopped when they see the Canadian flag and mentioned that they come from there. (One of the men in customs has two children at Canadian universities.) Tourists walk by and take photos of our boats. You do feel a bit like you are living in a fish bowl. We are rafted up to Tom Tom. Three more boats arrived from Rodrigues yesterday with more following soon. The marina is a bit unusual in that the office is manned by the security company, not marina staff. They need to call someone for most of your requests. Although you need to get the key for the washrooms each time you use them, it is a treat to have hot showers. I wish we could take advantage of the free power but it is 240 volts and we don't have a way to convert.

Bob was here for one day and got a rented car. We, Bob, and Zeke drove to Grand Bay in the north of the island. This is the area most sailors anchor so we wanted to see it. It was a scenic place with many services. The local yacht club offers a month's free membership. We had been thinking of leaving Maggie on a mooring ball there, but they are no longer available to rent. The north is flat and former sugar cane plantations.

The north and south bus stations have very many and standard sized buses, the preferred mode of transport. We have been out twice to the south, first to a hardware store in another town, and another day to a marine store. The south drive goes through mountainous areas. We want to eventually get to some of the tourist attractions, like the volcanic crater, the National Park and its trails, and a museum dedicated to the abolition of slavery.

The next BPO planned event is sailing from here to Reunion on August 30. Tahawas and Joyful hope to be here by then. We have decided to take advantage of the time to make a trip back to Canada. The flight leaves here July 6 and Toronto August 17. Chris will be back in the UK and return with his girlfriend about the same time. He and Rob have finished the process for leaving a boat here. Your skipper status is noted in your passport when you arrive and you cannot leave the country without another qualitifed skipper left  in charge of your boat. They have had several visits with the local skipper and backup hired to give directions for moving the boats if needed, and twice to visit the passport office with all the paperwork required. The sails and canvas will be in a sail loft for repairs while we are away. We are sure looking forward to seeing everyone at home! (Wish we could have a visit with Dan and Becky, too. We were thrilled to hear about their engagement yesterday!)

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.