INDIAN OCEAN CROSSING YACHTS-MAURITIUS,24july13

L

Lotus & Elevation

waving goodbye

,,,,,

Tegan 1 leaving

lotus - co and carla- dutch

Elevation-paul and jill-oz

Tegan 1-joe and janet-canadian

CHANDLERY

BOAT STUFF

STAMP MUSEUM,24july2013,Mauritius

how to make 2 pence=$2 million!

2stamp museums in mauritius

One just near marina.pretty modern building in old style.interesting exhibits.for 10minutes per hour the lights go on and you can see the one pence and 2pence stamps.they are famous in the stamp world.madagascar was 4th country in world to have stamps.these were their 1st,andshould have said postsge paid,rather than post office,so once error was realised,after 300 sold,the plates were revised,and no more errors sold.hence rarity,and hence value now.

2 nd museum is in post office.also interesting,with better explanation of these stamps

GRAND BAIE 23july2013,Mauritius

lunch at yacht club,grand bay.bruce,anton,kerry,shirley,taffy & alan

The other place to keep yacht on Mauritius is GRAND BAIE,or Grand Bay.not thst grand,but is pretty.no marina,so yachts at anchor.we bussed up there with GG,to have lunch with Alan from Moonfleet,at the yachtclub.we new alan from phuket refit.
Yachtclub is in great position overlooking entrance to bay
Taffy and shirley from The Road,and anton,from Shayelle,dinghied over to join us.we knew them from sail indonesia rally 2011
All are crossing this year
Was fascinated to hear taffy and anton telling us about being in rodriuges for cyclone in february this year
Taffy and shirley will complete their circumnavigation when get home to south africa this year
It was a lovely lunch with them all

READING

A GOOD BOOKSHOP NEARBY

Top left-agreat book on Rodriuges's fascinating initial history
Middle top-story of chagos-forced removal of indiginous locals by british for americans-to build diego garcia airbase
Top R-madagascar lonely planet
Bottom-my current fav thriller novels

TOWER HILL WALK 23july13,mauritius

View over PortLouis,and waterfront marina

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Communication tower hill overlooks our marina
ation tower hill ,from la caudan basin

A nice little walk from our boats.thru town,then an easy paved road,gradually to top,with good view over PortLouis,marina,and west coast.

DODOS

dodo museum

Dodos as you all know are extinct,but once roamed over Mauritius
We found these dodos in front of natural history museum
Inside was lots of dodo info,
And stuffed fishes

EUREKA HOUSE-SUGAR AND SLAVES-Mauritius-22july2013

photo to follow

This place was very photogenic

Esp from large front lawn,with big hill behind house

A bus trip from marina

Was an english owned sugar plantation,with slaves.

Then bought by a french  family.it was in the family for 100years.the lady had 17 children,all surviving,with 50 servants/slaves

The little slave housed are also still here

The house is wooden,long,tall ceilings,big verandahs,nicely cool,with great interior with eclectic period furniture ,paintings,mirrors and gaudy walls

We had a coffee on verandah

MACHU PICHU

No-we are not lost
The title alludes to daughter Sophie 's great trip,with Chris,in Peru.(having a year off uni)
She sent some great pics,esp of Machu Picu,which I have been so far unable to upload

BLACLK RIVER HIKE 21july2013 mauritius

lunch spot

the view

This is only national park in Mauritius,and is inSW of island.
We bussed down with GG,got maps from park office,and set off thru park.we had a steep climb up a muddy slippery trail,to  this little shelter,all to ourselves,for lunch,and cloudy views over black river and coast.
Then along high ridge with waterfalls,and some nice views.
At end od walk,we got a long lift to convenient bus station,then back to boats
Getting fitter.

green ghost

another great days hiking.early departure to get to south of island by public buses,to Black River National Park HQ.got a map and set off.light rain, steep ascent interesting due to mud,and tree roots,going through dense forest.upon reaching the ridge,we found a lovely hut for lunch,with great views over black river and coastal reef,which were partly obscured by light rain and mist.It was cold enough to get our jackets out.finnished walk along the high ridge ,with lovely views.about 4 hours walking.we got a lift to bus station,and were back in port Louis  about 4pm.

mauritius-signs

total=French petrol

good idea!

CORPS DE GRANDE HIKE-MAURITIUS-19july2013

halfway

this is one of best hikes on Mauritius.
public bus to rose hill,then another to start of walk.

heading up to knob

coming back down

looking up we could see all the walk,up side of grassy slope to ridge,then to giant knob,then to summit,and return.It took about 3-4 hours.


the windy summit 

FRENCH FOOD

yes,we know Bega is not French

so nice on a fresh baguette

....Australie

cCLIMB LA POUCE MOUNTAIN-mauritius july16,2013

at the top

This tall thin rocky peak is clearly visible from Port Louis,from where it looks impossible to climb
Not says guide book,so off we go,by public bus,to its other side
We found the sign board,then went thru sugarcane fields,and started climbing,.a very pretty,well grassed trail,surprisingly easy,altho up up up,and we were on top,with fabulous views,360degrees
A great lunchspot
Then walk all the way down to Port Louis,to boats
A long day,but a great hike

MAURITIAN PEOPLE

different peoples

THE CITADEL-WALK-port louis-mauritius july2013

view from Citadel,over port louis

Port Louis BUILDINGS

Police Barracks

L'ADVENTURE DU SUCRE

sugar museum-old sugar barge

PORT LOUIS -MARKETS-mauritius july 2013

The pork in Mauritius is superb

HORSERACES

KERRY,DOT,RAY,BRUCE

lLA CAUDAN BASIN

Haven,tied up in middle od Port Louis waterfront

MAURITIUS -HISTORY & FACTS

Sugar is still big in Mauritius

ARRIVE MAURITIUS 11July13

at customs dock,PORT LOUIS

SAIL RODRIUGES TO MAURITIUS July,2013

a calm Indian Ocean

RODRIUGES-CHURCH 6july13

rodriuges-walk grand montagne to balinirou 6july2013

RODRIUGES-MARKETS-6july2013

OCTOPUS RODRIUGES LAGOON 6july2013

RODRIUGES-GIANT TORTOISES,SCOOTER,SAINT GABRIEL-5july2013

we picked up our hire scooter at 8,and went along the pretty north coastal road, stopping to look at drying octopus on racks,then up steep road with tight curves ,over top of island, rural and sea views everywhere, and down to giant tortoise sanctuary.
Rodrigues used to have several hundred thousand giant tortoises ,of 2 species, but all eaten, and now extinct. This sanctuary covers 19 hectares, and they now have several thousand tortoises.
the 1st ones we met were very friendly and came up to get their soft dry leathery wrinkly necks scratched.
the really big tortoises live in the bottom of a canyon.to get there we went through a 500m long limestone cave.
the giant tortoises were so big, so impressive, and also so friendly
nice lunch there-octopus salad again.
time for an afternoon walk-carte verte number 6,from la Ferme to coast. down a ravine, to dry coastal meadows with cattle. had a lovely cold non-alcoholic beer and pastry awaiting bus back to la Ferme we
scooted along spine of island, great views, to saint Gabriel church. big and roughly, built by islanders in 1939.now getting pleasantly cool in late pm.as started descending, great sunset views over port Mathurin, and haven still safely at anchor.
refuelled scooter, and will return it tomorrow, a great way to see Rodrigues island, and a lovely day.

the hard hat was for cave tour we also did there
 

test with photo

test 1

BEST ONE DAY WALK-RODRIUGES-3 july 2013-Carte Verte 3 & 4

jenn with children going home up final big hill climb

we met ainsell and peter from petima going the other way with bikes

 33

#1-bus stop

first of many beaches

#2-Kerry on bus reading carte verte walking guide