Madagascar September 27, 2007 Bula Tsi Everyone, Boy have we had an eventful week or so. Once we left Ile Saint Marie and headed up the east coast of Madagascar we were in for it! Here's a quote from the Sailing Directions. "The E coast of Madagascar is, with good reason noted for its inhospitable shore. During the SE trade wind, from April to October it is subject to almost increasing strong winds and a heavy swell breaking on the coast. There is not a single good harbor to be found on this coast". Oh great! We've been thinking about this leg of our journey since back in Thailand and were prepared for a rough trip. We left Ile Saint Marie planning on a four or five day passage directly up to Diego Suarez on the northeast tip of Madagascar and then around Cape d'Ambre. After two days and two nights of lively sailing we were looking for a place to stop and rest. There were a couple of coves on the chart that started looking better to us in spite of the Sailing Directions. With ten foot cresting waves and wind about twenty knots we carefully approached Baie d'Androvina. A squall hit us just as we made the turn into the bay. The wind jumped to about thirty five knots and the waves became much steeper and began breaking, some on us. One direct hit swamped the cockpit and soaked us good. Guess we were lucky to have that pouring rain to rinse us off; although it did cut down on our visibility. As we passed into the bay the waves calmed down and the squall moved on. The land was low so the wind continued at full strength but we managed to find a calm spot to drop our anchor just inside the headland. How nice it was to relax out of the waves! What a wind swept, harsh environment. We were surprised to see people on shore checking us out later that evening. We waved but didn't have the motivation to pump up the dingy and go to shore for a visit. Early next morning the seas looked a little settled so we weighed anchor and moved out. Once underway the wind and swells picked up. We headed to another bay that looked possible and closer to our target, Diego Suarez. The entrance to Baie d Rigney was almost as exciting, but the squall's timing was off and it hit before we started our entrance. Hah! Another wind swept, barren, lonely place. We traveled about a mile or so back into the bay and found a corner of land to hide behind. It was still windy but quite comfortable with no swell. A little shallow, though. Only six inches of water under the keel at low tide. Funny what you'll settle for when you're on the east coast of Madagascar! Next morning we headed on up to Diego Suarez. It was a piece of cake compared to the rest of the trip. The seas were still rough but we only had twenty-five miles to make. We entered the bay and were anchored by 10:00 am that same day! Diego Suarez is a huge bay. We had a great five mile sail inside the bay on flat water from the entrance to the anchorage off the town of Antisiranana. Within half an hour of anchoring there was a small boat and two young guys, Nicola and Mao, offering to help us pump up our dingy and guide us to shore. We had caught a nice coral trout just before we arrived that we gave to them. They live in a little "village" that is situated amongst decaying buildings on the shoreline and outskirts of Antisiranana. They happily drove us to shore (in our dingy!) and showed us the boats that the village is building and the catch from their day of diving. A huge lobster and quite a few nice fish, almost as big as the one we shared with them ;] We stayed in Antisiranana just one day to explore the town and to shop in the market. The city is a mixture; a few new buildings scattered amongst old seventeenth century buildings in various stages of decay. The main street was newly paved but the small, intersecting streets quickly turned to dirt and rock. The market was huge and the people friendly. The vendors were not pushy and we had fun buying fresh vegetables and eggs. The language and money are always such a challenge. We found a small snack shop right at the head of the market entrance that offered ice cold beers and was excellent for people watching. A hot item at the market were the fresh chickens. It was funny to see people coming out, nicely dressed for market, carrying a live, squawking chicken in one hand and a shopping bag full of vegies in the other. We would have liked to stay and explore longer but according to the reports we get on board, there was settled weather coming up and we wanted to take advantage. We have talked to many people and have read articles that make the sail around Cape d'Ambre seem like an extreme challenge. After the high winds and seas we had been experiencing coming up the east coast we expected the worst. Leaving under a full moon at 1:30 am Tuesday we headed out. Once out of the bay we had fifteen knot winds and six foot swells. A strong current pushed us along, increasing our speed to seven and a half knots most of the way. Our timing was perfect! The sun rose as we got near and once we rounded the cape the ocean swell calmed down. Madagascar makes a good breakwater. Jim had a line out, as usual, and we hooked up with four fish off the cape. After releasing two tunas and a small wahoo number four was a nice wahoo, almost as tasty as walu, so you know his fate. There were several whales frolicking in the shallow waters as we rounded the cape. We've seen many whales since we entered the coastal waters of Madagascar but none quite as friendly. Fortunately, we brushed up on our "whale" the other night by watching Nemo. We could understand them welcoming us to the land of warm, gentle breezes and crystal clear waters. Yeah! The west coast of Madagascar is absolutely beautiful, a different world. Take care of yourselves and we'll be in touch soon. Velooma, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Ile St. Marie September 17, 2007 Salama Everyone, Two days out from Madagascar we hit a large school of tuna. We caught five, but only three made it on board. All three were distinctly different. One was a yellow tail, one a skipjack and the other we don't know. It was great to have fresh fish on board, it had been a long time. We had quite a few good meals and were still able to share our good fortune with a couple of the locals. Madagascar is so different than the countries we've been visiting lately. We've been spoiled by so many English speakers! Here they speak either Malagasy or French, but very, very little English. Hey, when you're offering to share fish the language is universal. Check in was everything we had been told it would be. The guy from customs didn't speak much English, but was able to communicate that they needed twenty euro, which seemed weird seeing as their currency is either malagache francs or ariary. Then when we went in to the office and payed him there was another guy who spoke enough English to complain that there were three customs officers and that they would have a hard time splitting the twenty euro and asked for ten more! What nerve! We had already handed over the first twenty and could hardly take it back, but refused to pay any more! Then when we went into town to pay immigration and pick up our passports, the guy in charge took advantage of our obvious confusion with the money, and took an extra 50,000 francs. It's malgache franc worth only about five u.s. dollars but it was the principal of the thing. By the time the coast guard approached the boat, with six guys ready to board, we had had enough. Making it quite clear that we were unhappy with the previous encounters with officials and that we were not going to shell out any more money, they didn't even bother to board. The whole thing left a bad taste in our mouths...we gargled with rum. Ile St. Marie is like a step back in time. The very small town of Ambifototatra has a few modern conveniences. There's a wharf where boats and ferries from mainland Madagascar land goods and a few tourists. The main road is paved and there is an an internet cafe and a bank with a ready teller. The magasin where you can buy groceries like canned goods, household goods, drinks and stuff is about twelve by twelve feet "big". For the most part, the roads are lined with shops, little shacks selling one egg at a time. There are a few centrally located water taps and women and young girls constantly walk back and forth carrying plastic pails full of water. Although there are cars, taxis, scooters and bicycles the majority of people are on foot. Most of the goods from the boats is moved about town on tall wooden wagons being pushed by one or two men. Sometimes you see five or six young guys pushing an empty wagon at great speed, then all jumping on to ride a bit. The Spanish Stroll was anchored in the bay off a very small island, Ilot Madame, about one mile from town. Ilot Madame is connected to the main land by a causeway made of rocks and dirt. The other boats at anchor with us were local and uninhabited. There is a long cement quay where heavily laden cargo boats tied up one after another. On shore there was a community center and a small shop catering to the workers, selling snacks and drinks. It was amazing to watch as the men unloaded the boats by hand, walking up planks and over gunwales with heavy packages and boxes on their heads. It rained off and on almost every day keeping our water tanks full but making us long for the west, and hopefully, dryer coast of Madagascar. On Saturday we went to town early to purchase some fresh bread and vegetables planning to take off later in the day. It was warm and sunny for a change and we decided to take a walk along the main road heading north out of town. The road runs along the beach for miles and miles and is lined with every kind of house you could imagine. There were women and children at almost every communal water faucet doing laundry. The people were curious and friendly and the kids as usual great fun. We bought our fresh vegetables from a small roadside stand far from town and didn't get back to the boat till late afternoon. We had a good time and were glad we had stayed another day. May have been fate. As we were both standing in the galley working on dinner that night something hit the back of the boat with a loud bang. Talk about a heart attack! Before we could get the cockpit lights on and get outside to check it out, more frantic banging, closer if possible. Flipped the lights on and UNBELIEVABLE! a twenty pound Walu had jumped in the boat and was beating itself to death in our cockpit. We quickly put him out of his misery and a few hours later put him into our fridge. What luck our favorite fish! Turned out to be our best fishing spot yet! We took pictures but be warned the cockpit shot is graphic. Sunday morning we made one last trip to shore to give away more tuna then motored twenty miles north to a small cove at the north end of Ile Saint Marie. The weather is too beautiful, with no wind we'll be stuck here for another day or two before we can sail to Diego-Suarez three hundred and fifty miles north and close to Cap D'Ambre the northernmost tip of Madagascar. What a place to be stuck, the white sand beach stretches on for miles lined with coconut palms and pine trees. Anchored a hundred yards offshore in three meters the water is crystal clear with a sand bottom. Standing up front the view over the bow looks like a cover shot from Cruising world only without the bikini girl. On shore there is always somebody waving at us. Women and kids brightly dressed and carrying firewood on their heads or just standing chatting on the beach. In the afternoons the cows come home, a group of about eight or ten zebu passes casually down the beach, the shepherd chasing any stragglers with a stick. Going ashore yesterday we walked a couple of miles but couldn't find anybody to attempt talking with. Each night, just after dark, lights come on all around us. Fishermen in twenty or thirty canoes with some kind of lanterns come out of nowhere. The glowing lights on the glassy water give the effect of fireflies, very mystical. They fish all night then disappear just before dawn. We hope to follow suit (disappearing that is) tomorrow morning. Take care of yourselves and we'll be in touch soon. Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Reunion September 08, 2007 Bonjour !, What a wonderful two weeks we have spent in Ile de la Reunion. It has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. We were so lucky to meet Thierry and Claire on S/V Tamarin during our recent stay in nearby Mauritius. Their home is in Reunion and they were great hosts during our visit to this little island. Well not really little....it's 37 miles long and 27 miles wide and just chock full of volcanos from one end to the other. Mostly not active, but one is and last erupted in April of this year. Steep volcanic mountains, fertile plains and rocky shorelines make for some very dramatic scenery. Everywhere you look you find beautiful plants and trees. In the most remote of areas it looks like someone has been busy landscaping and the plants are the type that we sometimes find hard to grow even indoors at home. In addition to a few quick visits during the work week, we spent two entire Sundays with Thierry and Claire touring the island. Our first Sunday in Reunion we visited their beautiful home and met their son, Thomas. Then the five of us went to lunch at the tennis club where we enjoyed authentic Reunion style Creole cooking. Afterwards Thomas bailed and we took off for the hills. We drove up into the mountains to a small town, Plaine de Gregues, that is renowned for their spices, especially curcuma, the spice that gives Creole style foods that special Reunion flavor. They were having a curcuma festival and we took a tour of the spice garden. The cute little guide started off very nervously conducting the tour in English for us, but once she got going she was great fun. She enticed us into buying some "honey" made from the leaves of a honey tree and of course, some curcuma! Then it was back in the car to wind our way down through the small mountain towns towards the ocean stopping to take pictures along the way. The shoreline along the southeast coast is reminiscent of Carmel or Big Sur. As we rounded the island, we came to the town of Tremblet, which is close to the site of April's eruption. At Tremblet we hit a road block where we parked then walked about two miles further to reach the point where a huge lava flow blankets the ground from the mountain top to the ocean. It was an awesome sight! Our second Sunday in Reunion with Thierry and Claire started out much earlier. Their friend, Malva, joined us. We left at 6:30am in the hopes of getting a good view down into the top of the active volcano, La Fournaise. The altitude is so high that cloud cover is almost always present. There were a few breaks in the cover which afforded us fantastic views, but not down into La Fournaise. We drove and walked through several of the older, inactive volcanos. We hiked down a wall with about twenty gazillion switch backs and out onto a lava field that stretched as far as we could see. Sureal. Like walking on the moon or something. The trails are marked with white painted dots that you want to stay close to cause when clouds roll in visibility can be less than three feet and people have gotten lost. It's so cold at that altitude that even with all the strenuous hiking (yeah, we had to climb back up that wall with twenty gazillion switch backs!) we were comfortable with our shoes and sox, jeans and foul weather jackets on! After our trek through the lava fields we were ready for a break. Heading down the mountain we found a beautiful picnic spot in Bebourg Forest. Claire had prepared a tasty lunch of baguettes, with fruits and cheeses, dried beef and hard boiled eggs. We discovered that we love goat cheese! We've got some on board right now, a parting gift from Claire. After lunch we all climbed back into the car and headed down the other side of the mountain to visit the northeast coast stopping for some espressos to warm us up on the high plains along the way. The coastline was once again rugged and beautiful. We stopped to take pictures in one little village where lava from an earlier volcano flowed down the mountain into town and, miraculously, stopped right on the doorstep of their little Catholic church. Winding our way along the shore we spied a palm tree loaded down with unusual nests built by a bird called the Belier. Thierry hopped out and gathered a few that had fallen to the ground. We have one as a memento. At the town of Bois Blanc we once again hit a road block and walked the last bit to reach the other side of the huge lava flow from April's eruption. Even though we had seen it from the southern side, it still overwhelmed us by it's immensity. You could see the heat waves still shimmering up from the lava after five months! We ended our second Sunday of touring together with a nice hot shower at Thierry and Claire's followed by a delicious barbecue on board the Spanish Stroll. Our home for two weeks, the small marina of Saint Pierre, is in the center of town and protected from the sea by a huge break wall. There is a walkway up along the top of the wall that we used coming and going between the boat and shore. One of our favorite pastimes was watching the surfers and belly boarders outside the wall take advantage of the steep, slow moving waves. We liked taking our morning coffee up to the walkway just to watch the waves. We could also see the entrance to the harbor from there and tried to get some sense of a pattern. The entrance is very narrow with reefs on both sides and sometimes the waves roll across the entire width. Wanted to make sure we'd be able to leave the harbor when the time came. There were three boats on our dock that we had met before. French couples with lot's of cute little kids running all over the docks. One young couple, Julio and Crystel whom we met in New Caledonia, just had their first baby. A little girl named Nikyta, born August 10th. We enjoyed holding her and imagining what it would feel like to hold our own new little granddaughter, Casey. To celebrate Nikyta's two week birthday, there was a dock party complete with beer, rum, snacks and guitar playing. Just like home, except we couldn't understand much that was being said. Ha! One friend told us not to worry, "it's the same bull shit, just a different language!". Aside from running water and 220 V electricity, there were no amenities in the marina. No showers, no yacht club, no laundry facilities. We had excellent water pressure so everything that could possibly be washed, was; the water tanks and filters, every inch of the boat and every stitch of clothing! No sheet or towel was left unwashed. With no liveaboards close by, we were able to use our sun shower in the cockpit and stayed squeaky clean ourselves. It was a great place to get work done on the boat. Some things were much easier to sand and paint off the boat and to let dry on the dock in the hot sun. We restored part of our man over board system. Good thing too! We found that if we had actually deployed the flag pole and buoy, the flag and pole itself would have broken off adding to the stress and making it much harder, perhaps impossible, for both the person in the water and the person on board to locate and retrieve the buoy! Reunion is very expensive, as they receive almost all but the largest goods by air from France, and they use the Euro, which is very strong against the U.S. dollar right now. However, they do have a lot of stuff that can't be found in the less developed countries. At a wonderful hardware store, Mr. Bricolage, we were able to find everything we needed for our projects. There was an equally exciting Walmart like store in the same area called HyperCrack. Slightly expensive goods, but some "specials" that we took advantage of. We had stocked up in Mauritius on most everything, but the sausages and coffee were a must and we found pomplemousse juice, which we love, for the first time since French Polynesia. Both stores were just on the outskirts of town and required a three mile hike uphill. Sometimes when you're inside shopping you forget that you're walking and get a little carried away so fortunately coming back to the boat was all down hill. On our third and last trip up to these stores we finally figured out the bus system and with our arms loaded down with last minute things we took the bus practically all the way back to the marina. We said our au revoirs and sailed away from Ile de la Reunion on September 6th at 10:30am. The seas were calm and our exit through the mouth of the harbor was uneventful. The winds have been very light. We motored for most of the first day to get clear of the lee of the island. Our second day out was a spinnaker run and finally last night, when the winds picked up a bit, we switched to our headsail. We are cruising along at about four and a half knots and have 232 miles till we reach Ile Saint Marie off the northeast coast of Madagascar. Our next adventure! Take care of yourselves and we'll be in touch soon. Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Mauritius/Reunion August 29, 2007 Bonjour Tout le monde, Our bow rail repair turned out to be quite an adventure. A friend with a small truck and a welding contact was happy to help get it to the shop but was no where to be found when it was time to pick it up. We took the bus to the shop ourselves but once we had it in hand realized that it was too awkward in shape to get through the doors of the bus for it's trip back to the boat. We flagged down a couple of reluctant taxis, but they were too small and unwilling to have it tied to their roofs. We took it with us to a small roadside restaurant where it got lot's of attention from the other patrons, but no offers for a ride. Nice lunch for us though. We were about 4 miles from the boat, and decided we better start walking. Wish we'd had the presence of mind to take a picture. We made quite a spectacle walking down the side of the highway, through the sugarcane fields with a bow rail. Even rained on us for a bit. After half an hour or so we spied an old taxi down the road that actually had a roof rack on it! We parked it right there. The three guys who came out to the taxi were reluctant to take us on. Not because of our freight, but because they were already on business and not headed our way. Once we assured them we would gladly wait while they did some banking we had the bow rail tied on the rack and all hopped in. Friendly guys who spoke very little English; you can bet we gave them a nice tip. With the installation of the bow rail and new navigation lights, we were ready to head back down to Port Louis. Our friends, Terrance and Mavis, had never sailed before; as it looked like it would be a nice downwind ride we invited them along. Turned out the winds were very light so it was more of a motorboat ride. Just as well for folks not used to being out on the ocean. We stopped and dropped the anchor for some light line fishing off the coast close to their home in Elizabethville. We think their son, Dillan, may have been on shore looking for us with binoculars, but we're never quite sure we understand exactly what's being said. Terrance and Jim both caught small reef fish. We didn't take pictures and by the next time we saw Terrance they had doubled in size. He laughed about that! The next six days we did a lot of running around, getting ready to leave. We took a bunch of bus rides, walked tons of miles and managed to check a few things off our list every day. One day we took the wrong bus two times! Terre Rouge, Rich Terre, Rouche Bois.... the names can be so confusing! That's where a lot of that walking comes in. We had lunch at our favorite restaurant, La Canton, one last time. Had a cheeseburger and fries at McDonald's, one last time. Roti's with chili and dahl, one last time. All that food, we can use the extra walking. We spent the weekend entertaining friends on board. Mauritius is so far away; it's over halfway around the world. After two and a half months we have made some really good friends and we all know that we may never see each other again. That's one of the hardest parts of cruising. We kept putting off saying our last good byes right up to the final afternoon as we got ready to cast off the lines. Reluctantly, we sailed away from Mauritius on Tuesday, August 21 at around 5:00pm. The winds were light while we were in the lee of the island, but soon picked up and we had 15 to 20 knots and a six foot swell on the beam for most of the way. A lively passage! The Ile of Renuion is 150 miles west and a little south of Mauritius. The entrance to St. Pierre, on the southwest coast is a tricky little one. It's a small opening in the reef and most of the inner bay is shallow because of silting from a river. We had heard that there would be a risk of not being able to enter if the waves or swell were large, but took the chance. There is another harbor further up on the northwest coast that has a more protected entrance, but it is way too far from all the cool volcano's and stuff that we want to see. We hove to about five miles out for a couple of hours waiting for the sun to rise and entered at first light on Thursday morning. The seas were fairly calm and we were able to come inside to the little marina. Overseas boats get one week's FREE berthing...so we'll be here at least that long! Friends we met in Mauritius, Thierry and Claire, have invited us to lunch and a guided tour of parts of the island on Sunday. Can't wait to start exploring this beautiful island! Take care of yourselves and we'll be in touch soon. Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Mauritius August 08, 2007 Bonjour Tout le monde, Still anchored in Grande Baie, Mauritius. Our plan to have some things we need shipped into Mauritius turned out to be NOT such a good idea. Our first package, replacement parts we needed for our anchor windless, taught us the ropes. We wanted to use them (the ropes) to keel haul the DHL folks. It cost more and took longer for the package to get from the Mauritius airport to our boat, than it took to order and ship the parts from England...and the charges they added...OH LA LA! We'll have to wait till we get somewhere more accommodating for the other items we need. We recently met a very nice French couple, Theiry (we call him Terry) and Claire from Renuion Island. They were on a holiday and had anchored their boat, Tamarin, close by in Grand Baie. We really endeared ourselves to them one morning when they had gone ashore and their boat drifted by us headed for land. We took our spare anchor and caught the boat before it came to harm. What a surprise when they came back and found their boat anchored clear across the bay and close to shore. During their stay we shared a few meals and visits. We enjoy each others company, in spite of the communication challenge, and have made plans to visit them at Renuion Island before we head off for Madagascar. We've got the oil changed and the diesel tanks are full. Waiting for some stainless work being done on the bow rail and lifelines. Once that's complete, we will sail back down to Port Louis and visit with all our friends in that area before we head off for Reunion Island, about 150 miles west. The trade winds have become quite strong during the last month and are expected to continue to be strong through the end of August. We may be in store for some lively sailing! Take care of yourselves and we'll be in touch soon. Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Mauritius July 15, 2007 Bonjour Everyone, We're finally just starting to recuperate from the 4th of July party at the American Embassy. The ambassador's beautiful house and surrounding grounds are huge! Your tax dollars at work ;] They had one of those bubble jumping things set up for the kids. A full out barbecue; burgers, hotdogs, ribs, lot's of salads (including potato) and several kinds of chili. Our embassy friend, Margaret, won the chili cook off. For desert there was a giant cake decorated like the American flag and it easily served the couple of hundred people who attended. It rained for about an hour in the afternoon and that added to the challenge for those who joined in on the tug of war. Jimmy spent the rest of the evening with mud on his butt. All the beer and wine you could drink and American music playing all night long. Needless to say, we had a blast! Last Sunday we cut our lines loose from the dock in Port Louis and sailed about 15 miles up the coast to Grand Baie. Our Mauritian friends; Laval, his mom Elsie, his son Evan and his cousin Emanuel all joined us. Barb was a little apprehensive about having so many land lubbers crowded on board for the ride. It was a four hour beat to windward. After we executed the first tack they took over and did the rest! They were happy to have a little spray come over the sides as they thought one should get a little salty at sea. Back on the anchor at Grand Baie we shared the delicious meal that they had prepared before they headed off for the bus ride home. We had a great time and have rarely had such excellent guests on board! We told them that if they thought that was fun, they should join us on the downwind leg back to Port Louis in a few weeks. We think they will! On Monday we went on shore to explore and there were our friends, Terrence and Mavis. They had made us a picnic lunch and drove all the way up here hoping to catch us! They took us to Pamplemoose, site of their botanical gardens, which are incredible! The place is giant, we walked for hours and saw just a part of it. The trees were planted in the 1700 hundreds and are huge! There are covered picnic areas scattered throughout the park and we found one on the lake shore where we sat and enjoyed the delicious lunch Mavis had prepared. We are getting spoiled (and chubby) from all this attention. Grand Baie is a pretty touristy place with lots of catamarans full of people going in and out every day. Their destination are the several small islands about seven or eight miles off the coast. Within the bay are kayakers, paddle boaters, parasailers, windsurfers, lot's of people watching for us to do! It's also a favorite picnic place for locals and on the weekends it gets very crowded. The nice thing, though, is that we are anchored out in the middle of the bay and we can come and go into the hustle and bustle as we wish. There's a very quiet, members only, yacht club on shore and with a one month free membership we have access to hot showers, fresh water, a fuel dock and expensive beer. On shore there are roti carts everywhere and that's become our favorite fast food. Rotis with chili and dahl; we can both get our fill for about $1.50 U.S. On Thursday we conducted one of our little scavenger hunts; a fairly frequent event since we left to go cruising. Needed to find some diodes for our alternator. We've had it repaired two times since we left home. Once in Fiji; that lasted a few days. Then in Australia; that lasted a few months. Now it's Jimmy's turn. It's a high output alternator and we use it to charge our batteries when the wind and sun aren't enough. Not a critical system in itself, but with only half output there's too much wear on the engine and that's definitely a critical system! We found one diode after only two stops but unfortunately we couldn't buy any spares. Seems it was the only one on the island. After a nice lunch in town and four bus transfers, we returned home. The alternator is now back together and working better than ever. We do need a few more things that we can't buy in Mauritius, and will ask to have them shipped to us. It looks like this will be our home for the next several weeks. In the meantime, we have lot's of projects to keep us busy when we're not off exploring. Take care of yourselves and we'll be in touch soon. Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Mauritius July 02, 2007 Bonjour Everyone, Wow have we been having a good time here in Mauritius. It's a beautiful island full of very friendly people. We checked into the country at Port Louis, the capital and largest town. Our guidebook doesn't show a marina here (it's a little dated) but there is a fairly new one right in the heart of the city. Le Caudin Waterfront is not only convenient but has given us the opportunity to meet a lot of people. Our boat is tied up to a cement quay that is bordered by a landscaped walkway. With two resorts and a huge mall right at the waterfront, it's kind of a tourist spot, which we would normally avoid, however, it's also a popular destination for the locals from all over the island. They come to shop in the markets, stroll through the shops, visit the cinema, eat at the restaurants and walk along the waterfront. We've made good friends from many different places, cultures, and religions while relaxing in our cockpit. Usually when we arrive after a crossing, even if only a three or four day crossing, we check in and then chill on the boat for a day or so. Here, on our very first day at the dock, we met a young Indian family, the Ramsurn's. Roshan, Hima, Deya and Davish were taking a walk along the waterfront before they went for dinner. They asked us if we would come to visit them the next day, Sunday, as they were all off from school and work. Of course we said yes! They picked us up and took us on a tour of the island and to visit their beach bungalow on the south shore. We were treated to authentic Indian cuisine for lunch. Delicious! After a walk through the park along the beach, where we met some of their friends and shared some local rum, we drove to their house in town. There, in the family room, they have a big screen t.v. almost as large as the Hindu prayer room that takes up one corner. They have statues and pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses all throughout the house and for some reason a life size statue of Santa Claus in the dining area! Later we met Hima's sister and family at their house (shared more rum) then everyone came back to the Spanish Stroll and spent the evening on board. Welcome to Mauritius! Right outside the little marina where the boat lies is a huge port full of fishing, container and cargo ships. We met an Indonesian fisherman from one of the fishing vessels while he was off work and walking along the waterfront. Soleman has become a really good friend and has introduced us to most of the twelve crew who work and live on the boat with him. He's Muslim and gets up at 5 am EVERY morning to pray, he then prays again at 10 am, 2, 8, and 10 pm. In the fishing boat, now in dry dock, he sleeps with no bed just a blanket on the floor. He has been studying English from a small Indonesian to English phrase book since 1997. The book is full of his notes and so worn it's falling apart and has been sewn back together with fishing line. He gave it to us as a gift because he is very worried that we will not remember him. He had copied the whole book by hand so he can continue studying. January first at the end of his three year contract, he'll go home to Jakarta and spend one week with his wife and eight year old son before joining his next boat. At forty four he has been doing this since he was ten years old. He and his friends send their money home; so have none. A special night for them (and us) is to sit in the cockpit and teach us a few Indonesian words while practicing English. We communicate a little and laugh a lot. They will accept a small glass of coke but take only a few sips and will eat only a few peanuts even though they have brought us in total about fifty pounds of the best fish in the world. Soleman's boat goes back in the water tomorrow and they'll be leaving in a few days. We feel terrible keeping his book but it is a treasure to us and he would be unhappy if we refused it. Barb came up with a solution. She copied the book (by machine) and inserted a picture of us as well as some of the pictures we've taken of Soleman and his friends inside the front and back covers. Now he has a new book; both for studying and as a reminder of us. There's a casino at the mall and Terrence and his wife, Mavis come down on occasion to drop a few coins. We met them one night as they took a stroll along the waterfront. They stood on the quay and talked with us for a bit. Being Mauritians, Creole is their native language. Terrence speaks English well and Mavis a little (better each time as she gets more comfortable). They stopped by a few days later with some star fruit and coconuts from their house and came on board for a while. They've since, taken us to their home for a visit, joined us on board for drinks and snacks a few times and gone with us and our Indonesian fishing friends to listen to the free live music concerts they have here on Saturday nights. Today, we spent the day with them, driving up to a beautiful beach, Pointe aux Pimente, where they surprised us with a picnic. Afterwards, they took us farther up the coast to Grand Baie, so we could take a look and decide if we'll move the boat up there. They live about half way between Port Louis and Grand Baie and we all plan to keep in touch. Sugarcane is the main crop on Mauritius. Where you find sugarcane you find excellent rum. Here, and in Rodriguez, they have a variation called cane liquor. It's only about 33% alcohol and goes down like nothing! The first night we met Laval (yup, he was strolling by on the quay) he came on board and we had a serious cane session. Was the great time we had just due to the liquor? Nope, we've since learned that he's just a great guy. He has a good command of the English language and a very good sense of humor. He's also Mauritian and is trying to teach us to speak Creole. We've learned so much from him about the people and customs of Mauritius. He enjoys being able to speak English with us and is very interested in the U.S. and the Spanish Stroll's travels. He is a former back hoe operator who is currently getting ready to open his own restaurant, Chez Jon Andre'. He's very creative and doing most of the work himself. We were quite impressed when given the tour. He inherited his love of food and cooking from his mother, Elsie, who will be the cook when the restaurant first opens. Creole cooking includes a lot of sauces and relishes. She is always bringing little treats with her to the boat to try out on us. Yum. At a very young seventy, she has recently begun taking English lessons. We see them often and it's always great fun! This is such a great place, we may stay here longer than we intended and spend less time in Madagascar on our way to South Africa. We went to the Madagascan Embassy to get our visa for that country and the huge stamp they gave us took up the last page of our passports. So then we visited the American Embassy to get new pages added. It was fun to talk to Margaret (she's from New Jersey) and to fill out American forms that made perfect sense. Tomorrow we are invited to a Fourth of July barbecue at the American Ambassador's home. All Americans in Mauritius are invited (there are about 300). This should be interesting. Hope you all have an interesting and safe holiday weekend yourselves! Take care and we'll be in touch soon. A revoir, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll