Three hours sleep later at 08:00 we were called by the Coastguard with a request to enter the port and clear in, and we found 8 yachts at anchor there. The Health Inspector came out to give us clearance from quarantine, and then we dealt with Customs and Immigration ashore in the little row of dockside offices.
The town of Port Mathurin lay in parallel streets behind the dock. Brightly coloured buildings with lots of decorative detail, including filigree strips along the eaves, and French iron balconies. Through dark doorways Indian and Chinese traders had stores stocked with an incredible mixture of goods from clothes to cooking pots, car parts to fishing tackle. I saw a car gearbox on one floor and even a top-end Mavik drone for sale, like the one Mark flies.
We found an ATM to withdraw Mauritian rupees, and at R$45/£ I suddenly had notes of R$1000 in hand, and trouble assessing the value of things. We bought SIM cards from Orange to get connectivity and then passed through the bustling Saturday market, overflowing with fruit and vegetables, and many stalls selling straw hats, wooden souvenirs, or pots of peppers done in a myriad of different ways. We replenished our vegetables supplies and I succumbed to a mango and papaya pie (which proved to be rather dry with 90% pastry).
Following advice from the Noonsite web pages I hired a car from Mr. Wong Su in Jenner Store. He was certainly cheaper than the advertised rental companies and I handed over R$1100 (£25) for a day, in return for the keys to a Toyota pick-up. No documents to sign, no insurance. No fuel in it either, as we discovered as we drove up a steep hill out of town!
Having tracked down the only petrol station, with the help of a policeman, and put in the smallest amount I thought necessary, we set off to follow the excellent coast road stopping frequently at the lovely views of the pale green-blue waters of the lagoon, and the many picturesque fishing boats. Mangroves grow in the muddy inlets where rivers must flow in the wet season, and amongst their branches we found huge spiders webs woven from yellow silk as strong as fishing line, with great spiders hung hungrily at the centre, perhaps waiting for small birds?! They reminded me of the ones in our bougainvillea bushes during my childhood in Zomba.
We had read about the Francis Leguat Tortoise Sanctuary, and eventually found our way there down a rough track across a landscape of jagged black limestone. The centre was very well presented and we were just in time to catch up with a tour, which included the 600m long limestone grottoes. Hard hats in hand we joined a group being led up a canyon full of giant tortoises. The indigenous species had been exterminated but Charles Darwin and other prominent scientists had petitioned the Mauritian Governor to rescue specimens from the Seychelles and reestablish them in Rodrigues and Mauritius. Francis Leguat was a French Huguenot exiled here who wrote that "it was possible to walk a hundred steps across the shells of the tortoises without touching the ground", so densely populated was the island. His subsequent book detailed the now extinct Dodo-like bird, the Solitaire, and other fauna and flora. The tortoises, including a 150kg 90 year old, were very relaxed amongst the visitors, and even made their way slowly to you to have their heads and necks stroked.
Our cave visit was impressive too, with our guide pointing out the shapes of elephants, crocodiles and a turbanned Indian head as we went round, the hard hats saving Mark's head from serious injury on two occasions as we ducked under stalactites.
The centre provided a decent cafe where we refreshed ourselves before tackling the museum, which was superbly done, with interesting bilingual displays about the history of the islands, the fauna and flora, with a separate section on the postal history. All in all a satisfying start to our exploration.
We finished our tour at Port Sud Est, which had lovely white sand beaches fringed with casuarina and palm trees. The shallow lagoon waters were alive with colourful kite surfers riding the strong steady trade wind. We parked ourselves at the hotel terrace with a fruit cocktail and I enjoyed some sketching time.
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| Port Sud Est, Rodrigues |
The following day all yachts had to be up early at 06:00 to leave the port before the cargo ship moved out. We then had a pleasant day strolling around the town, ending up at the Anse aux Anglais in the Marlin Bleu, overlooking a sparkling sea and the casuarina shared foreshore of the little bay. Our Mauritian-Indian host was very keen on sport, and had many trophies of rugby and football which engaged with Mark and Justin. His knowledge of English humour was surprisingly colloquial despite never having visited the UK, with a particularly astonishing quip about Mark's allegiance to NORWICH!
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| Anse aux Anglais, Rodrigues |
Our third night in Port Mathurin, and we were still cooking on board on our usual rota! The town seemed very dead in the evening with no obvious restaurants attracting us ashore.
Tuesday 24th October 2017 Up early to buy bread and eggs and complete formalities. We spent a couple of slightly confused hours going from place to place to pay bills and find officials to clear out. In the process we met Mark Tower who is sailing round the world with his 84 year old father in a tiny 27 foot yacht, "Beguine". After 45 days at sea since Darwin!? they have been anchored in Port Mathurin for six weeks and plan on two more as it is such a relaxed and welcoming spot. Now that is getting to know a place!
But we are off and away again, heading for Port Louis in Mauritius to meet Anne and Alice who arrive at midday on the 27th! The wind has died and our two day trip has turned into three so we will only just about have cleared in by the time they arrive.
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