We're back in Victoria harbor as of Monday making the trip around the south end of Mahe. We've now circumnavigated the island. As we headed southeast from A La Mouche, we were pretty much into the wind but we put up the mainsail anyhow to get what wind we could and to stabilize Zephyr for the trip. With the mainsail up, it acts as a buffer in the air making her rock less. We rounded the south cape and pulled out some of the genoa sail at the bow and took off hitting over 8 knots as the wind and seas were now either behind us or beside us. We zipped between the reefs that line that area and pulled into the Yacht Club basin and dropped the anchor about 1330. We had things to do as we are now in the final stages of our stay here in the Seychelles.
We launched Puff and I started ferrying water to the boat since our tanks we now about half full. While at La Mouche, Tracy had done a ton of laundry and that eats through the water plus we had a small water leak that didn't help the situation. I'd made 4 runs by the time we both pooped out. The starboard tanks were now full. Tuesday would be another day. We planned to rent a car to do the provisioning. It's much easier than taking a bus everywhere and lugging it back especially since we were going to have numerous cases of drinks to bring back.
The car rental person dropped off the car about 1000 and we signed the paperwork. The cost was $600R, about $45US. He explained all the provisions of the contract and then we discussed the gasoline. Was I going to bring it back full? Sure. Well, he needed an additional $100R as he had stopped off on the way in and put that much in the tank. Say what? He wanted me to pay for delivering the car to him full. I asked him about the previous renter. Didn't he pay to have the tanks filled. Yes, he acknowledged, but he had just put $100R in the tank and he needed to be paid. Not being born yesterday, I explained to him that I wasn't about to pay for the gas the last guy used or for the gas he had used running around town between rentals to deliver the car to me. He just kept saying that he needed the $100R. It was a quick way for a stupid tourist to shell our money that would just go into his pocket. In the end, I paid the asking price for the rental($600R) and put my wallet back in my pocket. He handed me the keys and then he took off and we then hiked over to the Immigration office(no parking available) to get our exit paperwork started.
The very nice clerk took our passports and after checking with someone back in the rear of the offices came back and said that the person she had spoken to had to write a letter about us wanting to leave so we could take it to the Harbor Master and pay our fees. She couldn't write the letter while we were there but would call us as soon as it was ready. No problem, we had a car and could come back and get it. The offices were not far from the Yacht Club. We never got a call nor any message that the letter was done. We'll be going in this morning to get it taken care off. It takes two days to get checked out, including them coming back to the boat. We still plan of Friday for checking out.
We hit all the places we needed to go including getting one of our propane tanks refilled. It had thankfully run out now while we were in the islands and not waited till we were off shore somewhere. Not a big deal as we have two tanks on board. This last tank was filled while we were in Yacht Haven marina back in Thailand. A good 7 months ago. We don't do a lot of baking anymore so we don't really use that much propane. We picked up the tank later in our travels during the day. By the time we were done, the car was packed with more food for the next trip. We eat on board most days as restaurants are quite expensive plus we still have a lot of food on board from provisioning in earlier countries.
We returned to the Yacht Club and loaded up poor Puff with everything we had in the car. Amazingly, we made it all in one trip though there wasn't much space for us once all the food was on board. The rest of the afternoon was spent putting things away as some had come with cardboard trays(the soft drinks) and cardboard is just not allowed to stay on board a boat in the tropics as they car be major carriers of roaches and that's one of the last things we wanted back on board. We've managed to kill off the few we have gotten on board and we don't want more. We are still battling little tiny hard to kill ants that pop up from time to time. We'll get them eventually.
Today, get Immigration done so we can get out of here on Friday(weather permitting) and finalize the provisioning. Oh and another trip to the ATM. It's not cheap here.
Today, we headed back back to Immigration for the "letter". I walked it out to the Harbor Masters office to pay our fees. Tracy took off to do some more shopping for provisions. Once I got to the "accounting" office for the Harbor Master, I was chastised by one of the office people for skipping a step for getting out of the Seychelles. I'd missed the SEYMSI office and their paperwork. No real clue as to what they do but they had me fill in more paperwork and he faxed it to the Coast Guard. They had to check up out and then send back their approval that we could leave. The man in the office said he would call me. Oh carp, here we go again. The legendary "I'll Phone You" scam. I headed back to the Yacht Club to wait for Tracy. Just as I entered the Club, my phone rang. The paperwork was done and the young lady I'd spoken to would have our paperwork when I got back to her "Accounting Office". Twenty minutes of hiking later, I entered her office. She looked at me with a puzzled look as if to say, "Why are you here?". I told her I'd gotten the call that the paperwork was done and that she should have a copy. Nope, she'd never saw it so she headed up stairs to get it. Back a few minutes later. The man in the office was out. More calling ensued. She finally tracked him down and took off for the paperwork we would need. Once in hand, our bill was figures and I owed Seychelles another $206US for the last 36 days in their beautiful country. Once paid, I took off for the Customs Office, right around the corner.
We got our clearance and we're advised to call the Harbor Port Tower when we were ready to go(Friday morning) and they would coordinate us A: Being inspected by Immigration, B: Getting our passports back, and C: Getting our broken spear gun back(the Coast Guard has it). All this would be set up by the Port Tower. It would take a few hours to set up but heck, what else did we have to do.
I took off the meet up with Tracy at the Yacht Club and we headed back to Zephyr for lunch and another run to get more water for the boat. About 1400, we took off again for shore to return a loaned basket we picked up when we bought a case of beer. We'd paid a deposit for it when we got the beer on Tuesday. Time to return it. Tracy took off in the opposite direction to get the few last things on our list. We met up later and actually bought a tee shirt for the Seychelles. It's pretty much the only thing we ever get as we pass though countries. Not much else is available or that we would want. Space is limited on a boat so taking on souvenirs is not high on our list. Tomorrow, the last of the water(one last run), fill up three gasoline tanks and check to see if we need more diesel. Another fun day.
Todays picture is taken from the top of our mast of Anse A La Mouche. A really nice place to stay when you are on a boat. Still a nice breeze but calm water with fresh veggie stands along the shore and a restaurant or two for when you really get hungry and just don't want to cook. Add in a nice sandy beach and it's just a little slice of heaven out here.