Arrived Rodrigues
09 August 2015 | Rodrigues, Republic of Mauritius
Norma and Phil
So, safely arrived having sailed 2011nm in 14 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes at an average speed of 5.85kts. The maximum wind speed was 30kts, albeit that for the last three days we had sustained winds of 20-28kts, but with very little rain. The biggest seas were probably around 3 metres. Our maximum boat speed was 10.3kts - wow, but not sustained. We believe that we have been very lucky with the weather, starting in very light conditions, with wind from SE/ESE picking up to 15-20kts for several days and providing some superb trade wind sailing. By contrast friends who did the passage in May had sustained winds of 35kts with wind more south, taking green water into the cockpit of their Garcia 52 to the extent that their oilies failed and at one stage wore their wetsuits! Some of the boats arriving here in the previous three weeks had winds of 45kts and took a lot of water into their cockpits and had seas of 5 metres. Maybe the libations given to Neptune at line crossings and our original acknowledgment of the wind gods worked their magic for us.
The harbour and anchorage are quite small at Port Mathurin and the supply ship had been in for a few days. The normal arrival procedure is to tie up alongside the harbour wall and wait for Health, Customs, Coastguard and Immigration to come to the boat. We were lucky again, in that our arrival coincided with the departure of the supply ship ANNA and so we could tie up rather than going to anchor first and having to launch the dinghy - a bit of a palaver after two weeks at sea.
Friends Roderick and Yvonne on HAPPY BIRD were here and came over with a very welcome baguette - although Rodrigues and Mauritius were British colonies from 1815, the previous 100 years of French rule have left their marks with French being normally spoken and French culture being pervasive. Friends Richard and Susan on SEA BUNNY were here and we went to a local restuarant for dinner with them on Saturday evening - mm, steak tartare avec frites eh?
So, we will stay here for a couple of weeks, explore the island and generally recover from the trip, although unlike some cruisers arriving a month ago, we are not in need of physiotherapy, but we do need to get our legs moving after a lot of sitting and laying down.
We have moved out into the harbour and are at anchor as the dust and dirt on the wharf were making the boat filthy. The water is very clean and clear but quite a bit cooler than in Cocos Keeling, so maybe not much swimming.
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