Around The World On Hokule'a

Mauritius

Monday, September 29, 2014 – Port Louis, Mauritius

Before arriving in Mauritius our plan had been to go to Port Louis simply to clear in to the country and then more or less immediately move up the coast to Grand Baie. We had heard that Grand Baie was a really beautiful anchorage and that Port Louis was not so great because you would be tied to a concrete wall in the middle of a city in a very industrial port. Well here we are nearly 2 weeks later still on the concrete wall in Port Louis.

While the descriptions of both places were accurate, we have really enjoyed being in Port Louis. We took a bus up to spend a day in Grand Baie and it was quite beautiful with its beaches and turquoise water, but the town was entirely composed of resorts and was very touristy. To us it lacked identity and you felt like you could be at any other touristy beach in the world. Where as in Port Louis, we feel like we are in Mauritius. It has a bustling central market where the locals buy their food, a beautiful city skyline with towering jagged mountain peaks in the distance, and a fairly new waterfront development called Le Caudan with restaurants and a 5 star hotel. The other advantage of being in Port Louis is that all of the buses originate from here so it makes it really easy to get out and explore the island.

The other advantage of being in Port Louis is that we have Rasheed. Literally within an hour of arriving in Port Louis (in fact while we were tied to the Customs wall at 6:30am) we met Rasheed, who is a very enterprising taxi driver. He told us that he could get us anything that we needed during our stay in Mauritius and that his job was “to make sure that we were happy”. Well Rasheed has done a great job at that and since we have been here he has helped us with getting diesel, doing laundry, getting rental cars, getting hard to find boat parts, telling us what to go see on the island, introducing us to different Mauritian food, and answering all of our questions.  He stops by the boat almost every day to see if we need anything and to make sure we are happy.

Mauritius has a very interesting history and is quite different from many of the island nations that we have visited in that there was no native population prior to European colonization. The Dutch, French and British all made various attempts at colonization and utilization of Port Louis as a strategic port, but by the late 1700’s Port Louis had become a haven for pirates and corsairs (government sponsored pirates).   The British finally gained control of the island in the early 1800’s. The island was populated over the years by the need for labor to support the sugar cane industry and today Mauritians are a mix of Indian, African, Chinese, and European. Through our eyes it seems to be a cohesive blend of people who are very accepting of their religious and cultural differences.

The Mauritian people we’ve met have been very kind and welcoming .  We were so fortunate to have the opportunity to spend some time with two wonderful Mauritian families. Both of whom were kind enough to invite us into their respective homes for traditional Mauritian meals, have played tour guide for us and have given us much insight into the Mauritian culture. Their hospitality towards complete strangers has been amazing.

The island itself is pretty amazing too. We have circumnavigated it by car, hiked through parts of the Black River Gorge, walked to the top of Signal Hill, visited the old Sugar Mill, and toured the rum distillery.

Tomorrow we head out on an overnighter to Reunion Island and we are really going to miss Mauritius, especially the wonderful friends that we have made here…

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Thursday, September 18, 2014 – Port Louis, Mauritius

We rounded the northern tip of Mauritius just as the sun was setting and a few hours short of being able to enter Port Louis as it is only open during daylight hours. So we anchored  in the very peaceful Tombeau Bay  for the night (about 3 miles north of Port Louis) and motored into Port Louis just after sunrise this morning (thank you  to Zdenka on Kite for the photo of Hokule’a). After an easy check in at the Customs wharf (more like a concrete wall), we headed over to Le Caudan marina and tied up to their concrete wall right next to a 5-star hotel. What contrast from Rodrigues.

On the way here we had a cool thing happen and we crossed our “half way around the world” longitude. We had planned to celebrate with a bottle of champagne, but when we crossed the line at 3:10 in the morning we decided to postpone the celebration. I guess we are getting old.  Looks like it took us almost exactly 3 years and 5 months to sail half way around the world….

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