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Matilda - Safely in Mauritius



We arrived safely in Mauritius, luckily avoiding the cyclone, although it was a bit tense at times. The guy who does our weather says that it was the earliest recorded cyclone for the region since records began (the season doesn't usually start until well into November) - trust us to be a part of that sort of history making! Two boats were so concerned they fled to the nearby island of Rodrigues until it had safely passed. Today has been very squally so no doubt we are seeing the tail end of it, grateful we are watching it from the inside of a waterfront cafe.

The Indian Ocean crossing passage has been the most enjoyable for us so far. The combination of wind together with interesting sailing conditions and then, to top it off, the formation of the cyclone, meant for no long boring periods - although the wind and the angle of wind made it quite frustrating at times. We have a gap in our downwind armoury between 20-25 knots, too heavy for the parasail, too light to goosewing effectively, so we end up zigzagging. Matilda performed amazingly well though in the conditions; she was particularly comfortable on the day we had 30 to 35 knots all day, handling the bigger swells with ease. One of the best things for us though is to arrive here with full fuel tanks - we didn't even need to run the engine for power generation so we crossed the finish line without having used a drop of diesel!

Port Louis has been interesting, from what we have seen in the first day or two here. We arrived at the marina basin in the wee hours (again, we seem to make a habit of this) but the coast guard couldn't have been nicer and we even got guided in by one of their vessels. When we got to the Town Quay (where the World ARC boats have been given pride of place) we were given a glass of the local hooch together with a fruit basket and lots of other goodies and on top of all that we have been told that the berthing is going to be free four our 11 days here. What a great place!

We haven't had much time to see the island yet as we are still recovering, but it seems a really interesting place where the official language is English, but everybody speaks French, Creole, Hindi and Chinese. Our friend Brian arrives on Friday, so we will hire a car for the weekend and do a bit of exploring further afield.


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