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American Spirit II - Day 296; Flight to Mauritius and Back in the Same Day to Pick Up Parts; Tuesday, October 28, 2014



Jeremy is up at 7:00 AM; I get up at 8:00 AM and Joel is up by 8:10 AM.

Breakfast at 8:20 AM: eggs; potato; chilled pineapple pieces; and French bread.

At 9:00 AM I give our Reunion rigger a down payment of 400 Euros for the work he will do for us tomorrow - putting up a new forestay. The total bill will be 1200 Euros, or about $1,500.

Tim, Tracy, Brian and Lucy from Folie a Deux join me for my trip to the airport, as they're picking up a car there this morning. That saves them 70 Euros, what a taxi ride would cost. We leave around 9:15 AM and am there around 10:00 AM. It only takes me 15 minutes to get thru security. While waiting in the terminal it's obvious that the air conditioning isn't working. A little warm inside. Because Reunion is mountainous, the airport is along the ocean.

At 11:50 AM I board a bus to the plane, which is an Airbus A340-300. A BIG plane. I'm in row 39 and there are maybe 15 rows behind me; with 8 seats in a row (2, 4, 2). The plane is mostly empty; and is going to Vanuatu after Mauritius. We take off on time at 12:30 PM; and land in Mauritius at 1:00 PM. I had a little difficulty in getting by Immigration because the agent I was dealing with had a hard time understanding that I was flying back to Reunion the same day. And I'm sure in the space where it says 'Where are you staying while in Mauritius?' my putting down 'airport' probably didn't help matters any. I think there was a movie about a passenger living in an airport for years.

As I wait in the airport I'm reading a couple of books, and talk with the Mauritius rigger a few times. It's a stressful day, as until I get the parts I don't know I'm getting them

I finally got the parts around 5:30 PM. A taxi driver delivered them to me at th airport, but we had a hard time connecting. It took about 30 minutes for us to finally meet up. Once I got the three boxes of parts, I consolidated them and in the process noticed that the rolling furling piece I ordered was a different color and shaped a little different than what I had. Maybe just an upgraded part from 6 years ago? We'll see.

When I go thru security to leave Mauritius, Immigration doesn't want to let me out of the country because my passport, which was stamped when I arrived in Mauritius the first time a couple weeks ago, lists my status as 'skipper.' So the Immigration agent says I can't fly out of the country because I'm a 'skipper' and should be taking a boat out of the country when I leave. I explain, and Voila, I'm allowed to leave. Once thru security I stop in the Duty Free Shop and buy two bottles of Captain Morgan rum for Joel; a new coffee cup for Joel as I broke his Australian one; and a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey. When I go to the Tax Office to get my rebate for buying 'duty free' liqueur, I find out that that's not going to happen. I don't know why because I don't speak French, but no luck. Oh well.

The plane is supposed to leave at 9:45 PM, but it doesn't. There is no screen to look at stating when its leaving; and there is no PA announcement to indicate that there is a delay. Two pilots walk aboard around 9:15 PM, and they walk right past the flight attendants at the gate, wearing no visible ID, and down the boarding ramp to the plane. Not very good security. Finally at 9:45 PM we board the plane, again with no announcement on a PA system; and the plane takes off at 10:10 PM and lands in Reunion at 10:45 PM. Most seats in the plane are full, except the middle seat in my row next to me is vacant. In going thru Custom's the agent asks me where I'm saying, and when I tell him on a sailboat he's not buying it. I finally convince him what's going on, and he lets me into the country.

On the way back to the boat I turn on my Navionics app on my IPad. It doesn't show streets, but it shows where my car is in relation to where the boat is. I finally get to the boat with a little sightseeing along the way, taking a 'short cut' Jonathan from Merlyn of Poole told me about. I still got lost, again.

Back at the boat around midnight, Joel was still up, waiting for me.

After a little French bread with butter and jelly, off to bed.

Brian Fox

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