Sunday 9th November
2008
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
The usual suspects, namely John, Judith and JB,
have re-boarded the good ship Quasar V making the numbers on board 6. That includes Malcolm and John, the
geriatric pensioners, with criminal and juvenile tendencies, Judith the
enthusiastic cook, Lindsey the needle happy quack, Ian the ship?s boy and
JB.
We left Mauritius today at 3.30pm local
time, headed for La Reunion, a small island 130 miles off the south west coast
of Mauritius. With light southerly
winds we unfortunately needed to motor sail.
However, a treat was in store for us. Within 30 minutes of leaving Port Louis,
Judith spotted a pod of sperm whales.
John, on helm, immediately abandoned the heading in pursuit of these
whales to have a closer inspection.
We stopped within 50 metres of them and a mother and her calf ambled over
to inspect us! Our joy at sighting
the whales was tempered with a touch of trepidation as we realised how big they
were when they approached within 3 metres of the boat. The mother whale was in excess of 20
metres in length. She had a
pronounced bulbous head, a feature of the sperm whale. With a graceful flip of her powerful
tail she nestled into the depths of the sea, just to the stern of the boat,
instructing her calf to follow.
Pure magic.
The 20 hour sail to La Reunion continued at
a comfortably uneventful pace save for a welcome from an abundance of playful
dolphins as we approached the north of the
island.
Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th
November
LA REUNION
We arrived at La Reunion at approximately
10am local time on 10th November. It all started well as we secured the
boat, filled up with fuel and had a lovely lunch in Le Port, a sleepy little
sun-baked seaside town.
Alas, events started to conspire against us,
preventing us from enjoying the sights of the island. The first obstacle was
that the residents of La Reunion celebrated Armistice Day as a public holiday,
hence half the sleepy island was on holiday. Secondly, in typical fashion, the French
lorry drivers blockaded the airports and fuel depots staging a protest against
the rise in fuel prices, causing chaos on the roads. Thirdly, there were no cars available
for hire. In defeat, we hotfooted
to the town and had a lovely evening out where we were met with a throng of
celebratory football players and fans parading their trophy through the town
streets.
The next day we decided to leave La Reunion,
given the absence of hire cars available and blockades causing chaos throughout
the island. But to our chagrin
Customs and Immigration refused to allow us to check out. So we were stuck in La Reunion for
another night. This was having
spent all morning provisioning the boat, which involved a number of bicycle
rides and treks into the town's only supermarket, which was thankfully
open.
Promptly, and without due delay, with a boat now full of food and drink
we returned to Le Port and ate and drank all afternoon in the restaurant/bar we
had adopted!! We got on well with
the owners who bestowed us with gifts of straw hats, peaked caps, lighters and
stickers.