Sailing around the World ( Presently in Mauritius )
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sun 17 Oct 2010 14:55
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SATURDAY 16th
OCTOBER 2010
Mauritius is the second largest Island of the
Mascareignes Archipelago, and is sheltered from the Indian Ocean by the
worlds third largest Coral Reef,
It was once a very important strategic
location in this area, and flourished while the world was serviced by
Sailing Ships,
Unfortunatly, the Island was not suitable for the
new breed of ship, called Steam Ships and when the Suez Canal was built , it
spelt the end of
the golden era for Mauritius and Reunion Island.
We got up early enough and had a light
breakfast, Skipper was still feeling sore, but a little less sore than
yesterday.
We eventually got ourselves organised and took off
in the rent a car , heading south,
The first place on the agenda was the natural
History Museum on the south coast. Again this building was originally the
residence of a governor
way back when and is now a museum. There was no
entry fee and it was full of interesting things, mostly about the economics and
people who influenced the course of history. One of these people was an
Irish man called John Pope Hennessy, He was a high ranking officer in the
british army
and was sent ot Mauritius as a governor, He was a
catholic and was very instrumental in abolishing slavery on the Island, which
did not not
make him popular with the gentry or the
Army.
Meanwhile, Neil took off with the middle aged
youngsters to " Silver Beach " on the east coast, they rented a Villa for a few
days, except Neil
has to return tomorrow because of his PADDI course.
However before Neil left the boat, Skippers Doctor,
Dr Lisette called to " A Lady " to check up on the patient, Neil gave her the
grand tour of the ship
and she was rather amazed that skip was not in the
scratcher resting, but out gallavanting around the Island.
Anyway, Dr Lisette left lots of gifts for the boat,
including Cranberry juice for the patient, Home made jam she made herself,
vanelle sticks, and
different types of tea's in beautifull
containers,
We were sorry we missed her visit.
When we finished with the Museum, we headed north
up along the east coast to the " Four Seasons Hotel and Resort "
It was a truely beautifull resort, with a super
golf club, beautifull golden sandy beaches, not to mention all the gym's , pools
and toys for the
residents and guests,
We had a fine lunch there, when finished, skipper
went to sleep for a few hours on the beach, while the rest, Aileen, Terry and
Collette
spent the time in the sea swimming around to their
hearts content.
The " Four Seasons " and its neighbouring
Hotel " Anahita " plus the golf course and all adjoining villa's are owned
by a Mr, Dali.
and all are fairly new buildings, the 4
Seasons is just 2 years old.
We returned to " A lady " later and after some chit
chat, went to the nearby hotel for dinner, " La Bourdonais "
The menue stated that the " Chicken Casserole "
would be served in 10 mins, and if not would be complementary, well it was 35
minutes later
when skipper got his, and true enough, it was
free.( mind you skipper had to point it out to the manager first )
We had an early night again ,
Thats all for today :-
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( skipper )
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