We have reluctantly left Rodrigues, we love it and would have stayed a lot longer but there is only the commercial wharf available and we need somewhere to leave Gryphon 2 when we return to UK for a visit so we are going to Mauritius where there is both a marina and a yacht club with moorings where G2 can stay safely whilst we are away.

G2 leaving Rodrigues through the channel between the reefs.

(Picture taken by Tim Poole)
                                                                                                          

This journey is 350 miles, an awkward stretch as if we want to have only 2 nights at sea we really should have left at 05:00 hrs. However, checking out the night before is not allowed here as it is almost everywhere else, once cleared out the boat has to leave within two hours. Customs, Immigration etc officials don't start work until 08:45 so we didn't manage to get away until 09:30. We will push as hard as we can to arrive in daylight on day 3, it gets dark at 18:00 hrs and there is only a small waning moon so no help there.

The seas are still big, 3 metres, but the swell is longer and coming from behind rather than on the beam so although this isn't very comfortable it is nothing like as unpleasant as the Cocos to Rodrigues leg. There are more ships about but this is a short journey so not so tiring, we have the AIS on an alarm which warns us of ships when they come within a 16 mile range of us.

We are now into day 3, about five ships have shown up on the screen but only one has been within visual range, so not very busy. We have had two reasonable nights but don't want a third and are concerned that on present readings we won't reach Mauritius until 19:00 hrs in which case we will have to anchor G2 in the harbour channel overnight which we are not too keen on doing, it could be swelly and there could be ship movements. We have powered on the sail having goose-winged jib and genoa poled out as well as the mainsail which is reefed so as not to steal the wind from the foresails.

Early afternoon and we are powering along now as the wind has joined in more strongly and G2 has been making 7½ knots but we are now shooting forward at 8+, it is exhilarating and very noisy.

Land ahoy on the distant horizon are several bumps of Mauritius and its surrounding islands. This can sometimes mean a drop in wind or a tide against us but we are belting along and are fairly confident we will arrive with light.                                                                                                               

And here it is, what a profile!

Last sun of the day comes through the clouds as we make for the entrance channel.

We are extremely pleased with G2's performance. 17:15 and we are in tied up at the Customs dock waiting for all the officials to clear us in with time to get into the marina with a bit of light. This all worked and we are happily moored up against Dalwhinnie, a Dutch boat first met in Rodrigues. All is well and very calm, wonderful!