Monday 11 November 2013,  La Reunion,  20.56.4S 55.17.0E 

Today's Blog by David (Time zone UTC +4.0)

Sorry that we have been a bit quiet lately – we have been busy enjoying ourselves – well,…… most of the time!

We arrived in Mauritius at 02.00 on November 3^rd;  eventually we tied up at the Customs House at 03.00.  We had forewarned the authorities that we would be arriving about that time  and they had indicated that they would do what they could to expedite our clearance so that Richard could catch his 07.50AM flight.  What they hadn’t mentioned was that  they didn’t start work until 06.00 – Richard needed to be well on his way before then!  To cut a long story short, the flight was a couple of ours delayed and so  he was able to get  there with  10 minutes or so to spare – Phew!

Disembarking from that same (late) plane was Simone, Kate Nathan and the kids who transferred to their apartment without mishap where they spent the day recovering from the journey.  Events having conspired to allow me only two hours sleep overnight, to me that was a good thing!

Mauritius is interesting place. It seems that many holiday makers transfer straight to their resort and don’t leave it again until they transfer beck to the airport. That is a shame because there are a number of places of interest worth a visit.  The Botanical Gardens, Sugar Factory Museum, Grand Basin Holy Lake and a number of tea estates to mention  but a few.  The only problem is getting around – the traffic in the environs of Port Louis is manic  - if you are passing by N/S or S/N there is no way round so you just have to tough it out. 

The Minister for Tourism kindly hosted a party for us :

Mauritian Dancers at the party – Serendipity in the background

He also laid on a coach tour and lunch the following day. Thereafter, I spent a couple more nights with the family:

before returning to Port Louis to prepare for the journey to La Reunion.  This journey was only 130 miles and we passed an uneventful night to arrive here yesterday and checked  in quite painlessly – a stark contrast with the process of traipsing around all over the port to clear out of Port Louis, (White Bugs Certification (sic), Immigration, Customs and Port Police) .

A new day has dawned – diving beckons this afternoon; and island tour tomorrow and a party Wednesday – the merry-go-round continues until we depart for South Africa at the weekend.   

That prospect is,  however, quite daunting – it involves crossing one of the more dangerous sea areas on our journey, one in which from time to time e.g. oil tankers have broken their backs and disappeared without trace.  The Agulhas Current runs from the NE to SW down the East coast of South Africa. It can run at up to 6 knots. The prevailing wind is west or south westerly.  Time the crossing right with a moderate current and that can provide a quite helpful lee bow effect;  cross the current following the passage of a cold front heralding a south westerly gale against a 6 knot current and you are asking for trouble:  ‘Monstrous freak waves – up to 20 metres in height preceded by an deep trough…”        Best not to be there, I think!