The day of our departure to La Réunion we were given a special ceremony, that is of the Blessing of our fleet.

    

Just before the ceremony these 2 were told off as they were not respecting the spirit of the ceremony. Haha could not resist taking these photos.

  

 

First we had the religions represented and each one of them gave us their blessing in their language. We got the first blessing by the Catholics, then by these lovely old Chinese women.

    

Thereafter we were blessed by the Muslims. After them we were blessed by the Hindus and finally by the Buddhists. The ceremony brought us in mind to respect the conditions and the natural elements we are encountered with. It ave us the opportunity to reflect over what we are doing and the further challenges we are constantly facing out at sea. We stopped ourselves for a moment of solemnity, harmony and self-reflection. Something to remember out there.

 

After the spiritual ceremony we were given a fantastic Chinese entertainment with their traditional dragon dancing.

 

 

  

  

  

It was a really fun and an entertaining moment. The dragons continued interfering in the public. Alex was not quite confident with the dragons coming in too close.

However Inez is a more curious one, as well as Jörgen.

 

The dragon found amusement in playing with Inez’ scooter. 

  

As for Åsa, the dragon showed her great love!

  

  

What an amazing amusement with lots of laughter and joy! The morning continued with some further refreshments from Hôtel Labourdonnais.

  

The final touch of the Blessing Ceremony was the reverend coming to each both and together with the skipper he gave a final blessing directly to the boat. 

The reverend is giving here the blessing to Take Off with Jörgen and to Zeeland with Edwin, Bianca and their son Sergio.

 

Just 1 hour before the start, Victor had asked us if we were willing to be interviewed by the local Mauritian TV. They needed someone talking French and were extra interested in us being a family and how we managed schooling on board. This was a fun last touch of Mauritius!

Thankyou Mauritius for this time and for everything you have given and shown us. It has a been a lovely experience getting to know the country as well as the people, such as Ravi and Swadeck together with their families. Mauritius is clearly a country we would like to return to. We guess it is much thanks to the fact that they manage to live in peace and harmony with all their different religions and backgrounds.

By this we know that Alex and Inez are onboard, ready to take off!