Magic Mauritius
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Mon 13 Jun 2011 19:39
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Monday 13th June 2011 2223 Local Time 1823
UTC
20:26.28S 056:35.91E
Its ten days since I blogged last. However its not
as if nothing has been happening, quite the opposite - we have barely had a
quiet minute!
It certainly was a treat being somewhere like
Mauritius, however the attraction for us was not the Mauritius of the brochures
that we may all have dreamed off - it was the town and the quayside, the people
in the place. Port Louis had the most amazing fruit and veg market we have seen
for a long time.
Indeed our first impressions of easy going natured
people was upheld and we made so many friends we had to apologise for
leaving to those whose kind offers of hospitality we could not stay to
accept.
Very early on we made friends with a legend
called Sunil. After a day or two Sunil asked us to his house for a meal and a
"small party". It turned out he had invited most of the sailors in the harbour,
visitors from Seychelles and Reunion, people from South Africa who have just
moved to Mauritius and also some of the great and good of Mauritius. We made
several friends there and the invitations to one thing and another just flowed!
One Barrister and his family took us to the big day
at the races. To their box right above the finishing line! It was a great day
but not one Craig and I could participate in until we had run around
the shops buying sports jackets, ties, shirts and trousers! Afterwards we
met many from Mauritian society and a crowd of us went to
dinner.
Another evening we had the Mauritian
Minister for Tourism and his family aboard
Rhiann Marie for dinner and a splendid evening of conversation.
Today before departing, "Pillay" the poor peoples
chanmpion and someone known to the whole island took us to a Tamil religious
ceremony and a small village on the island and we could barely believe what we
saw. You shall have to wait until I can get the photos uploaded before I tell
you more....
In addition to this we made friends with a couple
who had newly moved to Mauritius from South Africa who took around the island
and who have taken us aback with their kind offers to arrange special
accomodation and safari in South Africa for us!
And the common connection? Sunil who we met on the
quay. I have to say, not to my surprise but to my considerable dismay other
sailors were not only suspicious and cynical about Sunil's kindness but were
downright rude in the face of his hospitality. We (in my feigned modesty)
however are happy to say we approached the hospitality and friendship we were
offered openly and took it at face value as usual and we were rewarded many
times over with our Mauritian experience.
I have to touch on this subject - we have seen
so many cruisers who have been defensive and superior in attitude when the
opportunity to engage locals presented itself and as a consequence have shut
themeselves out of interesting experiences and interactions which sailing round
the world is all about. Some are terrified that the local may want to charge
them something for whatever - may try and sell them something or worse may steal
something off them. Now I am not suggesting taking no precautions at all but
some of the cruiser behaviour we have seen has been narrow sighted at the
very least. Certainly our experience to date has been hugely enriched by
engaging locals in as open and friendly way as we can.
So - Sunil. This guy has had an incredible life.
Leaving - running away actually - from home when he was eight years old. I
was shown photos of him dressed in a girls dress to prevent him running
away! He made a living selling sweets on the street. He has sailed and been
around boats all of his life since then. He sailed with the Hiscock's on
Wanderer. He went out with one of Mick Jaggers ex girl friends for five years.
He travelled all around Europe as a young guy. He was one of the first people to
barefoot waterski. He really took to us and we to him and was desperate to do
anything he could to help us. He took us for an island tour, collected
fuel and gas, contacted refriegeration and electrical engineers and negotiated
good prices for us. he spent two days working with us emptying out our mast's
innards and rebuilding it again. He never once asked for anything but of
course we made sure we paid our way. Today Sunil is known to and respected by
the Prime minister and his deputy, the Tourism and Industry minister the
country's top lawyers and anyone who is anyone and he seemed intent on introducing us to them all! On
Sunday he called for us to take us in his Mini Clubman which he only takes out
on sunday. One of life's great characters and a memorable part of our
circumnavigation experience to date.
We are now back at sea - we being Craig and I -
Trish took the plane home to Scotland. It is the task of Craig and I to take
Rhiann Marie across the 1,500 miles of south indian ocean to Durban. This is no
small deal. It is the winter here and these waters south of the Mozambique
Channel have a fearsome reputation when they do battle with the Agulhas current.
Tomorrow we should get to Reunion and there we will finish a few more jobs and
try to pick some reaonable weather for the passage to Durban. However with a
passage time of eight days it is not possible to have an accurate forecast for
the whole trip so we have to be very careful about how we approach the
passage.
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