Au Revoir Rodrigues

 The downward path to Port Mathurin

 Preparing octopus caught on the reef

The end of the road - what road?

It is rare for us to be anchored in one place for so long. Such is the charm of Rodrigues that time becomes less important and we find we have been here for five weeks already. This is not a tourist island. It is a peaceful haven. The people are friendly, but not pushy. There are no “boat boys” here and no hassle. There are no superstores or department stores, no motorways and no cities. Port Mathurin is the only town. You can walk round it in less than an hour and remember or imagine life when little shops provided local business opportunities and the market gave farmers a place to sell their produce. Away from Port Mathurin, there are many villages scattered up the sides of mountains. Very few people live on the coast. Numerous tracks and trails connect these villages giving superb walking with fabulous views of the turquoise reef that encircles the island.

So, what have we been doing? We’ve been walking the trails, admiring the view, travelling on the buses and eating out in local cafes and restaurants. As well as Ann and Barry on “Cat’s Paw IV”, we’ve met up again with Brian and Dorothy on “Tagish”. Sometimes we’ve walked together and eaten lunch together. One day five of us caught the bus to a giant tortoise and cave reserve called Francois Leguat, where we walked with and stroked the tortoises followed by a guided tour of a fantastic limestone cavern. We had a late celebration of my birthday when four of us went out for dinner at a hotel on the beach. A local band played music, a bonfire was lit and everyone sang “Happy Birthday” as the waiter brought our dessert to us with candles to blow out.

As the tides changed to springs and the wind blew hard, we found ourselves uncomfortably close to the reef. Then we heard a grating sound. The rudder had scraped the reef. Jeremy found a piece of coral with our antifoul paint on it. We reanchored, dragged in 28 knots of wind and anchored again. A few days later the supply ship came in and most of the yachts had to clear out of the harbour. It gave us a chance to test our rudder. Thankfully, all seemed to be well.

Our friends have gone to Mautitius and we shall be following them on Saturday. It should take us three days. There are five yachts here now and only one has been here longer than us. It’s time to move on again. We shall miss Rodrigues. It’s one of the best places we’ve visited.