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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Oct. 24, 2010-Resting In Mauritius

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Yachts In Mauritius

I’m watching the parade of yachts coming in from the sea and those heading back out. They don’t stay here long.

Mauritius has long been a stopover on the Indian Ocean sailing route and sees a lot of traffic. This welcoming harbor in the middle a vast ocean offers a respite from the sea where ships and yachts crossing the Indian Ocean can rest up and get decent provisions before going on. They all stop here but they usually don’t stay long. The long haul vessels discharge or take on cargo and then are in a hurry to be off to the next port of call and the westbound yachts just take a breather before Africa beckons and they quietly set sail towards Reunion, the next stop and the last one before they make the jump to the dark continent.

In some ways I long to be moving on with them but I know it will be best for us if we stay in Mauritius for a while.

We’ve been here five days and we’ve pretty much caught up on our rest and, yes, we’re still waiting for parts to come in from overseas, but even after they arrive we’re decided that we don’t want to head out of here this season.

It’s not about crew, we could get someone. We could also get the parts and install them, (or even leave without them) and we still have plenty of time before cyclone season shuts the door.

It’s that we just aren’t in any hurry to face that next crossing yet, the one to Africa, and maybe never will be.

We don’t have to right now. Mauritius is an interesting and beautiful place. There are some advantages. We already know that wine is cheap and the market is excellent, plus there is a racing scene here.

So Wings is on a different agenda from the rest of the fleet and that’s OK. We’re cruisers. We stop and see places. We live there for a while. Now we’re going to hang around here, live here a while, and get to know the place.

We can leave next season if we want to.

Tomorrow we’ll go to the immigration office and see about a visa extension.

Then we’ll go check out the Grand Bay Yacht Club and see how friendly it is.

And if there are no show stoppers we’ll stay.

And if the itch to join with the departing flock gets too strong, well, Africa will still be there next year.

Click here to see the first shots from Mauritius.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mauritius

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Pierre said...

Nice to see that you like Mauritius (as you know I also liked it there), am pretty sure we will get to read about Wings new racing exploits pretty soon ;-))

27 October, 2010 02:24  
Blogger jan roswold brown said...

As they say........just breathe. You are at rest for the moment. A good thing. I love your accepting spirit, whatever comes along. So......for now, just breathe.
Love ya.

29 October, 2010 17:19  

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