Tamarin and Riviere Noire, Mauritius ( July 2012)

We arrived at Tamarin on the 12th of July after a great sail along the interesting coastline. The swells were quite big with waves crashing on the shoreline with the majestic mountains as a back drop

Tamarin

We anchored between the 2 reefs with a 3-4m swell running. The yachts hull behind us would dissappear as we both dropped into the troughs

We could see into the tubes of the waves

It was great intertainment watching the surfers

Wipe out!

The next day we carried on to Riviere Noire (Black river)

The anchorage was sheltered

This wharf and dinghy dock belongs to the Anglers club and they were happy for us to use it. There is water available on the wharf

The facilities are great with hot showers, toilets, a pool, BBQ area and bar

Several cruising yachts were at Black river so we all got together for a BBQ

On both sides of the entrance to Black river are Martello towers. This one had been restored with a museum inside. It was well worth the visit

Eric talking to the Mannequin

The one on the other side of the habour is in need of restoring, but it was safe enough to go into.

The communication aerials throughout Mauritius are camouflaged in these

imitation palms. A great idea!

The Black river Gorges National Park was on our doorstep. Unfortunately it was a 12km round walk just to get there so we only made one visit

We did see deer as we walked along the riverbank

These termite nests in the trees with their tracks up the trunks were quite different to the termite hills on the ground in Australia

We did the 1.5 walk, ending at the kiosk where we sheltered from the rain and had our picnic lunch

fantastic tree trunk and roots

We were very lucky to see a pink pidgeon. Several years ago these were threatened to extinction. Luckily not becoming so like the Dodo bird

This little bird was getting something under the bark

Every morning the tourist boats would go out to allow their clients to swim with the dolphins

and the dolphins would usually oblige

We took a local bus one day to Le Morne on the SE coast. It is very much a resort area where there was alot of construction going on. We had a great lunch on the beach from a french cuisine cart

It was a long wait for the bus on our return. These very nice men gave us a lift in their  truck. We watched them filling up with water from the river, which they supply for irrigation.

We took a trip by bus into Port Louis to extend our visa's by 60 days and enjoyed the scenery of the sugar cane plantations and mountain peaks

Today we are heading around the east of the island

Cruisers Notes

Black river

 It is a sheltered anchorage, with good holding. Dinghy tie up and facilities are courtesy of the Le Morne Anglers club in the centre of the bay. Water is at the jetty and diesel.
A range of food supplies are handy. Small shops, vege stalls and 4 good large supermarkets to the north.  A fruit and vege truck comes on Tues and Fri pm and parks outside a small supermarket on the main road opposite the bus stop. 4 large supermarkets are London Way (3 bus stops nth ), Food lovers market and a gourmet butcher further on, Shoprite, then the big Cascavelle mall with Pic and Pay supermarket. If you spend more than 3000Rupees a delivery will be made back to the Anglers club..
The bus runs to Port Louis direct at 0900, 1245 and 1430hrs. (around a 1hr trip) Every 15mins buses run part way. You just have to change buses.. There is also a good service to the south. The fares are cheap.
The Black river gorge national park is on the doorstep. A 6km walk to the entrance of the National park gives a good workout! Visiting the martello towers is well worth it. One is a museum and the other is derilect, but you can walk to the top for the view, with care!

Mauritius ( June/ July 2012)

We have been in Port Louis, Mauritius for 2 weeks now. We are berthed in the marina, enjoying the facilities on our doorstop and getting repairs done to our radio and sails.

Port Louis markets

The Mauritian Dodo birds

There are many majestic mountain peaks. The one in the picture is Le Pouce ( The thumb) which we plan to climb. This picture is taken at the Citadelle or Fort Adelaide

I couldn't miss taking a photo of these shop fronts

We love these pedal powered motorbikes

We did a tour of the island with Rasheed who is a taxi driver/facilitator who is based at the marina while my brother Ralph was here.

He took us up the coast stopping at several public beaches, then to the top most bay in the North (Grand Baie) where there is a yacht club

Looking out to the islands of Coin Demire, Ile Plate and Ilot Gabriel. This area between the mainland and islands  can become very rough and as we sailed in from Chagos 2 fishermen were drowned after their boat capsized in big seas.

Ralph Eric and Cathy outside the sugar factory museum. We didn't have time to do a tour this day but a week later we caught the bus to Pamplemousse and spent the afternoon perusing the relics and history of the island of Mauritius

From Troux aux Cerfs we had a wonderful panoramic view of the many mountain peaks

This dormant volcanic crater is 80m deep. Mauritius was formed from the lava of this volcano. As you can see the caldera was well covered in dense foliage and there was a large swamp area at the bottom from which belched a loud melodious croaking

The next stop was the model ship building workshop and showroom between Phoenix and  Curepipe

It was very interesting seeing the stages of production. There were skilled workers, some having been with the company for 40yrs. The manageress of the factory told us that they were experiencing difficult times, possibly due to too much competion.. .. Ralph has one now displayed on his mantlepeice in NZ

We lunched at Kashmiri restaurant where the manager kept our glasses full and the food kept coming. We enjoyed the local rum punch 

How hard we look at this picture Ralph just doesn't look like a Mauritian even after the many rum punches!!

We visited the Hindu temples and were surrounded by monkeys

Cathy amongst the tea bushes

Rasheed, our tour driver to the right in this photo, took us to Pont Naturel ( Natural bridge) to the SE of the island. Many locals do not know of this place we have discovered.. The road in is through sugar cane fields and is a very rocky rough road. The coast line is very rugged and when the seas are rough it is spectacular as the swells  roll under the bridge causing a gheyser to spray upwards

There was too much to see in a day so Rasheed took us the next day to the South west of the island on the way to the airport where Ralph flew back to NZ

This is Tamarin which is a popular tourist spot. The beach on the outer side of this lagoon and reef attracts dolphins each morning. we plan to sail there and swim with the dolphins as the tourists do..

 Riviere Noire (Black beach)

Ralph at the lookout

Chamerel falls. .....In December to April when there are heavy summer rainfalls the waterfall is more active.

Coloured earths...This is a natural phenomenon caused by decomposed basalt gullies. We were told that each year when there is heavy cyclonic rain the earth here is washed away but always reappears  in mounds again.

Black river Gorges national Park... It was just on dusk when this was taken and within minutes it was dark.

We continued down the steep, winding road and on to the airport to get Ralph aboard his flight home

Cruisers Notes
See previous blog for Mauritius