Mauritius/Ile Maurice/Moris

Friday 27^th September, Mauritius/Ile Maurice/Moris.

Friday evening, the end of another week and things are winding down here in Port Louis. We've spent the week settling into the luxury of a marina, getting to know Port Louis and exploring the rest of the island. And it's all been very pleasant and enjoyable. And yes, we may have spent some time in the local microbrewery. If you are ever in Port Louis I highly recommend indulging in the Flying Dodo beer at the Lambic restaurant - really, really, delicious, fresh beer (the Belgian Wit, IPA and NEIPA in particular, mmmmmm...yum).

Karl takes in the view of Port Louis from the 19th century fort.

The all important market - just look at those tomatoes!

Lots of old buildings around as well as the shiny new highrise. Gives a great feel for the 18th/19th century colonial life.

So we arrived last Sunday, spent the day at the immigration dock completing the arrival formalities and managed to make it ashore in time for sunset drinks at a waterfront bar. Then back to the boat for dinner and the glorious full 8 hours sleep. The next morning we moved into the marina – a tight squeeze and much debate was had between us, the port captain and fellow sailors as to which spot we could fit into. As we cautiously approached (having had a last minute change of mind about where to park which meant I had to move all the fenders and lines to the other side of the boat, during a squall of course) the crews of Sissi and Yonder stood ready to take our lines – never have so many line handlers waited so long in the rain for so few. They did a great job and we got in safely – it's not a dock that we could have come into and tied up by ourselves as there's no proper cleats and it's a very tight space. And yay, fully arrived!

And then the luxury of unlimited power and water.........heaven. I surprised myself by what excited me most. The long, hot shower was great of course but I was actually more thrilled by being able to clean the galley and do the vacuuming. Seriously. The Kara Forde cure for hating the job of vacuuming: make do with only a dustpan and brush for two months and your vacuum cleaner will become your bestest friend in the whole world. And I was able to tackle the fishy smell in the fridge, it's now only slightly less fishy (but more camemberty) but I've given it my all so back to denial for me. Karl's project has been to fire up the TV and see if any local channels are showing the Rugby World Cup. They're not. Mauritius seems to be a rugby-free zone. Then he fired up the icemaker (getting really flaithulach now) and made his signature margaritas  - pure indulgence - does life get any better? It's a cosy little marina here and it was so strange to wake up in the morning and see Sissi, Ganesha and Anabel who were all in Cullen Bay Marina in Darwin back in July and now here we all are on the other side of the Indian Ocean.

Fancy waterfront shopping area next to the marina.

So, Mauritius. A brief history. The Portuguese sailors knew about these islands in the 16^th century but no-one showed serious interest until the Dutch decided to claim them and set up a colony in the 17^th century. There was lots of fresh water, delicious slow-moving tortoises and tasty flightless birds so it was a popular stopover for sailors between Europe and Asia. 

The Dutch finally gave up the colonising as a lost cause and abandoned the island in the early 18^th century leaving the path clear for the French to give it a go. They did quite well. So well that the British started eyeing it up and finally managed to oust the French at the beginning of the 19^th century. Mauritius became independent in the mid-20^th century as the British Empire broke up. 

Colonial house up in the cool of the hills.

Apart from being an important shipping stopover the main economy has been built around sugar. Slaves were brought from Africa and indentured workers from India and China. So today there's still lots of cane fields and sugar-making, a very obvious Indian influence (when the radio is playing Hits of the 90s and all the songs are in Hindi) and the giant tortoises and dodo are extinct. The French influence also seems to be lingering in the croissants, the good coffee and the tendency to sit around smoking after meals. The existence of something called a “pain tikka” nicely sums up the cultural mix.

Definite signs of past Frenchiness.

Interesting display at a museum - a ring, found from a shipwreck, that they describe as being typical of Brittany.

We entered full-on tourist mode and hired a car to drive around the island. Karl has declared the Mauritians the Worst Drivers in the Whole World (even worse than Vietnam and Cuba!) but we didn't die. We did have our regulation piece of chalk in the glove compartment (no, really) to draw on the road around the car positions after an accident in order to provide photographic evidence. Thankfully it was not required. The petrol stations seem to be a little overstaffed – we had a petrol-filler, a windscreen-cleaner and a are-you-sure-you-don't-want-me-to-bring-you-food-or-coffee-from-our-shop man. I could get used to this level of service.

Apart from the stunning scenery we found lots of development, new roads, new suburbs (some gated communities), “Cybercity” full of financial/IT offices, shopping centres, cane fields and tourist resorts. The airport even had an A380 on the apron! Don't get me started on the excitement of entering a hypermarché with aisles and aisles of all sorts of food and wine and beer and fresh fruit and veg. 

We found an Irish bar in a big new shopping centre. It offered a choice between cans of Dublin-brewed Guinness or bottles of locally brewed Guinness which was really very nice. And such a lovely Guinness glass I have there - I was wishing my mother was here to steal it (I mean have it accidentally fall into her handbag) for me.

But there are also quieter, smaller towns that feel more like Rodrigues. 

A Scottish whisky bar in a small town.

While supermarkets and shopping centres were almost as entertaining for us we did do some more conventional tourist things too. A visit to a rhumerie (rum factory) where they stop mid-tour to give you a cocktail to help your appreciation of the second half of the rum-making process. 

Men at work processing the sugar cane.

Cocktail time.

Distilling.

We wandered past resorts of pale-skinned Europeans lounging in the sun by swimming pools. 

And we finally tracked down a sportsbar showing a Rugby World Cup game.

We didn't take up all the options available for enthusiastic tourists though:

In an effort to improve my French and experience a little Mauritian culture I bought the book "Paul et Virginie" which was a bit of a best seller back in the day (18th century France). I knew nothing about the book or the plot and then in a museum, without warning, I came across the ultimate spoiler: (don't look if you plan to read the book)

Karl changed the secondary fuel filter in preparation for our departure and then had problems bleeding the engine (nothing new there...) so we've been engineless and slightly worried and had to delay leaving. Today the men from Sissi and Anabel joined the man from Gráinne, they all peered at the engine, discussed a little, tinkered a little and lo and behold! A working engine again. We're now (almost) definitely leaving on Wednesday for Reunion - a little bit of France in the Indian ocean.

After a farewell Mauritius treat of a fancy cocktail at a fancy hotel that involves the hotel water-taxi ferrying you across the inlet.

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