Chatty log | Rodrigues

Rodrigues

20 October

John:The local tug boat got us out of bed early, asking us to move so the supply boat could get in this morning. Unbelievable, that a big(ish) freighter can make it in here and turn in this space, even with bow thrusters! Immigration and Customs were cleared easily enough later in the morning. We had to surrender our spear gun until we leave, but no problems with cats. Tom Hooper from Shoals Rodrigues swung by in his launch (on the way to do a coral survey) and said hello. Then we got information from a local German guy called Dirk (who was a cruiser and just stayed here, he now runs a sports fishing boat) about a good man to weld our boom. By 12:00 Ricardo was in the dinghy on the way out to inspect the damage; he said he could do a good job. Afternoon saw the boom stripped and ferried ashore in our dinghy, picked up by a small truck and already on its way to his workshop. What progress! On our first day! Paul, Suzette and Roger came over for dinner, which started with Wahoo sushi, moved on to Wahoo steaks on the bar-b-que (cooked by Paul, Casper and Alex) and wound up with coffee-flavoured bread pudding, a creation by Casper.

21 October

John:This morning I got a lift up to Ricardo's workshop to take a look at how he's going to fix our boom. It turns out his place is a very simple little rectangle of iron roof in the middle of a field just a few minutes up the hill from here. A delightful spot, and really friendly folk. He plans to insert a mild steel reinforcing section then weld up the crack, rivetting the steel through the aluminium walls. I'm not too sure about how good it is to use mild steel in aluminium, but obviously this is the strongest and best he can do with the materials available here. I trust him to do a good job and that when he says it will be good, it will be so. I walked back down a delightful path to the port, with lovely views. Passing the met office on the way, I got a pressure analysis for today. A couple of mild lows to the North and NW, nothing serious (we're getting nervous about cyclone season). Back in town, I found a replacement garlic crusher for Caro (a critical culinary item we broke on passage) and some new scrapers for the hull cleaning (a job no-body wants to do). It seems like everything I look for just falls to hand here, with such friendly people willing to help at every turn. I also get to practrise my appalling French! After a lunch of baguettes and French cheese and salami we went over to visit Shoals Rodrigues. They are doing so much imaginative and creative work with education and marine research, obviously on a tight budget. A real joy to talk to them and see their projects. We set up some preliminary plans to work with them, and arrange to meet up in a local restaurant for dinner to bid farewell to a visiting educational advisor who's been over here for 2 weeks from the UK. Just before we set off for the restaurant, Caro looks outside and sees a yacht behind us, apparently on the reef. Action stations! Paul and Roger are already in their dinghys. Paul carries their anchor upwind so they can kedge off. Casper and I take a line to see if we can help tow their bow. A Coast Guard boat pushes from the lee side. She's free! Then the mayhem starts. The crew of two have trouble controlling the boat in such confined spaces when they run over their anchor, now firmly embedded, and fall back on Altair. Casper and I squeak out from in between, narrowly avoiding becoming the meat in a fibreglass sandwich. Careening around the harbour, seemingly either at full throttle ahead or astern (the skipper being heard to bellow at one point 'Give 'er some Gas, Honey!'), they finally settled far enough upwind to allow everyone to relax and get their dinner, which was tasty, convivial and not expensive.

22 October

John:After a slow start, back to Ricardo's to see how the boom is coming along. Finished! So we ask him to paint it to seal everything (so the steel insert will last longer). The kids stop off at the Met. office to get a pressure analysis for us and to ask if they can watch the daily met. balloon launch at 2 p.m. Caro and I move on to Shoals Rodrigues to talk to Tom's wife, Tara, about plans. We arrange to go off with them on Sunday to the NE coast to see some of the island and to take a survey team out on Monday. The kids get shopping for lunch on board. Then they set off and had a great time at the Met. station, being told about all the instruments and cyclones, and they got to help launch not one but two balloons (the tracking radar lost the first one). They are having a wonderful time here, as are we.

Caroline: I really enjoyed the walk up the hill to see the boom this morning. The houses are pretty simple and small but they all have a great view of the bay or the valley. People here are very friendly. It's wonderful to be able to let the kids go off on their own and they love the independence. In the evening Roger came over to watch 'Troy'.

23 October

Caroline: Saturday is market day and we've heard you better be there before 7am! Amazingly, we do manage to get up, dress, have coffee and be ashore by that time. The market was bustling with people selling and buying local vegetables, straw baskets, jars of interesting sauces, meat just slaughtered that night. We bought quite a lot, it's hard to resist all this fresh stuff. After the market John goes up the hill to have a look at the boom again. It's all done and ready and looking better than it did before with the new coat of white paint. Getting it back in one big piece is not quite as easy as in two shorter pieces, but with the help of Roger and Paul & Suzette in their dinghies, ferrying the boom back to the boat is not a problem. It feels good to have the biggest most important repair job done already in just a few days.

24 October

Caroline: Up early again to go to the east of the island with Tom, Tara and Gina, their 7-month old. We all fit easily in their landrover and have a scenic drive across the island, from the green west and hills to the barren east. We visit Coton Bay resort which is located at a nice beach and have a lovely relaxed day.

25 October

John: We have plans to work with Shoals Rodrigues today. I say plans, and I means plans. Not a plan. The 'plan' changes every half hour or so. First we are to take Jocara out with them to visit a site. Then we find the fish id guy, Eric, is sick. So we'll go do an Octopus measuring trip. Or not, because yesterday was pay day so maybe they're all recovering from the ensuing festivities and will not have been out on the reef early today. Maybe we should do another type of dive. We are in and out of wetsuits, preparing one set of gear, then another, for most of the morning. Be flexible!

26 October

John: Eric is still sick with the 'flu, so we go off to measure and sex Octopii. Only there arn't any to sex. The buyer hasn't even turned up. But we do get to see a nice piece of coastline and wander around a new rocky beach. We also see the two cemetaries along the shore, beautifully-kept with sparkling white headstones and fresh flowers adjacent to the glittering coastal waters. What a resting place! The Rodriguans obviously take their resting-in-peace seriously.

27 October

John: More Octopus checking, but no! Let's do a dive, Eric is back! We begin to up-anchor, but immediately discover that the autopilots are both out of whack, again. Re-anchor, a quick set of 'dockside' calibrations and we're off. We don't even get out of the channel before the Shoals Rodrigues' Big Black Avon (formerly under tow) breaks loose of its painter and floats off onto the reef. Nina from 'Different Concept' rescues it for us. Off again. A bit choppy, but fun for the Shoals' folk who've not been out on a yacht like this before. Caroline goes with Casper to dive, while I stay on board with Alex to take care of the ship in this exposed site while they're gone. The team gets the survey done, and we head home just before dark - tired and hungry. I'm unsettled, partly because the vang broke (another thing to fix), partly because of the autopilots, partly I think because it's stressing to have a bunch of strangers on my boat.

28 October

John: Not feeling very energetic these days, and everyone seems much the same - coming down with some kind of bug? We take the Shoals' white fibreglass boat to the western site through the narrow and twisting passages inside the lagoon. Eric pilots the boat at high speed withuot so much as a chart or even powering up the GPS until he needs it to get the exact position of the survey stakes. Caroline helps out with the survey while I attempt some videoing of reef fish and their natural behaviour for Tom to use in an educational video. I notice I've not been diving for a while. I hate it when my skills degrade. Must dive more! I also hate the lack of an LCD viewfinder in this new Sea & Sea housing. In every other respect the housing is great, but the LCD in the old Sony housing we had (also made by Sea & Sea) was far, far easier to use.

Caroline: It's good to get a bit of practice doing a reef survey. I get to put down and secure the tape and do my best to do a fish count. Jovani, the fish id guy, counts all the different species, I'm happy when I identify the different families! After a while I get a go with video camera and have some fun filming some moorish idols.

29 October

John: Another Octopus-sexing day, but we don't get farther than the Shoals' office before finding out that today is not a good day for Octopii. We take a 'pleasure' dive in the afternoon instead. We dove a 'finger' on the east side of the outer harbour. Lots of good-looking coral, but only a few small fish and not very exciting. I tried working with the Ikelite housing and the F828. a disaster! This is going to take some time to learn how to get a decent result. Caroline worked with the video to get some practise on that. I have also spent a good deal of yesterday and today making a 'teaser' for fishing out of teak wood, wire, lead weight, etc. It looks great, and I was very pleased with myself... until we went out and tested it. There's really only one thing a teaser can do badly wrong, and this one does it in spades. It tows upside down. I guess that's the end to my unpromising naval architect career. Or maybe it already ended when I designed the LP28 raft for the Singapore Raft race that capsized instantly anyone got on it... There's a trend here that I should perhaps take notice of.

30 October

John: Up early again, sort of, for the market. But it takes us ages to get going, and then the tide is right and the light clear for photos from the hill above the town, so we do that first and to hell with being at the market on time. We get some veg. and fruit for the week, and a few good pics of locals at the market, doing their thing. After lunch Caroline came down with a migraine, her first for months, which blew the afternoon off. Casper, Alex and I crept around the boat clearing things up for Tom and Tara to visit for dinner, while Caro tried to get some rest and deal with her migraine. Try cleaning this boat up without using a vacuum cleaner! I baked some Focaccia and cooked pasta with a mushroom sauce for dinner, while Casper put a salad together. Caro felt well enough to join us later on in the evening, and so to bed with an agreement to meet up at 10:00 tomorrow to go exploring the island some more.

31 October

John: Another Sunday in paradise... Tom and Tara took us out in their Land Rover across the island - this time to the SE where there is a hotel/resort run by a Rodrigan. The coast turns out to be very pretty, with locals kite-surfing in the sheltered lagoon. We take a walk along the beach and have a simple but tasty lunch in the outside restaurant. A relaxing afternoon. Like being on holiday. Casper and Alex explored the shallows and found some good shells and fish. there are also some pretty big crabs here, they make huge holes in the sandy foreshore. Still and all, I am feeling that the island is getting too small for us, time to move on. Nevertheless, we still have a number of plans to act out before setting off for Madagascar, including a day on motorcycles, more diving with Shoals Rodrigues, etc. Maybe we'll leave next Saturday?

01 November

Caroline: Still no luck with the octopus survey, they're just not fishing for them at the moment. Roger left for Mauritius today and the kids were sorry to see him leave. They loved going over for a visit and having him on board watching a movie together.

John: The inverter has quit! Just as I was saying how much I liked this new unit... I pulled it out and refitted the original Trace 'modified sine wave' inverter, which promptly trashed the freezer compressor (which has never appreciated starting up on this rough waveform), filling the boat with nasty burning smells. Rapidly-assembled orders have been dispatched to West Marine, so we'll see.

02 November

John: The 8 hp outboard is now playing up. I removed and stripped the carburettor, to no avail. Eric thinks the rings have gone. In the middle of this we had a group of 'Club Mer' Rodriguan students over to Jocara for a tour and to see a little of how life is aboard. We gave them the above-deck and below-deck tours, and showed them some short videos from Singapore schools and our own of Krakatau and the crossing from Cocos. They were a lively bunch, with some of the girls dressed in very skimpy little outfits, far more adventurous than we've seen on the street. Still, it's quite an eye-opener to see African-looking Rodriguan ladies strutting the street in tight jeans, for all the world as if they were promenading the Champs Elysee'. Apparently, girls meet boys in church here (the Rodriguans are reportedly a very religious lot) and church activities are where the social scene develops. Tom said he'd been at two dances since he came, both populated almost entirely by young men with just one or two young women in the crowd. Sounds pretty dysfunctional to me.

03 November

John: A second, smaller, group of Rodriguan 'Club Mer' students came on board this morning. Some were repeat visitors from yesterday. Including a couple of the sexy giggling young ladies, probably drawn more to see Casper again than the boat! We also suspect that there's not much for young people to do here in the school holidays. Maybe they could give me a hand fixing the myriad of items that are breaking down around me...

04 November

Caroline: It's still blowing quite a bit, but decide to take Shoals over to the west of Rodrigues anyway, to set up a new survey site and do a survey. It's about 10 miles along the outside of the reef and on the way there with the wind from behind we see up to 28 knots of wind. We're a bit worried what it will be like going back into the wind and wave. At anchor at the site we're protected by the reef and have a good dive. Casper & I went on the first dive and collected coral cover data. John went for the second dive and took a lot of great video of fish.

John: Of course, we arrived back in the dark and had to make our way into the narrow entrance channel by the lights, a task made more exciting by the fact that two of the critical ones at turning points were not lit! Still, we had Eric, the Shoals' boatman and local navigator, on the foredeck to guide us. We were going to use the 5 hp outboard to go ashore for dinner... but the clamps have rusted into immobility so we struggled with the 8 hp as usual. Bah!

05 November

John: Casper and Alex arranged with James Warterstone (a local character who collects entries from visiting yachts and binds the resulting pages up into fabulously-richly hardbound volumes) to visit his house at 14:00 today. Caro and I went ashore to deliver some data to Shoals first (Caroline took some 'William Surveys' for Prince WIlliam's undergraduate project yesterday out on the reef) and we also picked up a permit to visit the 'Potato Caves' tomorrow and arranged to rent a couple of small motorcycles to tour the island. On the way back to the jetty I picked up a 'Haloween party' advertisement flyer and saw that couples were given preferential entry - obviously male-dominated gatherings are indeed a problem! At 13:45 we set off by dinghy to James' house around the corner in Oyster Bay. We put the dinghy on the beach and started asking locals for where his house was. It seems everyone knows him, and everyone is very friendly and helpful. One guy set off on his motorcycle to meet us at a corner as we walked along to be sure we took the right turning. James & his wife have a lovely little house set in a garden full of fruit trees. He made us very welcome and we enjoyed offerings of coconut water, dried fruits, etc., while Casper had some coconut spooned out of the husk. His wife made us a present of many green mangoes from their tree. We took a few photos and have printed them off to give to them on Monday. In the evening Tom and Tara had us over, with the rest of Shoals', for a bar-b-que at their place. I spent most of the afternoon preparing sashimi and sushi from the Tuna we caught yesterday, which was well-received by the Shoals' folk, many of whom had never tried sashimi.

06 November

Alex: Well, sorry that I hardly write anything, but I don't get around to it. Today we rented two motorcycles and went to a cave. It was really fun going to the caves because there were some beautiful sceneries and lots of animals beside the street, like chickens, pigs, cows, goats, sheep and dogs and the road was nice and quiet. When we got to the caves and found the guide, we went into the caves. The guide showed us some interesting stalagmites and stalagtites, one looked like a white cat, another looked like two monkeys and another would look like a face or the great wall of china and so on. When we got to the other end there was this big tree wich had lots of thin roots and 137 steps up to the way out. Then we went to a place to have lunch, mmm lunch was tasty. After we had lunch we went back home and parked our bikes.

John: Caro and I did the shopping run to the market this morning (our third Saturday morning market...) and on the way back dropped by the DHL office to discover that our Port Supply order has arrived in Mauritius but has been 'delayed' in customs clearance. Apparently the invoice is not in order, which sounds suspicious. Uh-oH! We made arrangments for the local DHL office guys to get documentation on what exactly is the problem and how to correct it, but I have a nasty feeling about this 'delay'. Getting back to the boat, more than a little depressed about things going wrong, Alex pointed out some rot he'd found in the bowsprit. Digging at it a little, I see that it runs deep into the grain, about half-way through the bowsprit, and for quite a way back. It needs a new piece of hardwood scarfing in, at the very least! Oh my! Well, we decided to have a 'holiday' day today riding the bikes and not worry about all this. Touring around the island on the little 125 scramblers was perfect, just the right way to experience the air, sun, wind, smells and impressions of this little island, romping over roads rough and smooth. The hillsides are dotted with small concrete shacks, the standard building form here on account of the cyclones that flatten anything less sturdy; most with a few goats and chickens and some with a cow or two. There are narrow wooden boats everywhere along the coast, still rigged to use lattine sails but with outboards to assist against the wind. Brightly-coloured clothing, smiling african faces, banana, mango and papaya trees. Very Carribbean, with perhaps a touch of the Canaries in the arid appearance of parts of the island. Small octopii are strung up on wooden frames to dry by the roadside. There are neatly-planted lines of mangroves in the sandy shallows, an attempt to curb erosion. There are also a lot of new, larger and more grandiose houses being constructed along the best real estate on the lee side of the island with the best sea views. After a good day on the bikes we were all pretty tired; a big plate of Tuna sashimi for dinner, a kids' film and bed.

07 November

John: Sunday, bloody Sunday. We discovered late yesterday that it's not just our new Port Supply order that's delayed in clearance; also our replacement inverter and the package from Singapore. Nothing we can do about it now, we'll have to wait until Monday. Time to take a look at the rotting bowsprit. But first, some more zooming around on the bikes! Then lunch; the supply boat came in this morning so there was fresh French cheese at the supermarket just before 11:00 that we snapped up for our baguettes. There is just one other boat left here to keep us company ('Captains Fansea'). We met them on the jetty; it seems they are leaving tomorrow. They have an old chart from a previous circumnavigator with an annotation that a cyclone was blowing just 500 miles from here on 15 November! We wil probably be the last boat through here this year. Let's hope this is not cutting it too fine for cyclone season; we still have to cross the main belt of cyclone tracks going NW to Madagascar. Meanwhile we have storms enough on board. The kids are still at each others' throats half the time, and being completely stupid the other half, it seems. Casper is particularly good at avoiding anything that looks remotely helpful or work-like, while Alex is a past master at making Casper look bad. Basically, with the diving, photography, research, website and all that goes with it, plus the upkeep of a large boat with many complex systems, Caro and I have taken on too much to cope with on our own. We had banked on getting support from the kids, but in fact, they seem to relish making work rather than helping us discharge it. Not their fault, perhaps, that we had unrealistic expectations.

Casper: Today would be the day that the cheese would arrive in the supermarket, the cheesewars would end between Tom and I. The wars were always about who would get the cheese and who would get there first. Early in the morning when Alex and I were getting breakfast bread we were a lso going to get some cheese now that it was cheese day. when we reached the supermarket we found out that there was no cheese! So we got back home without cheese. Later today when we got back from another little motorcycle ride we went to the supermarket again and there was loads of cheese, the fridge was stacked with chees of all sorts, Camembert, goatcheese, bleucheese and green funguscheese. After we bought half the stock of cheese and half the stock of olives we went back to our boat and had lunch, bread with cheese.

08 November

Caroline: John has found more rotting wood further aft near the end of the wood, the part that sits on the deck. He will have to cut a piece out and we'll need a new piece of hard wood. Late afternoon, thanks to Birgit, the German lady who lives here, we get some guys on board who say they can find the wood and fix it. To cheer ourselves up a little we have dinner in the brand new restaurant above the DHL office. Still no packages, but the DHL people are optimistic they will arrive in a few days.

John: Nicola and Sim (sp?) came out to the boat this afternoon to see the work we need done, part wood, part steel, to repair and brace the bowsprit. They both have jobs, so this is some monlighting extra for them, something it seems almost everybody does here. They say they will have the wood done tomorrow and the steel finished the day after. Let's hope so! This is major structural stuff, so I'm pretty nervous about getting it right or we could lose the mast.

09 November

Caroline: We're asked to come alongside the jetty so that people can more easily come on board and do the work. The wind is still blowing a bit, making the water choppy and people don't like getting salty wet on the way back to shore! Also, not everybody knows how to swim. We tie Jocara up to the fishing boat which is tied up to the quayside. The cats are extremely interested in the proximity of the shore, but I don't think they'll want to risk crossing the fishing boat. A lot of people hang out on the sheltered jetty and Jocara is getting a lot of attention. In the afternoon we see Captain's Fansea leave, we are now the last boat in Rodrigues. This doesn't feel very comfortable. There's a severe tropical storm near Diego Garcia which is intensifying and heading this way. It's very early in the season, but you never know. We hear that the guys from yesterday have not found the wood yet.

John: No news from Nicola or Sim... Birgit says they're trying to find the wood.

10 November

Caroline: Cyclone Arola is very slowly heading in our direction. It's unlikely it will hit us, the water is still too cold, but still we're a little worried about it. We feel very stuck. We cannot go anywhere until the bowsprit is repaired, it's holding up the mast! We get a visit from another carpenter, Babi, and his friend Percy who speaks English. Babi has wood at his place on the other side of the island. John and Casper take a bus and go with Babi to Mourouk to see the wood. We're getting bitten by mosquitos. It's time to make the netting for all the hatches to keep these nasty little beasties out. I've got plenty of netting material and velcro to do all the hatches and maybe some in the cockpit too. Late in the afternoon the local imam asks if he could see the boat with his little son. He's very curious what it looks like inside. Of course he's welcome, so he hitches up his robes and climbs on board. He's from South Africa, but has been in Rodrigues for a few years and like the peacefulnes here.

John: Birgit points me in the direction of 'Babi' a traditional boatbuilder on the south coast near Mourouk. Casper and I take a 209 bus over there for 18 Mauritian Ruppess each, quite an experience with the cheerful locals filling the old rattling bus, school kids crowding on during the trip back. We take a look at the wood Babi has. His place is among the trees, some pieces of hardwood tree lying about on the ground. We measure up and decide on a piece of 'Bedamia' wood that he can cut out and bring to the boat tomorrow.

11 November

Caroline: Babi comes with the wood early afternoon and starts working away. I have a little break from my mosquito netting project and go with Sabrina (from Shoals) to a shop to look for a skirt I have seen her wear. We find the skirt I like and then go back to the boat for a drink. Casper is helping Shoals for a few hours today. They asked him to help with teaching kids to swim. They have a big educational thing on today. At 10 pm, I'm just about to go to bed when the DHL guys call us. They're delivering the packages! These guys are committed. Tomorrow is a holiday and everything is closed so they wanted to make sure we got it today.

Casper: Today I went to Shoals and organised to go back there at twelve o'clock to help the Club Med kids swim. So when we arrived at the swimming place we took our T-shirts off and ran into the water. Most kids could already swim a little bit. Sydney, one of shoals's staff, did all the talking and I showed them how to do freestyle twice and I was a board holder and a post to where they had to swim to. After all that we did a relay but it was very complicated and I don't know who won.

12 November

Casper: Today Alex and I went to James's house where we have already been before. When we arrived there we baked two cakes out of 1 pound butter, 1 pound sugar, 1 pound flour, 1 spoon yeast and 9 eggs. And one pizza. They turned out nice exept the pizza was a little underdone. We also cut up some coconuts and fed the chickens with mango. When we went back to our boat we brought one cake and half a pizza with us.

Alex: Today I went to James's house and met his grandson Vincent. Then Vincent and I went to play with Vincent's slingshot. We did that by nailing a piece of wood to a tree and used that as a target. We also tied a bottle to a treebranch and got two sticks, then stood on either side of it and tried to hit it to the other, it was fun. When we got back to the boat I went to walk Birgit's dog I had lots of fun and the dog had lots of fun too because I fed it jummy snacks and threw sticks on the beach for him to fetch.

John: Babi came by again today, even though it's a bank holiday and he has an urgent task building a new traditional fishing boat for a regatta as part of the creole festival later this year. He and I work together shaping the wood and scarfing it in. He's a very shy, quiet man, but hardworking and really helpful. What a gem! When he's done he takes only 1500 Mauritian Rupees (about S$85) for his work and the wood. Patrick called by after dinner and asked me out for a drink. He seems keen to practise his english and go out on the town with me. Not that Rodrigan nightlife is very far on the wild side. We went to the new resturant (perhaps because Patrick thought I'd prefer somewhere chic) then I asked to go somewhere more colourful and local. The first place he took me to after that was closed, so we ended up at a mini golf place called PuttPutt (I am not making this up) that has a bar. I can't imagine they make any money getting the locals to play mini golf. Who in their right mind thought up this crazy business plan? Dirk turned up in his cups and proceeded to endear himself to the locals. I was pretty sober and watched in horror as I saw the hackles rising around us, Dirk and I the only europeans in the room. I slid a few words in to 'interpret' what Dirk meant to say, since his english is sometimes a little rough around the edges, and managed to diffuse the situation sufficiently for all of us to get out of there in one piece. Even my new friend Patrick was bristling.

13 November

Caroline: We woke up this morning to find Jocara right next to the jetty. Some time during the night the fishing boat must have left and now there's nothing between us and the jetty. We're not too happy about this. There's quite a tide here making it tricky with adjusting the lines and the shrouds are very close to the roof. If we roll a little bit we'll hit it. Also, there's nothing to stop the cats jumping ashore now! Sure enough, when the tide goes up and the deck is level with the jetty Cannelle jumps ship. We tell her off, but who's going to stop her in the night? Casper has gone to visit the home of Patrick who has a 12 year old son called Jefferson. There are advantages to staying in one place for a while. You start to get to know some people.

Casper: Today when my brother and I were playing with our slingshots in the park Patrick came by (the guy who my dad went out with in the bar one night) and said you want to come by today? and I said yes. So I got my camera and went to Patrick's. My brother didn't come because he thought that Patrick's son, Jefferson, who is 12 was too old for him. When we arrived at Patrick"s house Jefferson wasn't there so Patrick got his wife to fetch him. When he arrived he asked all sorts of questions like how old I am and where I come from and all that kind of stuff. He does not speak English that well so I had a hard time understanding what he said. After all the questions we played whith the slingshot I brought with me and that was quite fun. After we played with the chickens, his chickens were hens with lots of little chicks. Also we looked at his pigs, he had quite a lot of pigs of all shapes and sizes. I couldn't take any pictures because my batteries were flat in my camera. When I was walking back to the boat with him he introduced me to his goat.

14 November

Caroline: What an awful night! It was hot and we had a mosquito buzzing around our ears. Apart from that little annoyance there seemed to be people hanging out on the jetty all night long and I could hear them talking. But, we do still have 2 cats. This morning the jetty is full of old boys who've been through the second world war. Today they commemmorate all those lost during the war at the little memorial in front of the jetty. Young men in army, navy and airforce uniforms are standing at attention. The VIPs get to lay down a wreath. It's a serious business and one wonders for how many more years this ceremony will continue as there are less and less survivors. John worked hard again all day on the bowsprit and the kids went to visit Jefferson together in the afternoon whilst I was sweating in the aft cabin coping with a migraine.

15 November

Caroline: Ricardo came by in the morning, the guy who welded our boom. Here we are 4 weeks later and have another job for him, welding two plates to secure the wood of the bowsprit. Yesterday James had found us a big fresh octopus (the islanders seem to prefer the dried octopus!) and today we cook it the way we used to in Italy. (You start with some olive oil in the pan, then pile in bite sized pieces of octopus and about the same amount cut tomatoes, 5 or 6 gloves of crushed garlic, a couple of fresh chillis and some freshly ground pepper. Turn on the heat, mix it. When it bubbles turn heat to low and let it simmer for about an hour. It's done when it's tender.) It turned out wonderfully, but poor Alex thought it was too spicy. It's a rainy day, the wettest we've had here. That causes a problem because John is now ready to do some fiberglassing, but cannot because it's too wet. Still stuck, still more work to do before we can move on. We're feeling depressed, this voyage is not turning out as we'd planned. We've changed our itinerary. There's no time to go to Madagascar anymore now the cyclone season has really started. The new plan is to go to Mayotte and then straight on to Zanzibar. John and I go for a walk up to the cross on top of the rocky outcrop on the hill overlooking Mathurin. We get drizzled on the whole time, but it's nice to be doing something different. The views are great and fit our mood; somber.

John: Today was a low point for me. My foot is still troubling me, my back is trashed and I feel mired in work to keep the boat repaired and seaworthy. Worst of all is coping with my unrealisitc expectations of the kids, who have little or no interest in taking up responsibilities or learning much about running the boat. If I press them, I'll simply drive them away, which is not the objective of this trip. Far from it, we're supposed to be close and building unshakable relationships being together 24/7. Then again, the best of friends (and family) can fall out living together on a small (this is small!?!) boat. Fog and drizzling rain, inside and out.

16 November

Caroline: Again, it's a drizzly day and the fiberglass job still cannot get done. There are plenty of other things to do though. Getting Alex to do some school work, for example, which is getting harder and harder. Now that we're alongside the jetty it's too easy to get distracted. There's a lot of work to update the website and prepare a CD ROM to send back to Singapore. Casper and I went on a successful hunt for propane gas. They have different bottles and fittings here and we had only a few weeks worth of cooking gas left. Fortunately, we found a place that has a conversion that fits our tank. One full tank lasts us about 6-7 weeks when we bake a lot of bread. Late afternoon the fishing boat came in loaded with tunas. Alex asked if we could buy one and they promptly gave him one for free! That meant sashimi for dinner. Star is very happy too.

John: Oh boy oh boy! Last night was a crusher! For some reason my back decided to seize up and gfive me the screaming cramps all night. This morning I can barely move and am on Ibuprofin to relax the muscles enough just to stand up and drink coffee. So what is it with my back? What sets it off?

17 November

Caroline: Finally, it's drying up and John manages to do the fiberglassing in the morning. Jovani and Anna from Shoals came by to ask if we want to go on a octopus survey. Finally! We drove to a lovely bay in the west and waited a little while before a fisherman arrived with his catch. The octopi were measured and sexed and immediately sold to a wholesaler. Pity, because we would have quite liked to buy one since our dish was so good the other day. The way to sex an octopus is to look at the third leg on the left starting from the middle of the eyes. If the bottom of the leg is very thin it's a female, thicker it's a male. Why it's that particular leg you have to look at I don't know! I have absolutely no idea how octopi do 'it'! Casper did a great job today nailing the velcro strips for the mosquito netting into the wood around the hatches. That's done now, the only problem is how to make the whole cockpit a mosquito free zone.

John: Chico, a friend of Ricardo, turns up at 17:00 (he was due at 16:00) and introduces his young friend who, he says, will do the fridge work as he (Chico) is still working and cannot take the time out. He'll be back to check up on how things are in 30 minutes. I guess all these guys have government jobs and are moonlighting. Chico's friend sets about brasing the copper tubing but makes a complete mess of it. After three attempts, and a few near misses torching the fridge insulation, the walls and the new compressor as he waved the blowtorch around, he says its getting too late and that he'll be back tomorrow. It seems a good idea, before I lose it with him. Honest, I've been very, very calm and patient. But I know the tension in me must be seeping through my skin into the air and poisoning him. We'll do better with more light and in the fresh start of a morning. I ask when. He says 08:00. Good enough for me. He takes all his stuff off the boat, which seems a bit odd since he'll be back with it alll workring tomorrow first thing.

18 November

John: The 'fridge guy was due at 08:00 this morning. By 08:15 I relaise that he never had any intention of ever coming back, after his lucky escape last night. Now what? We get Birgit to 'phone around and coax Ricardo to have his friend Chico talk to his friend the 'fridge guy... Maybe tomorrow; at 10:00, they say. Meanwhile, this bowsprit work seems to take forever... The fibreglassing went well enough, now I get to work on mounting the two steel plates I've had Ricardo make up to brace the repair. Hot work drilling away on the foredeck, I even manage to burn my forehead on a hot drill bit! Tomorrow I plan to paint the whole thing. For some inexplicable reason my back is improving, despite the abuse I'm obliged to hand it out every day crawling around to do these repair jobs.

19 November

Caroline: It's pretty scary when the fridge guy comes again. But he manages not to set fire to the boat and after working together with John for a few hours the fridge is actually working. Now it's just a matter of finetuning the amount of refridgerant. The inside of the boat is a filthy mess with just about every surface occupied by tools, toys, dirty dishes, bread crumbs. We've got a bit of a problem, we ran out of fresh water and the seawater here is not clean enough to make any. The water ashore is not good for drinking so we don't want it in our tanks. On top of that the salt water pump quit and John has to fix that. So, no water on board at the moment.

John: The poor 'fridge guy was way over his head on this one. Having me glowering over him didn't make him feel any more relaxed, either. Brasing the copper tubes in and under the confined space is a real challenge and he wasn't the most experienced or confident at it. Together we worked out a little mutual trust and respect and with four hands we got the job done without burning down the boat. He blowtorched the joint and I brased the copper rod around the join.

20 November

Caroline: Another Saturday, our 5th market day! This really should be our last. Work on the boat progresses, the bowsprit is finished. The kids throw some buckets of water over the deck to wash off all the wood and dust. John's got the salt water pump working again so I can clean out the fridge and reorganise it with the veggies that will have to last us for the next couple of weeks. In the evening we've been invited to Patrick's. The kids lead us up the path to their house up on the hill overlooking Mathurin and the reef. Their chickens are just going to roost up in the tree when we arrive. Patrick has recently slaughtered a pig and has made the local specialty sausages which we get to taste with some drinks outside. Raul, a retired school teacher is also invited because he enjoys practising his English. Patrick's wife prepares a very nice dinner, but doesn't really join us.

21 November

Caroline: We had quite a bit to drink last night and have a bit of a slow start this morning. After lunch we go with Raul to get a taste of the local culture. Every Sunday afternoon he goes dancing at a kind of disco where they play live accordian music. It was amazing. It was crowded with people of all ages, sizes and colours, all dancing. After every song there was a lot of partner changing, races comfortably mixing. When I was asked to dance by a local character John went to pick the prettiest girl in the room for a dance. We didn't stay very long because it was very hot, I was sweating just looking, and we got still so much stuff to do before we can leave tomorrow.

John: Hey, at least the prettiest girl didn't turn me down, right? To atone for my sins (little pleasures) I get to spend 3 hours cleaning up tools and materials, repacking the chain locker (not my favourite dark and dirty little hole) cabin and heads.

22 November

John: After an early night, we woke at 06:00 this morning to the sound of creole music (our little sportsfishing boat neighbour has some business today) and loud cavitation pings from 'Mauritus Pride' manoevering with her bowthruster into the dockside. It seems that these supply boats come ever more frequently! Caroline and I are on short tempers this morning, desperately trying to get the kids to do something constructive to help us clean up and get away today. They are dragging their feet every inch of the way, of course, which is infuriating... if predictable.