Jocara Newsletter
Oct 20, 2004

Land-Hoh!  We arrived safely in Rodrigues on the afternoon of 19 Oct, 
after 15 1/5 days at sea.  After over two weeks of sea and sky, the 
mountains of Rodrigues formed out of vague dark shadows on the horizon 
ahead.  A friendly French-accented Coast Guard voice answered our call 
when we announced we were within 12 miles.  With a freshly-caught Wahoo in 
the 'fridge, about 1.3m long and a good size for making into steaks and 
sashimi, we motor-sailed the last few hours to round the SE corner and 
into the narrow channel cut through the coral reef barrier to enter Port 
Mathurin.  Port health and police came on board to check that nobody had 
died from fever or plague and that we were importing no guns or illegal 
drugs, then we were free to anchor in the tiny inner harbour, next to our 
friends (from Cocos) Altair and Irena, who we have invited to share our 
Wahoo steaks this evening for dinner.  Today we will clear Immigration and 
Customs, then set about finding a way to repair our boom and contacting 
Tom Hooper, the local marine scientist we are planning to work with.  We 
are also very excited about getting our hands on some delicious French 
bakery items (hot baguettes and croissants!) and Casper is particularly 
keen to find a good restaurant where he doesn't have to cook or do the 
dishes! Position, at anchor, is 19 deg. 40.7'S, 63 deg. 25.1'E.