EC-Rider Travels

With Noble Caledonia and the ‘Ladies’: Mum, Lucinda Baxter, Felicity Clark (Flee) and her lovely friend Flavia Gale.

Thursday 10/Friday 11 May – Mauritius

Emirates flew us safely and painlessly to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (luckily we did not have to pronounce it!) on the south coast of Mauritius (some more comfortably than others!), but good up our end too and delicious ‘aeroplane food’…. which would have been Tatty’s best. I sent her a few pics in case she wanted some ideas for the wedding.

It was quite a long immigration process with several forms to complete, but luckily we all passed and were soon on a coach with our new friends courtesy of Noble Caledonia. Melissa was our guide and did not draw breath on our 45 minute south eastern journey to Port Louis, telling us a bit about Mauritius, as always wonderfully proud of her island. Unfortunately after about twenty minutes, she was rather stopped in her tracks when there was a terrible thud and the wheel, I think, directly below me, had a blow-out. Everyone remained remarkably calm and before we knew it, a replacement bus was on its way and we continued on our journey.

It is the start of the winter season and the temperature was a lovely 24-26 degrees. We passed endless fields of sugarcane which is the main crop of Mauritius and shortly to be harvested (June-Sept) – indicated by a purple flower. Although machinery is now used, much of it is still cut by hand and particularly so, in the more remote hill regions.

There is a population of 1.26m, made up of many different nationalities who have found their way to this little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean – Indian, African, French, Madagascan – all living happily side by side. It has been colonised by the Dutch, French and most recently the British from whom they won their independence in 1968, although it remains a member of the Commonwealth. The main language is a creole dialect of French which is spoken by about 90% of the population, though French is used in schools and English is the official language of parliament.

Until their independence in 1968, sugarcane was Mauritius’s main source of income, however since then, education has greatly improved and there is now a diverse range of industries. Tourism has become increasingly popular, nhanced by a variety of cuisines using lots of chicken, fish and spices with rice accompanying everything. Family life is treasured and traditions and customs are maintained with about 15 public holidays for the endless festivals!

We arrived at the port in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, and had our first siting of the very lovely MS Island Sky. After going through customs again (rather briefer this time!), we boarded the ship and were greeted by a delicious and most welcome glass of champagne.

Lucinda and I were assigned cabin 426 on Deck Four which was to be our home for the next two weeks. The thought of not having to pack and unpack every other day was a complete joy. The cabin was beautifully laid out with endless cupboards to put everything into and a lovely bathroom and shower. We were next to mum and Flee, and Flavia is on the deck below.

MS Island Sky was built in Italy 31 years ago and is described as one of the finest small ships in the world. It is immaculate with shiny wood panelling and brass everywhere which is polished, within an inch of its life, at every possible opportunity. There are 80 staff looking after 102 of us and although many of them we barely see, those we do, are beyond charming and good at their job. There are 59 cabins over six decks getting grander as the decks rise. We have huge tinted sliding doors out on to the deck, which runs around the boat – a real bonus and great for viewing and going for a walk! We have been told if we walk nine times around the boat, it’s a mile – so quite a bit of that goes on!

I don’t know if it was because we were so exhausted, but the beds were unbelievably comfortable and after unpacking we both conked out for a couple of hours. We were suddenly awoken by the sound of the emergency alarm summoning us to the first safety briefing – dressed in our neon-orange Michelin-Men life-jackets, we all trooped out on deck to prove we could locate the lifeboats, to find the most stunning double rainbow rising above the harbour– we felt this must be a good omen for the two weeks ahead.

As the sun disappeared over the horizon, we were served champagne as we sailed away from Mauritius. We were then introduced to the thirteen strong Expedition Team, all experts in different fields, led by the most charming South African girl, called JD. Corbus, Daniel, Dave, Fran, Grant, Guy, Mike, Pierre, Ronny, Sue, Tom and Wendy had all flown in from various parts of the world and only come together as a team today.

This was followed by a very good dinner, all together, in the more formal restaurant on Deck 3. Most of our new friends are in couples and joined up to have dinner. As a little party of five we had our own table and were soon christened ‘The Ladies’ by wonderfully chirpy and over the top Johnny who is in charge of the restaurant staff. Looking around, I was very very pleased Lucinda was with us. We feel very much the youngest, though not sure we are!

We sailed over night to Reunion Island, 130 nautical miles South West of Mauritius