Early this morning, we were preparing for landfall on Rodrigues, a small, 42 square miles island, part of the Republic of Mauritius. Busy at five in the morning on our boat, where we were still in our own local time zone, two hours ahead of the real local time.
We had to sail a really odd route to get to the harbor. We just stayed north of the island on a western course, but when we got close, we had to make a hook turn going north to avoid some shoal areas. Of course, we knew this beforehand, and we made our turns. At one point, we were actually heading entirely away from the island. And not a minute after that last turn, the coastguard hailed us on channel 16, inquiring about our’ intentions. ‘
All was well, and the coastguard told us to moor along the concrete yeti, quayside really, and not to get off the boat until all formalities had been taken care of. Alright, we had heard that before. We tied up at 10:11 this morning which was 8:11 local time. We changed our watches, and within minutes a young coastguard walked up and informed us that customs and immigration would be along at nine.
At 8:55, our first official visitor, the health inspector, call me Alex, climbed down from the quayside onto Code Blue. It really is a climb, as the quayside is built for commercial vessels rather than for 40-foot sailing boats. After passports, boat papers, and permits are inspected, we fill out the appropriate number of documents, and Alex is on his way to be replaced by two coastguard officers. Different people, different offices, same procedures.
After the coastguard is gone, an official from the ministry of agriculture comes along. He just stays on dry land and hands the papers down to Steve to fill out. No need for passports and permits.
As on cue, agriculture guy leaves, customs officer appears. Terry comes on board. He says to get ready to sign lots of papers. And he isn’t kidding, I only fill out a few forms, but Steve, as the vessel’s captain and owner, is handed a stack of papers to fill out and sign. Halfway through the process, a lady from immigration comes along for her share of formalities. And we get a stamp in our passports. She is the last one in the procession of officials to get us into the country. After that, we are free to go.
Our expectations for a town within walking distance aren’t high as we appear to be in a fenced-off commercial lot in an industrial area. Not so! We walk one block inland and find ourselves in the hustle and bustle of Port Mathurin, the island’s capital city. Narrow one-way streets with lots of shops, many spilling over onto the street and sidewalk. Street vendors are on every corner, and a proper open-air market four blocks away.
We buy SIM cards with supposedly unlimited data valid for a month for less than ten bucks. The young salesperson, and some other customers in the store, educate us on the languages in Mauritius, which, of course, includes the Island of Rodrigues. The language spoken on the street is French and Creole, but predominantly French. However, the official language is English, and all official papers, including our data purchase contracts, are written in English. According to the people in the store, almost the entire population is tri-lingual. I have not heard anybody speak English on the street, but the moment I ask a question, no matter to whom, a person in the tourist office or a lady in the market, it doesn’t matter, without batting an eye, they always reply in English.
We buy some baguettes and jump on a local transit bus crossing the island. Four buses and three hours later, we are back where we started. We had crisscrossed the island in some very rickety form of transportation while seeing some wonderful countryside. Not exactly a ‘hop on hop off’ tour, but just as enjoyable, and for less than two dollars each, quite an experience.
Rodrigues, a volcanic island, has just over 40,000 people, mostly descendants of African slaves brought here by the French in the 18th century. After the Brits took over and eventually abolished slavery, the population went down to about 250 in the mid eighteen hundreds before slowly creeping up.
Today fishing, agriculture, and tourism are listed as the primary industries on the island, but unless there are some major resorts tucked away, of which I’ve seen no evidence, I have seen very few tourists or tourist services on my travels today.
Islands like Rodrigues and Cocos Keeling are great to visit, but it probably costs an arm and a leg to get there. And really, for most tourists, a few days in places like these is enough. I feel very fortunate to be able to sail into these places for just a few days and sail on again without the expense of airline tickets, transfers, expensive accommodation, and the like.
We’ll most likely leave tomorrow and have to do the formalities in reverse. Going is just as complex as arriving. Plus, there is no immigration and customs on the weekend for yachts. It’s either we leave tomorrow, or we are here until Monday. Time to move on to Mauritius.