Rodriguez

We were all looking for land well before we would be able to see it but eventually James
spotted it! The excitement and anticipation was amazing. The children's attitudes changed
from the routine to lots of questions about Rodriguez and how long were we going to stop
for.
As the island drew closer we were discussing what we could see, properties dotted around,
wind turbines rotating, roads, green hills, communication towers. This unknown place was
going to be our resting point for a few days and we were all very much looking forward to
discovering what was a shore. But first we needed to get into the harbour and do all the
formal checking in. As we entered the harbour there came a booming voice over the VHF
'sailing vessel do you have permission to enter the harbour?' oops I thought. I quickly
responded 'No I don't have permission to enter I will call the port captain. James did this and
immediately got a response 'please spell out your vessel's name, what was your last port, do
you have pets or firearms on board?' James answered the questions and the response was
clear 'please proceed and anchor, immigration will come to your vessel soon'. Anchoring
was straight forward along with five other vessels who showed scars from their last passage
as they repaired their sails. We saw our friend Lars off sailing vessel Arianna, he torn his
head sail after seeing 50 knots of wind coming here but assured us that checking in was
trouble free. Within 30 minutes a rib was tied up along side Carpe Diem and we were busy
filling out paperwork with a man from quarantine and a team of three from coastguard.
Shortly after they departed the rib came again with a man from immigration, after stamping
our passports and granting us one month to stay, he asked for a group photo with him in it!
We thought we had completed all the necessary forms, dropped the dinghy and headed for
the dock to tie up. As soon as we had climbed out of the dinghy another man asked us to
complete a form for the port captain and later that evening we had a message that we needed
to visit customs. Wow! So many forms but once completed we were free to roam and meet
people and learn more about this lovely place.
While walking through the dock area we met a man called Harry that worked there. His
English was very good which enabled us to chat with him as our French is quite basic. He
informed us that Rodriguez is a safe place. We asked where the bank and the petrol station
was. He was very helpful and asked lots of questions about us. Later on in the week he
invited us out for lunch. We had some yummy locally prepared and cooked food, pork with
egg plant, rice and beans, chicken with rice and James had octopus with rice. All very nice.
That's one of the things we like to do is try local food. On this occasion it was a real treat to
be invited out. We were able to return the kind gesture by having Harry to our yacht for
lunch and then again for Sadie's birthday celebration the following day with cruisers too. 15
people came in total. There were signs that we were getting closer to home, some food in
the super market were from South Africa. We had plou (plow) which was similar to our rice
dish and sausages were done in a similar way as black puddings with the pigs blood but they
used flour instead of rice. There was chow chow in the market place and the octopus meal
reminded me of St Helena and were still 4600 nautical miles away in the Indian Ocean. It
was as if we could smell the South Atlantic Ocean.

While ashore we discovered a bakery and so of course had to buy some fresh baguettes and
then to get internet data so that we could inform friends and family of our safe arrival in
Rodrigues. The internet was best used at night to get better speeds and after three separate
attempts we managed to post the write up on our web page. It was frustrating but the relaxed
atmosphere ashore and friendly people far out weighed this frustration.

Our children updated their journals and tidied their cabins and quickly made friends with
two boys, Anton and Paul from French sailing yacht Toomai. Our kids were all picking up
words in French which is great. They played in the library together and swam off the yachts.
It was lovely to be able to celebrate Sadie's 8th birthday here in Rodriguez. We invited all the
cruisers and Harry to come to Carpe Diem for birthday cake and nibbles. It was a great
success with the last guests not leaving until 8pm, everybody had a good time. Sadie was
given a big wod of paper as a gift, she was very happy with that. She immediately hid it
away in her cabin to ensure her brothers wouldn't use it!
We took advantage of the fresh fruit and vegetable market even the pricing at the super
market was bearable. Water was not provided on the island so the water maker went into
over time. Gas was cheap around $6 NZ for 6 kilos, you just had to find a Rodrigues
connection so we could decant it into our cylinders which yacht Paragin helped us out with.
After five years of cruising, this was the first time we had done this, only in New Zealand
and Australia they will not fill any other tanks but there own so we bought new ones but if
you look hard enough and your cylinders tests are up to date some yachties have managed to
get them filled.

On the 12th September we sailed out of Rodriguez harbour under strict rules that you must
leave the anchorage one hour after checking out. The Coastguard make sure that you do,
with them barking over the VHF edging you on.