Passage from Rodriguez to Mauritius …

The passage from Port Mathurin, Rodriguez to Port Louis, Mauritius is approximately 350 miles. This should take us about between 2 days at a speed of 6.5 knots or 3 days at a speed of 5 knots. However, once you clear out of Rodriguez, you must leave port that day during daylight hours. Additionally, customs and immigration request you give them 24 hours notice so we needed to decide exactly when we planned to leave port. The offices do not open until 9 am so this means the earliest you are able to leave port after clearing out would be around 10 am which would make an arrival time:

3 pm (at 6.5 speed) 2 days later…or
8 pm (at a speed of 6 knots) 2 days later…or
1 am (at a speed of 5.5 knots) 3 days later… or
10 am 3 days later (speed of 5 knots).

The other option is to clear out in the afternoon and leave port just before they close the port around 5 pm. This strategy would yield an arrival time:

11 pm (at 6.5 speed) 2 days later…or
3 am (at a speed of 6 knots) 3 days later…or
8 am (at a speed of 5.5 knots) 3 days later… or
10 am 3 days later (speed of 5 knots).

We opted on the optimistic side and thought we could average 6.5 speed and leave as early as possible after a good nights rest. So we gave our 24 hour notice and scheduled to meet the officers at the wharf at 9 am the next day.

To give our 24 hour notice we had to go to the main customs office in the Bank of Mauritius Building, second floor…. AND….
…and we visited the immigration office which is right next door to the Port Mathurin Police Station….
…they do track us : )

June 14th 9 am, Immigration..check…
….customs…check….
…opps…didn’t know we had to check out with the coast guard so they actually came out to our boat. They didn’t give us any paperwork but Trevor signed a document for them.
Neptune’s Highway had left the harbor before us also not knowing they had to check out with the coast guard….nothing happened when they arrived to Mauritius so not sure how important the captains signature is on their documentation.

The weather looked great and the seas were predicted to lay down. Here are screen shots of the wind models (ECMWF and GFS). We have noticed that as soon as a high pressure systems starts to move east from Madagascar, the wind starts to pick up and you only have about 2 days of 15-20 knots of wind between high pressure systems. Otherwise you may see 20-30 knots of wind.

Seas looked great too….I almost don’t care too much about the wind down here when passage planning…it’s the seas that make things uncomfortable…Anything under 3 meter swell is good enough to go..but 2 meters is preferred. Generally 2m swell does not exist for more than a 24 hour period. We noticed that the seas kick up 24 hours after a high pressure systems starts to bring up the wind so that is our window.

And we are off….

Back up jib sail up…it is a 90% working jib….very small compared to our now torn Genoa which is a 150 % ?!…..
…she’s a bit dirty…but who’s judging : )

From the log book Friday June 14th:

3 pm – Wind at 140 degrees to port, SOG: 6.5, COG: 285 degrees, Swell: 3m hitting us 120-130 degrees to port.
7 pm – Engine on because SOG was as low as 4.5 knots. Now going 6.25 knots
9 pm – Wind shift from behind us.
Midnight – Wind back to port, SOG: 6 knots

We left with Neptune’s Highway (Bruce and Laura)…they are much faster than we are so we only had them on AIS for part of the trip.
First night sunset…

From the log book Saturday June 15th:

6 am – wind died now from behind, SOG: 5.7 knots…should we put the pole up?
Noon – Light wind, engine still on, Left of rumb line 4.1 miles, Swell: 2-2.5m at 130 degrees on our port.
3 pm – Wind filled in, wind indicator not working
6 pm – reefed main, beam reach!
midnight – Wind: 15-20 knots bean reach..engine off….yeah!

Full moon…I think?!

From the log book Sunday June 16th:

6 am – Wind: gusts up to 25 knots
noon – rounding the north point of Mauritius between islands..CRAZY WINDS! Turned heading south, head winds about 70 degrees to port, rolled jib in, engine on
2 pm – Anchor down in 35-45 ft. 200 feet of chain out.