Having changed our route a little - now
we go south around Africa instead of going through The red Sea a lot of
travelling has had to be changed. The idea was that the girlfriends of the
2 captains as well as Michael’s fiancee were supposed to come visit. So
it has been difficult to make the decision not to go to The Maldive
Islands because the much longed for girls had tickets there.
Further had Dennis’ cousin Lars and his
friend Mike, our two new men also tickets for The Maldives. After some
discussion with the travel agent’s they suceeded in changing their
tickets to Mauritius.
After a voyage across The Indian Ocean we
touched at Port Louis two days before arrival of our guests. The voyage is
described in details in Dennis’ letter. Collecting our guests from the
airport was a quite a job. The authorities would not let them enter
because they had put the name of the ship down as place of accomodation.
Out here it is not quite common to stay aboard a ship.
Having made sure we had arrived and
having allowed Susan and Lise to go through customs the bureaucrats got
things going. They were shown the necessary documents, in return they
stamped the girls’ passports and they could enter the country.
What a wonderful reunion! And how they
had brought gifts and newspapers. Great to have all the greetings from
home.
They had even brought a welder for
Dennis, the man who loves tools!
The arrival of the girls meant that Rene,
Dennis and Michael went on shore leave and left the good ship in return
for a bungalow (bunga-love) near the northern resort of Grand Bay. On
board the Dream were now Christoph, Christian, Mike, Lars and Claus.
The arrival of the two new men and the
“new power structure” called for a celebration. From various places of
hiding came the rhum, the snaps not to mention the homebrew - a nice and
quiet evening, though, with lots of tales from the old crew.
The following week went quietly by, the
crew had decided to stay in the port. Mike and Lars had the opportunity to
explore the dirty capital Port Louis.
Finally it was decided to sail to Grand
bay to meet the others. Everybody was in a good mood until we were ready
to go. It turned out that the good captain-team Dennis and Rene had
forgottet a few instructions as to how to handle a few things quite vital
when responsible for sailing the 10 miles to Grand Bay. Anyway, we
succeeded in getting her out with no other problems than a wet T-shirt.
The crossing to the bay
went very slowly and eventually a place was found to throw the
anchor. Again we ran into a bit of a problem due to the lack of
information but after 3 goes at the anchor the problem was solved - and
she was again connected.
It turned out that they had kept a
lookout for the beloved ship from the coast and after a few minutes Dennis
came along with the others and the ship was crowded with people.
The following 2 weeks the 3 couples
stayed on land and the 5 young sailors had a good time. Life was
comfortable and another 3 certified divers were found and lots of stories
of previous dives were retold.
Of course, the local shops, bars and
discoes had to be explored with the result that some had attacks of the
much feared “one-day-malaria” - headaches, lethargy and stomack aches.
Suddenly one morning the 2 captains moved
back into their berths and 2 wees had passed unnoticed. The 3 couples had
rented a flat north of Grand Bay. They had spent time on the beach not to
mention shopping. Since the girls and Michael were going home again from
here it seemed a good idea to transport their clothes home. Clothes were
cheap here so why not take advantage of that.
After a lot of shopping they needed a
change of scene, thus they moved into Grand Bay and funnily enough there
was the Dream.
The new place was very cheap but you only
get what you pay for. The place itself was OK but the surroundings were a
bit of a problem. At 5 am the mosque started only 100 metres away. The
sound woke the hens and especially the roosters which then took care of
the noise the rest of the day - accompanied by the many stray dogs, very
nice…
But we were not put off. We continued the
noise from the daytime into the night. We invited the rest of the crew to
a party. We did not have any music but we had some very nice nights, one
of which 60 per cent of the crew stayed the night.
Staying in a flat was quite a change for
the 3 guys. You had a big bed and a door which you could close and gave
you something called privacy. But also running water, a water closet and
unlimited amounts of electricity - if the power did not break down, which
it did occationally) were sheer luxury. Indeed, it takes only small things
to make us happy.
When Lise and Susan had gone back to cold
Denmark Dennis moved back onto the ship while Michael and Mette rented
another flat and spent another few days together before M&M were
homebound.
Tour 1: Ile aux cerf -
east coast - midland
While the ship was in Grand Bay the
captains arranged a few daytrips. One went to the island called Ile aux
cerf. We met on land and were picked up by a taxi driver who had been
hyred for the day. One hour late he finally arrived. We drove south where
a large speedboat was expecting us. We were a bit squeezed - 11 Danes take
up a lot of room and the boat first started planing when Claus was ordered
to sit up front. Having seen a boring waterfall we left the boat for an
island with lovely beaches and nice water. Soon the boys and Mette were
out snorkling, the girls sunbathing. In the water we saw various species
of fish - also the more dangerous ones so we had to be careful.
However, that did not prevent Dennis and
Claus from throwing sea cucumbers at each other. A couple of hours later
we were picked up by another boat which took us to a different beach where
we had dinner.
During dinner there was entertainment - a
reggaelooking Bob Marley clone entertained us with a girl. The food was
good, 3 courses - local fish, BBQ and fruit. Plenty of beverages were
served - soft drinks, rhum and beer (Michael, however, soon finished the
limited supply of beer). After that a visit to a botanic garden, a very
nice trip round the island.
Tour 2: The southcoast
We decided to repeat the success by going
around the island again by minibus. This time we were collected on time
almost every time and the driver spoke a much better English and was more
like a real guide.
First we went shopping, we saw a lot of
shops including Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss which are produced on this
island and therefore much cheaper compared to Denmark. We also saw a
diamont shop which had a little museum where they worked on the stones.
One has to admit that the girls are
winners of the shopping marathon. It was very hard on the boys. It was
time to do culture things such as a national park in the mountains. In
fact at an altitude where it rained most of the time. In some places they
were prepared for that and had placed umbrellas one could borrow. In one
place they had very special soil which showed 7 different colours. Nobody
really knew what made the different colours.
We also saw 2 waterfalls of which the
largest and most beautiful was no less than 75 metres deep so we had a
photosession. Near the second waterfall some monkeys suddenly appeared
about 5 metres away from us. They were curious to see if we had brought
any food.
At last we went to a hinduplace with a
small lake. People went down to sacrifice food to the gods. There were
also very nice statues with insence.
After another go with the cameras we
headed home.
Tor 3: Southcoast and
eastcoast
Having so many guests meant a lot of
photographing. Again we rented a minibus and continued where we left off.
We meant to explore the southcoast and the yet unseen part of the
eastcoast. We started by seeing a spectacular waterfall hidden in a sugar
cane plantation. The last few kilometres we crossed fields where people
were harvesting. Here they had found ripping off the leaves too big an
ordeal so they set fire to the canes - when the leaves were burnt off the
fire was automatically stopped because the canes themselves were wet.
Having admired the impressive waterfall
we went to what we thought was a crocodile farm, but it turned out to be
more than that, it was a quite nice park with a jungle part the way it was
before the French and English arrived. We could ride on the huge turtles,
it was almost like going by joy cars. To be honest the turtles could not
be bothered to get up. Sometimes if we were lucky, one of them would get
up with one of us on its back - it was good fun anyway.
And lots of crocodiles. When they are 3-4
years old they are killed and used for bags and very expensive restaurant
food.
On the way up we had a stop at Blue Bay
where we got a boat and went snorkling. The water was only 24 degrees so
some of us were quickly cold and had to come up and sunbathe.
The rest of the trip went through a lot
of small villages. It felt nice to get away from the tourist places.
Departure Mauritius
Departure was decided from Port Louis
because it was easier to get supplies. Also other things had to be
arranged which are easier in a port with water and electricity. We also
said good-bye to and old crew member (Christian). We went to a restaurant
and had double portions of spareribs (about 2 kilos a head). Then we were
full! The last few days we had our own Dreambio - a film placed in a
laptop.
The following sailing is very speciel for
Lars and Mike since its their first long stretch. Rumour has it they are
looking forward to it! We are heading towards Durban in Southafrica. We
will have a few expeditions into the land to look at some lions and
elephants and of course dive with sharks. From what we have heard they put
a lot of meat and blood into the water then when the sharks have arrived,
put a few divers into a cage and lower them down to the sharks. Even
experienced seamen are in for an adrenalin shock.
We plan to go to the Cape of Good Hope to
Cape Town. Here we will enjoy life for a few weeks or a month. When we
leave Cape Town we will be heading to the Atlantic towards a small island
where Napoleon lived in exile and is buried, St. Helena.
From there we are not sure - either
towards the Caribean Islands and the Azzores via Scotland and home or we
will go to Gambia and via the Canary Islands and the English Channel home
to Denmark - time will show.
New crew
New members of the crew have appeared.
Lars is a swimmer and has just finished a 3 months course at the Emergency
Forces. Mike is also a swimmer and has a job in a timber business. The 2
guys are not easily scared off - countless trips to town with Christoph,
Claus and Christian prove it. They are not exactely small either so food
rations have been increased. Things will be different when we are at sea
again where we do not use so much energy. Christian left the ship November
5. It was very strange to say good-bye after having spent the latest 3
months together. Thanks Christian you made our trip a lot richer.
Thanks to Conny Jessen
for translation