June 2025
A couple of days ago, one of the two oncoming crew members messaged to say he had missed the first of several flights, explaining that it was too complicated to rearrange everything so he would not be coming which, unfortunately, left no time to find a replacement. Shawn and Ally had picked up a hire car on the evening of the 31st and drove 25 minutes to Saint Gilles to pick Wendy up from her hotel at 9am on Sunday the 1st June, and they hit it off straight away. The first stop was the supermarket to provision before it closed at midday. It was a swift and easy task and they were back onboard Imagination early afternoon where they all enjoyed time getting to know each other.
It was straight into adventuring on the 2nd, with them all in the car just after 6am for the drive up to La Volcan ( aka La Piton de la Fournaise). Ally thought that it might be good to return with Wendy, to complete the hike to the crater that she had given up on last month……a decision she will never understand! As they travelled closer, the pleasant weather deteriorated and it became evident that it wasn’t going to be nearly as nice as last time with Suz, as the thick cloud gathered and hung over the peaks by the time they arrived at the car parking area. The 3 of them asked each other if they really wanted to do it, given the conditions, and with none of them wanting to be the party pooper they headed off having eaten a big sandwich at the small onsite café. Spirits were high as they set off into the foggy, moist conditions, descending into the caldera via the many, many steps and then across the lunar landscape in the eerie atmosphere. By the time they reached the other side they were all soaked through but continued the ascent up to the crater edge during which Ally managed 2 minor ankle sprains leading to the fear of a third, more major injury which slowed her down a fair bit. The underfoot conditions were hard, very uneven, jagged and steep at times but they made it up to the crater view point and saw……..absolutely nothing through the thick fog/cloud! After a quick photo and snack in the cold rain, they headed back down with the biting wind in their faces and at a slow pace due to Ally’s painful ankle. They were back at the car 5.5 hours after leaving it, all soaked to the skin and with numb fingers. Having planned to find a beach for a swim afterwards, Wendy and Ally stripped to their bikinis and sat in the car wrapped in towels as they were too cold to stand out in the wind and rain to get dry clothes on, while Shawn managed to change fully. The car heater was on full blast for about an hour as they thawed out on the journey back down the mountain with the idea of going for a swim 100% binned!
On the 3rd, they were up early again, this time to drive up to Cilaos, a town in the middle of a caldera known as Cirque De Cilaos. They ( well, Wendy) had to drive up a seemingly endlessly winding road to get there, navigating around 400 tight, steep bends. Thank goodness Wendy is a confident driver and once had aspirations to be a rally driver….she was brilliant! The views along the way!!! Mindblowing scenery at every turn passed the time and detracted from the anxiety of the narrow roads and tiny tunnels. Cilaos itself is quant and very “French”. Shawn, Ally and Wendy found a Boulangerie where they had coffee and pastries before going on a very easy ( compared to yesterday) walk to some ancient springs which are officially closed to the public. With the new springs facility currently closed, it was a given that they’d go down to the old ones and they weren’t the only ones. They’re not sure they got to the actual location, but it was a very pleasant time anyway and they followed it up with a very tasty lunch at one of the restaurants in town.
There was another hike on the 4th with another revisit, this time to the Cap Noir viewpoint, overlooking the Cirque De Mafate. More windy roads were driven to get there, but nowhere as bad or as many as yesterday. The views at the top were worth the effort and there was the added interest of watching 2 helicopters coming and going to pick up and drop off supplies to the small communities living high in the mountains. It was far busier compared to the last time Ally and Shawn were here a couple of weeks ago with Suz, but everyone was very polite and cheerful as they passed along the narrow trail. After the walk, they drove into St. Gilles where they found somewhere for an excellent lunch before returning to Imagination mid afternoon for some well deserved relaxation.
Wendy and Shawn left Imagination at around 09.30 on the 5th for the 2 hour 20 minute drive up to the Grand Galet Waterfall where their afternoon Canyoning adventure was to begin. Ally had decided not to join them as the thought of cold, mountain water and everything else that canyoning involves, did not appeal to her at all. Wendy and Shawn enjoyed every moment of the zip lining, leaping 5 metres into cold water, rock slides and swimming behind waterfalls, surrounded by beautiful scenery, flora and fauna and the afternoon was topped off by spotting 2 Chameleons in the foliage as they returned to the car. Perfect!
There was a very well deserved day of rest on the 6th, with everyone remaining onboard to prepare Imagination for the sail to Mauritius and get laundry done. Shawn and Ally returned the hire car at around 16.00 and 3 Customs officers came to dockside to stamp passports and clear Imagination out at 17.45 so that they could leave early in the morning – once again, it was a very quick and easy process. They left the dock side at 07.20 on the 7th June and once they came out of the shadow of the island, conditions were rough, with up to 31kt winds and 4 metre waves for several hours. Over the remainder of the 38 ish hour on the nose sail, the wind did slowly diminish to an average of around 23kt, but the sea conditions remained choppy with several waves crashing into the cockpit area. Of course, the forecast was nothing like reality which is why it took much longer than the anticipated 30 hours to reach their destination and as they made slow progress with several tacks keeping within the shadow of the island, both a coastguard vessel and a low flying aircraft came to check them out, neither of whom attempted to make contact. On arrival, Port Control were exceedingly helpful in giving Shawn coordinates of where to anchor for the night as the port is closed to sailing vessels after 6pm.
The anchor went down just outside Port Louis, Mauritius at 21.40, and after a drink and a chat, Shawn, Ally and Wendy went to bed. At around 2300, just before Ally got horizontal, she heard a horn several times so went to investigate. Low and behold, it was the Coastguard, shining an extremely bright light in her face as they shouted questions at her, downwind ( rather than use the VHF radio which is always puzzling) asking the usual questions ie, previous port, next port, how many people onboard, purpose of visit etc etc. Once they were satisfied, they wished her a goodnight and went on their way. At 9am the following morning, Shawn radioed Port Control requesting permission to enter the Port to go alongside the Customs dock which was granted 40 minutes later. They made their way in to the Port area and what they thought was the Customs dock according to online info, just looked like a wall where several restaurants were located beneath a high rise bank building right near the centre of town. After contacting Port Control again to clarify where they should be going, they noticed several guys waving them to go alongside the restaurant wall. It was bizarre to come in as people were sitting eating and watching and the pressure really was on Shawn when just as they approached the wall, the Starboard throttle broke so he had to manoeuvre using just the Port side engine, which he managed with great aplomb! Once tied up, the clearance formalities commenced and it has to be said, the Customs Officers and Drug Enforcement guys who were pleasant and professional, conducted the most thorough search of Imagination that Ally and Shawn had ever experienced. All cupboards were opened, seats lifted, oven opened, freezers checked as well as underbed storage, handbags hanging on doors etc etc. In between visits from the authorities, Shawn chatted to a French freelance skipper who was super kind and helpful in locating a replacement double throttle so that once the clearance procedure was completed, they could take a taxi ( having sorted out SIM cards!) straight to the chandlery to pick it up. Fitting it started immediately and took up much of the following day ( 10th), with Customs giving permission for Imagination to remain alongside until the issue was sorted. It was a different mechanism to the previous one and so a plinth had to be made, followed by several tweeks, attaching cables, putting the unit together and then several deconstructions and reconstructions to iron out a problem with pinched cables in the tight space behind the cockpit console. They broke up the day and destressed by heading to McDonalds for lunch followed by a walk through a very pleasant shopping area and by around 5pm, after a frustrating day, they finally had the new throttle fitted and the plan to move off of the clearance dock to a nearby tiny “marina” area was scrapped for the night.
Mid morning on the 11th, they moved Imagination off of the Customs dock and into the Caudan Waterfront Basin within the port. It’s not quite a marina, but it is a small protected area where local day boats and visiting yachts can go alongside with access to power and water. Once all the lines and fenders were set, Shawn, Ally and Wendy went for a walk and visited the small slavery museum and on through the lovely retail area with many cafés/bars and restaurants and into an older part of town to purchase souvenirs and some fresh produce.
They took a bus on the morning of the 12th to Tranquebar to do a hike up to La Pouce, the third highest mountain in Mauritius named after the thumb shaped peak. The start of the walk was lovely as they passed under the shade of the trees watched by long tailed macaques with the path soon narrowing and becoming rocky underfoot. Progress was good until a couple of hours in and the trail became very steep – not Ally’s favourite kind of hike! After climbing for half an hour up the well defined but narrow track through thick, tall foliage, both she and Wendy decided to call it a day, especially as there were no views to look at to take their minds off the hot, hard climb. Shawn decided to persevere for a while longer while the other two started the descent which took about an hour and 10 minutes. He managed to get to a viewpoint before making his way down, rejoining Ally and Wendy at the bottom about 10 minutes later. Rather than wait for a bus, they walked the half an hour back to the Waterfront where they found a bar to sit and have a couple of drinks, which then turned into more beer and dinner. It was a fun evening, ending onboard with lots of chatting and laughter and a nightcap of Shawn’s Passionfuit and Lychee Rum – delicious! The 13th was a day of recovery from both the hike and the beer!
At 07.35 on the morning of Saturday the 14th, they were off the dock and departing the port for Riviére Noir with the sail South starting very smoothly, but becoming very windy with gusts to 31kts and, of course, along came the associated rougher sea conditions, cloud and rain. The anchor went down at 13 50 and due to the continuing strong wind and intermittent rain, Ally, Shawn and Wendy stayed onboard playing various games and relaxing. The next day, they went ashore to have a look around. Initially they tied onto the dock belonging to a fishing club with a locked gate at the end of the dock and a high fence around the strictly members only club bar/restaurant. Shawn went to ask if we could leave our dinghy on the dock which was fine, but after taking a walk along the beach a little, they decided to move the dinghy to an area where access would be far easier as the high tide would have blocked access back onto the dock from the beach with them not being able to access it via the club. Black River ( Riviére Noir) is really not a touristy area, although many of the dayboats and dolphin/whale watching boats depart from here. It is a little run down and being Sunday, quiet, but they did manage to find somewhere for a drink and lunch and also sorted out a car for the next few days.
On the 16th, they took delivery of their hire car at 09.30 and Wendy was behind the wheel once again. They visited a couple of viewpoints within the Black River Gorges before heading back down to the coast and on to La Vanille Nature Park where they encountered the indigenous Giant Tortoises and several other caged animals. The 17th was another day of exploring which included a visit to Flik en Flak and on the 18th, they visited Le Morne, a World Heritage Site. Runaway slaves ( Marooners) would live in the caves on the mountain, throwing themselves off of the cliffs rather than be recaptured. There is a very pretty hike up to viewpoints looking over wonderful scenery and the braver hiker can even climb to the very top using ropes up along the steep gullies and rock faces. After lunch on a park area just behind the public beach listening to very bad Indian Karaoke, it was time to head back to Black River to get the car washed before returning it ( some of the roads were very dusty!), after which there was an evening of games onboard.
They motorsailed up the West coast to Grande Baie over the course of the day on Thursday the 19th, with much calmer conditions arriving at 16.25. Wendy had a painful back, having twisted awkwardly the previous day, and so the next couple of days were spent mostly onboard with Ally and Shawn ticking off a few boxes on the “to do” list while she rested. By the 23rd, they were all ready to spend some time ashore so walked an hour or so to Mon Choisy Public Beach which was fairly busy with locals and holiday makers. They were all looking forward to spending the day relaxing in the sun and water, however the wind had changed direction that day which meant it was coming straight onto beach at around 20 knots which made it rather uncomfortable and so after an hour, they decided to leave and make there way to a great looking bar they had passed on the way that had a pool and, more importantly, protection from the wind. They had a fabulous afternoon at CoCoChill Bar and Restaurant enjoying the surroundings, the friendly, cheerful service, each others company and two or three reasonably priced cocktails. Sadly, the pool was very cool and so noone was brave enough to get in.
They had hired a car for the 23rd and 24th and over the couple of days they visited caves where slaves used to live and hide, did a very tranquil walk near La Nicoliere Resevoir, visited Pointe Du Diable, a small fortification where they encountered some beautiful puppies, stood in a lava tube inhabited by hundreds of swifts, unwittingly trespassed into a disused Sugarmill while trying to find a waterfall and ate some great food in two random, unplanned places, both with great, friendly service!
Wendy left Imagination early afternoon on the 25th, but two days later, Ally and Shawn went ashore to meet her for another afternoon at CoCoChill Bar, where several cocktails were had and much silliiness ensued. Although it was sad to say goodbye to Wendy at the end of the evening, it’s great to know she will be returning when Ally and Shawn get back to the Caribbean.
Saturday 28th was a much needed recovery day with Ally making preparations for the arrival of the oncoming crew and the plan to sail back to Port Louis on the 29th was abandoned due to persistent heavy rain. Instead, they sailed down on the 30th and were greeted by a very lovely line handler – Suz! It was great to see her smiling face and to have her help take the lines and tie us alongside as we squeezed between a monohull and another cat. She came onboard for a beer and a chat before leaving Ally and Shawn to finalise their chores before her return to Imagination the following day.
( For more photos, see Sailing Crew Adventures with Scuba Diving | Facebook)
