Reunion - hello and goodbye

Wow, we have been out of touch! Or is that touché? No of course not, but it gives you a sense of the depth of our problem in Reunion - Its very French!

We have had a great time here the last 10 days exploring the island of Reunion, hiking to the top of an active volcano, sightseeing by car around the island, and enjoying the Dipavali holiday fireworks and bar parties. We have been docked in Saint Pierre, surrounded by a great reef break where the surfers hang daily, a fantastic beach for swimming, snorkelling and downtown on our other side.

But despite the paradise of our good fortune, all around the docks in Saint Pierre this morning are signs of boats being readied for departure. Next door Eivand on Empire is test running his engine, sawing and drilling away at some mysterious parts in the cockpit. Down the dock, other skippers and crew are on deck, pulling on lines, looking aloft, testing and checking sails and rigging. Our boat is scrubbed, provisioned, watered and tidied - readied to go. Everyone else seems restless to leave too, a favourable weather window calling, but held up by the French bureaucracy – a four day closing of all government offices means none of us get our exit visas. All of us – and I bet there are 8 of us - remained tied to the dock inside the breakwater, while fair winds beckon outside. “Well, cry me a river!” I hear you say.

This passage to South Africa from Reunion is the big one everyone has been anticipating the whole way across the South Indian Ocean. It’s a 1500 mile passage, as I have said in other blogs, that will take us south around the southern tip of Madagascar, across the Augulas Current to Richards Bay. Some skippers are paying handsomely for the advice of professional ‘route planners’ - meteorologists - for personalized weather forecasts. The rest of us are listening keenly to such prognostications received second hand, while we debate our amateur weather forecasting efforts from internet data such as passageweather.org. Go? Stay? In the end, in the face of indifferent forecasts, we will just leave, for all of us are too restless to wait for perfect conditions. And, the passage is longer than can be forecast. By the time we get to Madagascar, the weather will be what it will be. We might, or might not, get beaten up a little, but all of us have boats and experience sufficient to the task.

Preparing for sea is a welcome focus for me, and I think for other skippers and crew. After the pleasant days, filled with low key repairs and preparations interspersed with sightseeing and hiking, we all welcome a return to doing what we love to do – sailing.