Year 3 -22 May 2026 –Another Day Tour - Mauritius

We woke even earlier as we were leaving on an E-Bike tour of the Northeast of the island. This meant an early breakfast and Rashid picked us up at 7.30am. It was a lovely blue-sky day and we were prepared for some cycling.

We drove up to the Goodlands area and to a village called Calodyne where the company was based. We met Parmit and his assistant. Parmit was taking us on a 32km tour of the Northeast coast being one of the quietest parts of the island. We were given an e bike each and then given instruction as to how to use the bike. In a nutshell these bikes have 5 settings, the top setting being capable of 55mph (the UK is limited to 15mph). We were going to use 1 (7mph) and 2 (15mph). You pedal and the motor then accelerates to these speeds and you can control it by stopping peddling and it slows down or using the brakes. The motor kicks in after about 2m of movement so there is a little booster on the handlebar which gets you going so that the motor can kick in. This is the first time I have ridden an electric bike.

We were given a number of instructions and essentially the 4 of us were going out with Parmit on our own tour. We had a little practise around his house and it was easy to pick up and we were soon off on our tour. We first went to Cap Malhoureus, a little village nearby, where we stopped at a Hindi Temple called the Sri Draubadi Amman Temple. This was very ornate and colourful and had various shrines to various gods. It was interesting to see and many Hindi Temples are similar in terms of colours and design. We then cycled on to a little beach/port area which was beautiful and really showed the different colours of the blues of sea. There was no one here although there were some little fishing boats moored which they use to fish inside the reef. You could see the reef but it was about 2-3 miles offshore. You could see Gunners Coin – an island with a great ridge offshore in the distance.

We then went on and stopped at a simple Catholic Church which had a red metal roof. This was on the edge of another bay with little boats in it and a curved beach which had an Indian shrine on the shore called Saint Francois. We continued and came to the most Northeastern point where they do a lot of Kite Surfing as it gets the wind and it is safe as it is only 1.2m deep for a long way inside the reef. There was little wind today and so no kite surfing was going on.

We continued and came to Grand Gaube the largest fishing village on the island and we went to the fish market which was a series of little stalls selling what they had caught. There were a lot of flies around so that was not great. Pramit bought some small fishes – we assumed for his supper.

We continued on and stopped at a little restaurant where we had a typical local dish which was a bowl of chicken, lentil pasta with berries and coconut chutney and it was actually very pleasant. This restaurant was run by 2 ladies and Pramit wanted to support them. We then rode to a little cake shop which again Pramit wanted to support. We each selected a cake and then Pramit said we would eat them later.

I asked Pramit about whether the island regards itself more as French or English and he said more French probably and he will explain why. He said when the British took over they really just wanted to govern so they told all the French families to carry on as they were and that they will just tax and govern. Therefore a lot of the land, sugar plantations etc stayed in the hands of the French and that is why despite British rule it is still very French although most people here speak both languages.

He went on to explain about the bringing in of different nationalities by the British and that in order to prevent disruption and disorder they put the Hindi’s in one area, the Afro Caribbeans in another and the Muslims in their own area.

Some of these villages remain so we then went through a traditional old Hindi village and each house had a mini shrine outside it with an orange or red flag on top of it. We then rode to a nearby beach which had mangroves around it and it had another Indian Temple on the shore. We eat our cake here enjoying the scenery. Pramit explained that 95% of the mangroves has been removed for hotels and the man who owns this land wants to keep the mangroves as is as it helps fish and all sorts of life. Pramit used to be a professional fisherman has now created a sort of turtle sanctuary amongst the mangroves and he is allowed to take his tour guests into this private reserve.

We cycled along and entered the reserve through a gate where we left the bikes. The local agricultural department is reintroducing plants which they have lost some of which have to have the seeds go through a tortoise digestive system in order to germinate. On the site were two huge tortoises David and Goliath who we went to see. Apparently it works. We had collected some Acacia leaves on the way and this is a delicacy which they love. These tortoises reminded me of the Galapagos and they were of a similar size with David being 126 years old. It was good to feed them and see the tortoises in such a great condition.

We walked on into the mangroves and across some walkways where there was a small oyster farm which harvests oysters in July/August. In addition there was a little turtle sanctuary where we saw two injured turtles being nursed back to good health and this is why Parmit brought the little fish so he could give it to them which they seemed to enjoy. I think Parmit is quite a quiet man and a bit of a naturalist and he has taught the fishermen to bring injured turtles so that he can nurse them back to health.

We retraced our steps and were on the bike again and this time we were to go through an Afro-Carribbean village called St Michel. This is apparently the major drug supply place in the island and between 6.00pm and mid-night it is very busy. Parmit said that the Police do not go there anymore as it is too dangerous and it is a no-go area for them. We cycled through it and there were quite a lot of people hanging around not doing very much and sitting and staring.

We then rode back to Parmit’s house to end our tour. It had been a great tour around beautiful and remote parts of the island with some interesting places to visit. The bikes were great but you do not really get any exercise from them.

Rashid picked us up and then we went to a chandlery nearby as I need some new mooring lines but they did not have what I needed. We then went via Decathlon back to Stormbird. However, we got stuck in traffic which is very bad at rush hour. There are too many people and cars here to cope with the volume so you really need to time your travels around this issue.

We felt quite tired with all the fresh air but happy that we had had 2 days of getting to know the island. We had a quick drink and then went for supper nearby which was fun. It had been another interesting day and we are getting a sense of the island now.

Jerome hopefully comes back tomorrow to finish some work.

The picture of the day is the 4 of us on our e bikes.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am now in Mauritius and will be going to Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. 

I have now found additional crew for Mauritius to Durban. There may be space from Durban to Cape Town from about the beginning of July and we should arrive in Cape Town on about 25-30 July 2026. If at all interested contact me on my email below or WhatsApp +44 7931360372.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com