Year 3 -31 May 2026 -Port Louis- Mauritius
It is Keith Winstanley’s birthday today so Happy Birthday Keith.
The alarm went at 6.00am wakening me for my first drop and this should be the last day of having to do drops at 6.00am. I am see the surgeon tomorrow evening who will hopefully approve of the progress and sign me of as it were, albeit that I will continue drops for about a month after my operation.
When the lady’s got up I made a berry smoothie which we all enjoyed and Joye had in addition eggs on toast. As there was little of substance in the freezer this seemed a good time to defrost it. So we got what we had in it in a bag and put it in the fridge, which when I woke was minus 8 despite the fact that it was not on maximum. The man must have put a lot of gas in as it seemed to be working overtime. I therefore had had to turn it right down to a level which I can judge to keeping it about 4.
Carolyne then set about defrosting the freezer using a heat gun which is a bit like a hair drier, as there were chunks of ice and the plate had ice all around it. I got on with making a list of everything we had in terms of food to work out what we needed to buy. This takes some time but is always a useful exercise and you end up getting rid of certain things you should have done before really – things that are out of date for example. Joyce was cleaning the galley and soaking the fruit and veg nets we hang in the galley. They get dirty over time and so they needed a clean.
Once I had done my list I then remembered about the washing machine which had a leak at the tap end of the water pipe and I thought it was the end fitting. I got the pipe off which was no mean feat as it is in a cupboard in my shower and access is limited. I took the pipe to a hardware store and a man looked at it and said that he thought it was the washer rather than the pipe/fitting which needed replacing as he could see a hole in it which I had not noticed. He found a new washer and gave me a spare and did not charge me which was kind. I came back, fitted it all and it worked with no leak. This was very satisfying.
Joyce made lunch and the defrosting was more or less completed with just a few bits of ice behind the plate which by the end of lunch were gone. It then needed a good clean and then the moment of truth – will it switch on again? Luckily it did and off she went and so we put back the frozen stuff -another good job done.
We had decided that it would be cheaper to stock up in Mauritius than in Reunion, which is expensive. I had made a list of what we needed and we wanted to fill the freezer. The three of us went off to Winners ( a supermarket chain here) and as we arrived (3.50pm) it was closing at 4.00pm so we would not be able to do it today. We therefore focussed on the freezer stuff and in about 15 minutes got what we could take today and returned to Stormbird and put the things away and what we needed to in the freezer. We agreed we will go early tomorrow to complete the job.
Once we had packed everything away it was time for – yes you guessed it a sundowner! Well we deserved one!
We decided to eat out tonight and have the casserole tomorrow. We went out to a French type of bistro as we fancied a simple steak and chips and salad which we had. It was good, simple and a pleasant meal washed down with a nice Bordeaux.
We had decided not to go on a tour today with Rashid as Carolyne does not trust his driving and in any event will be up in the North of the island and the places we want to visit are up there. We can therefore go when we are up in Grand Baie.
The picture of the day (as I did not take any today) is Mon Choisy beach on a grey day which I took the other day.
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