Year 3 -4 June 2026 – Grand Baie-exploration - Mauritius
We had a good night and woke about 7.30am. It was another lovely clear blue-sky morning and calm. We had a berry smoothie to start with and then Joyce made scrambled eggs on toast which set us up on the day.
We had got up early to go for a good walk along the bay to Mon Choisy.
We eventually got going about 10.00am and went ashore and left the dinghy on the club pontoon. I spoke to the membership lady and agreed a week’s membership from tomorrow. We then set off for our walk. We decided we would walk along the bay as far as we could go and an app we had suggested we could walk quite a way. We skirted the water back to the town and then along the beach and then went past various buildings. There were walkways along the shore for some distance and then we were skirting the shore along the end of gardens and so some pathways, some tracks and some rocks. We must have walked three quarters of the way around Grand Bay when we sort of ran out of shoreline or so it appeared.
We then went on to the road as we only had to go so far before we could cut across to Mon Choisy beach. The other option would have been to continue along the shore and go around the promontory which would have added quite a bit of distance. We walked along the road for about half a mile and found a great Boulangerie which we went into. We found some salads for the ladies and a ham and cheese baguette for me. We walked on and within 15 minutes came to Mon Choisy beach which was looking lovely today in the sun with the blue turquoise water. We walked under the trees and found a pick nick table where we sat for lunch and eat what we had bought although we ordered some drinks from a mobile van.
It was a great spot and we looked at the world going round and enjoyed our table and view. After lunch the girls went off for a swim and I guarded the bags. The girls then had a coconut and once we had had enough we decided to move. I thought I would walk back and the ladies decided to take the bus.
I walked along the beach and instead of going up the road decided to try and walk along the shoreline and the promontory we had walked to avoid. This took me along a beautiful walk along the beach and passing a number of hotels, resorts and even Club Med. I asked various security guards as I was walking along their swimming and sunbathing areas but was told that the shoreline was public and I could walk along it. I therefore continued and walked along. There were some pathways but otherwise it was on the beach which was quite hard work to walk on.
I passed rocks, little islands, small harbours but a beautiful coastline and it reminded me of Brittany.
I walked on and found a good stick in case there were some overprotective dogs as I walked along. This proved to be a good idea as I had a few dogs come at me. They were mostly barking and not that aggressive but you never know.
I continued left and right along the coast and passed by some lovely houses on the waterline with nice gardens and outlook. I also passed by some poor shacks and little houses. They were all lucky to have a shoreline and a view.
Black rain clouds approached and I took shelter under a palm tree for a bit but it did not last long. I then continued and had to go inland for a small section and then went into the Eden restaurant and walked from there on to the beach again. I had had little signal on this route and I was walking past a trendy beach bar when I saw Carolyn and Joyce having a cocktail. It was lucky I saw them so joined them. They had walked to the South side of Mon Choisy beach and then caught the bus back.
We had a drink and then walked along to a seafood restaurant which was not as nice so we came back to the Beach House as it was called and by this time it had filled up.
We had a good meal and enjoyed the ambiance and vibe. It had been a great day and we had seen a lot or the area. We walked back to the Grand Bay Yacht Club in the dark and then found the dinghy. We motored off in the dark and found Stormbird without any anchor light. This was soon rectified and we sat and read etc. The generator went on to charge the batteries.
Hisham arrives tomorrow so we will then be back to 4.
The picture of the day is a section of our walk along the coastline.
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