Year 3 -7 June 2026 – Tour -Grand Baie- Mauritius

Hisham was up early and I got up about 7.00am. We had some tea and coffee and then when the ladies got up we had breakfast – scrambled eggs on toast and bread and jam.

Joyce was keen to do a walk in the Black River Gorges National Park in the South. We therefore went ashore and then got in the car and drove about an hour and a half to the Alexander Falls in the National Park. We bought from a Boulangerie some nice, filled baguette sandwiches. On the way our route took us up into the mountains and we had a good view of them and the view down to the West coast.

Black River Gorges National Park is a national park in the hilly south-western part of Mauritius. It was proclaimed on June 15, 1994, and is managed by the National Parks and Conservation Service. It covers an area of 67.54 km2 including humid upland forest, drier lowland forest and marshy heathland. Facilities for visitors include two information centres, picnic areas and 60 kilometres of trails. There are four field stations in the park which are used for National Parks and Conservation Service and Mauritian Wildlife Foundation research and conservation projects. It is the largest national park in Mauritius.

The park protects most of the island's remaining rainforest although much of this has been degraded by introduced plants such as Chinese guava and privet and animals such as rusa deer and wild pigs. Several areas have been fenced off and invasive species have been eradicated from them to preserve native wildlife. Many endemic plants and animals still occur in the park including the Mauritian flying fox and all of the island's endemic birds: Mauritius kestrel, pink pigeon, Mauritius parakeet, Mauritius cuckooshrike, Mauritius bulbul, Mauritius olive white-eye, Mauritius grey white-eye and Mauritius fody. The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

When we got to the car park of the Alexandra Falls we went to see the falls which were not that large but we decided to go on a walk along the Gross Basin Road walk which was about 2.4 km. We thought it would be a circular walk but it was not. We walked back the same way but we had a lovely walk through the forest and it was well marked and we must have walked about 5km in total.

We got back to the car and drove to the Black River falls lookout and looked at that which Joyce, Carolyn and I had seen when we were with Rashid.

We then drove through Chamarel, a village where we had lunch before and then to the Plage de Morne. This was a beach which was quite similar to Mon Choisy with trees lining the beach and little development behind. We got a drink and sat on the beach and had a rest in the sun in the shade under the trees.

Hisham was a little tired so he asked me to drive. This was the first time I have driven since my eye operation and it was fine. It took us an hour and a half to get back and we parked in the yacht club. We then decided to go straight to the Beach House, the bar and restaurant we had been to before which was on the beach in Grand Baie. We moored the dinghy on the beach and then had a sundowner cocktail and then a good meal which was very enjoyable. The Monaco Grand Prix was on and I could watch some of it but we could not watch it all.

We headed back in the dark with our phone torches on and found Stormbird in the dark. We quickly put the anchor light on and sorted ourselves out. I was annoyed as the fridge was not working properly again so we will have to get this sorted.

Keith Winstanley arrives tomorrow morning early so we will hopefully meet him at the yacht club in time for breakfast.

We had had a good and most enjoyable day and see more of the island.     

 The picture of the day is the view from the Black River Gorges National Park to the sea.

 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