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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Nov 30, 2010 07:00 PM Port Louis - Mauritius
Till the time of tapoleon Napoleon Mauritius was a French colony, then British took is and now it is independent country. English is the official language, but on the streets locals still speak French. But everybody learn English in the school so I do not have any problem to comunicate with the friendly local people. Most of them are Creols, but on the streets of Port Luis you can see many escendents of the imigrants from India. This makes streets very colorful.
I found a clean room in the little, family- run Tandoori Hotel conveniently located near the South Bus Station. They charge just 800 rupees for the room with bath, a/c and fridge. Every day you have fresh sheets, soap and towel. Ooops! Only the ants are present, but those of you who travel in the tropics know that thay do not bite... :))
You can change your money in every bank, but the money changers opposite the waterfront give slightly better rate: 39.5 local rupees (MUR) per euro or 30 for the dollar.
I took a walk to the citadel or Fort Arelaide /free entry/ for the nice view of the city and the surrounding hills. In the citadel shops for he tourists are located now - it is worth to see diamonds, rum, souvenirs. Just before sunset I came down to the cathedral of Saint Louis - well worth to see. Just let you know that all shops and institutions close very early - like 4 pm - this is the local style of life...
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Nov 29, 2010 07:00 PM Merci beaucoup pour votre aimable companie!
After 24 days of sailing it is time to say goodbye to "Marion Dufresne" nad my fellow French travellers. They were very kind tome and I gain from them a lot of knowledge about territories. I also do hope that they know now a bit more about my country except the standard "Boire comme un polonais" French proverb I heard on arrival. In fact on the ship they were drinking much more then me: there is a behaviour that before every lunch and dinner they are coming to the bar for the drink or two. Sorry, not me - un polonaise :))
When I was telling them my travel stories from all conners of the world I had a feeleng that for some of them it is hard to accept that there is a guy in Poland who saw more of the world than they did. Sorry, let they know that there is also one in France: my friend Andre Brugiroux!
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Nov 28, 2010 07:00 PM Port Louis on the horizon!
Our sick sailor is much better - said dr Celine and according to her he is disappointed that he will go to the hospital for the examinations instead of sailing for the next loop voyage to the Kerguelens. At 11.00 am we saw Mauritius Island on the horizon. Soon we came closer to the huge rock on the cap. Then we were sailing more than two hours along the coast enjoying the views if the green cane fields and sharp peaks of the island. I remember from my first visit years ago that Port Louis - the capital of Mauritius is located in the beautiful scenery. It is still valid. Photographed from the town this scenery is already not so impressive. But when the ship is entering the port you have to be on the deck to enjoy the view. It is great! Now we are waiting for the border formalities. Mauritius is independent country. They say that immigration formalities for the EU citizens are simple: what they require is to show them your ticket out of Mauritius.
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Nov 27, 2010 07:00 PM Barbecue on the ocean
Warm and sunny Sunday. Today our hosts from TAAF offer special attraction: instead of the lunch in the restaurant we have a BBQ meal on the open deck: on the landing pad of the helicopter. But the sun on the open deck was so strong that they decided to move to the back of the ship (they poetically call this part of the ship "la poupe" ? ) La poupe was not cleaned up - but doesn't matter - I enjoyed anyway the vegetable salad and the ice-cream on the open air. It was also a chance to take a picture in front of the French flag, historical flag - we sailed under this flag all over the way through the "roaring forties". Due to the strong winds this flag is a little bit "fatigue" but for me is has a great value even if dirty. I asked the navigation officer if I can take this dirty flag as a valuable souvenir. No response so far. Perhaps they do not have a new one to put it on the mast. Great sunset today. We will cross the tropic of Capricorn tonight.
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Nov 26, 2010 07:00 PM From passerelle to the hell.
Day at sea. They wanted me to be at 10 am at the passerelle. No announcements in English. Thanks God I know already that "passarelle" means the bridge. Charming Mary - the first engineer took us from the bridge some 8 decks down for the "machine tour". We were walking the stairs down and down. (they have elevator on this ship but at the beginning of our voyage they warned us: -Better do not use it at all! I wonder why?). And down there I felt like in the hell: cramp rooms without window, noise, heat, pumps, smells, motors, alarm beeps, kilometers of pipes, steel doors. That's like Mary's kingdom looks. By the way: second engineer on our ship is also a lady. Her name is Emily. Of course I took the opportunity to ask about the cabin heating system, regarding my sick in the cold cabin. Can you imagine? "Marion Dufresne" has 5 independent systems of heating. During our sailing through the cold south only one was working (the other ones need to be repaired or are too expensive to use because they charge extra portion of the fuel). -Second engineer is responsible for that! - said Mary. Those ladies-engineers! Thanks God we are back in the warm region - the ocean
is calm today and I can walk the open deck in the shirt only. The temperature in the cabin is acceptable now. What I am afraid: maybe those ladies from the "hell" will try to freeze us now, because tomorrow or the day after we possibly will enter again the tropical zone.
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Nov 25, 2010 07:00 PM Urgent evacuation.
In the morning our ship was drifting few hours at the bottom of the high cliff - near Entrecousteau Point. Helicopter was taking to the coast people and the supply to the little shelter ashore. The top of the cliff they call Grand Balcony. Endemic albatrosses are nesting there. Access is restricted to the scientists so we only enjoyed the view of the high cliff and birds flying around. Every second day in the Martin de Vivies base they launch meteo transmitter attached to the balloon. It is flying 25 kms up and sending accurate data about the temperature, winds etc. We assisted such a ceremony. Then a visit in the post office is obligatory for the postcards and stamps, the shop for the souvenir T-shirts. On the outskirts of the base we found little chapel of the Our Lady of the Ocean - very quiet place. In the afternoon we were ready for the next walk along the shore when the guide received via walkie-talkie the bad news: we have a seriously sick member of the crew on board who needs to be in the hospital as soon as possible (that's what they say). Captain decided to shorten our stay in Amsterdam by one day and to depart immediately. Nearest hospital is four days and four nights of sailing away. "Miraculously" all the supply we brought to the Amsterdam Island Base is already delivered ashore. Before sunset we left Amsterdam Island behind.
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Nov 24, 2010 07:00 PM Funny fur seals from Amsterdam
They are different from those fur seals I saw in Antarctica and much less aggressive. What we see here on the rocky beach are mostly youngsters, only 7-8 months old. Their parents are feeding themselves in the sea. They will come soon togive the birth to the new puppies. Those youngsters are playing in the shallow water, learning how to swim and haunt - now they will be on their own. Oh, oh, oh! - non-stop barking you can hear at any time of the day. Coming closer you will see them jumping on the stones and trying to bit each other. But you will see no blood during these exercises - it is just a play. Orca or killer whale is the main enemy of the young seals. So far I saw only one orca on approach to Amsterdam. It was probably already after lunch. We took a walk (about an hour) through the high grass to the air-control station. Amsterdam has a strategic position in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is almost the same distance - about 5000 kms - from here to Africa, India and Australia. The air is free from the pollution, and that's why they can use values measured here as a reference. I left my rubber boots on the ship. Amsterdam is very dry island and they have a problem to collect enough unsalted water for those people who live here. They collect rain water from the all roofs to the special, plastic tanks. I wish them to have enough rain for their showers! So far strong sun is shining over Amsterdam and I have to protect my neck from the sunburn!..
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Nov 23, 2010 07:00 PM Amsterdam: seals on the main street!
No, it is not that Amsterdam in the Nederlands - I am still on the Indian Ocean! Amsterdam island is much bigger then Saint Paul. It is rising from the 30-m cliffs on the east to the 700-m high Entrecousteau coast in the west. French base, where 40 people live in the summer (20 in the winter) lies on theeastern coast. Main street - Avenue Martin-de-Vivies goes from the little jetty up to the "Residence of the Chef de District". Fur seals living in the big number on the stony beach nearby do not care about the traffic - they walk the avenue
and often lay on the sun in the middle of the lane. On the beach there is limited space so they wonder up to the base. Near the hospital I saw a pair residing under the tree. It couldn't be a pleasure for the patients to listen their barking day and night! Yes, there are trees on Amsterdam Island! What a pleasure for the eyes to see them again after few weeks spent in the harsh, deserted south! The island is famous for the endemic phillica trees - they try to increase their number. TAAF guides offer overnight stay in the little cottages ashore: Ribault on the shore - 20-minutes walk from the baseand Antonelli - at the minicrater some 70-minutes walk from the base. We are enjoying lobsters for our lunches - there is plenty of them around the island andthey catch them to improve their diet.
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Nov 22, 2010 07:00 PM Beautiful Saint Paul Island
Can you imagine a single volcanic cone rising from the dark-blue ocean in the middle of nowhere? That's how Saint Paul island looks like. But it is not brown or black like most of the volcanoes. It is green! Thousands years ago a part of the Saint Paul's volcano rim broke, opening the way to the caldera which is now filled with water. It is possible to sail by the little ship into the caldera. When I saw the island in the early morning in the sun I thought that little Saint Paul Island is one of the most picturesque places of this voyage. In the past French tried to colonize Saint Paul. I am proud to mention that is the middle of the19th century Polish captain Adam Mieroslawski on behalf of the French Governor of Reunion was here acting chief of the island. A little fishery and French garrison was on Saint Paul at that time. Now French authorities announced that Saint Paul is a Nature Reserve. For some reason (they always repeat: his is not a cruise ship!) we stayed at Saint Paul only about 3 hours. In the tourist program a 10-minutes helicopter flight was included. I saw that for the first time they are launching their only zodiac. -Can I sail also in a zodiac into caldera? The answer surprised me: yes, but then you have to pay for the helicopter flight: 48 euro per minute x 10 minutes. Sorry, I cannot pay anything extra! I saw the zodiac sailing many times to the caldera and back with wealthy tourists and crew members. How much cost the petrol for one round-trip sailing to thecaldera. 4 euro? I thought at this moment with a great sentiment about the crew from my Russian ships to Antarctica, it is hard to imagine that they can have about such an approach. They were happy to offer us additional opportunities to enjoy the voyage. But now I am on the French ship. Flight was nice but I was not lucky to have a front seat, so my air pictures are so-so.
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Nov 21, 2010 07:00 PM Saint Paul and Amsterdam on the horizon!
We are getting the knowledge about the next islands on our route: Saint Paul and Amsterdam. They rise from the sea some 1500 kms from Kerguelen and 2880 kms from Reunion. The distance between two islands is only 85 kms. Saint Paul with its 8 square kms of surface looks like volcanic crater with abroken rim, full of water. Small boats can enter the crater from the ocean (this reminds me Deception Island in Antarctica). Amsterdam Island is bigger (58 sq. kms) and has the high cliff on the west coast and a big plateau descending to the east.
Do you remember my Lapu-Lapu story? When the tribe chief Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan on the Philippines his last boat "Victoria" under captain Sebastien Del Cano passed through Saint Paul already in 1522 on its way to Lisbon. Other Portuguese sailor named the island in 1559.
Amsterdam Island (named after the name of van Diemen's ship "Nieuw Amsterdam") was discovered by Dutch on their way to the West Indies in 1633. (There are also other versions of thediscovery of Saint Paul).In the past nobody wanted these two islands, now they are French. I hope to see them tomorrow.
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