Rodriguez Island

Hi peeps, here we are, back again!

After 'long time no see' I eventually decided to ultimately update our unfinished blog and the traveling recap. At least since we have finished our journey for the time-being.. :)

So the last, but not least, places we visited along the Indian Ocean crossing were for that instance Rodrigues Island. The furthest island to the East of the West Indian Ocean, practically - the one you get first to after leaving Cocos Keeling and getting across the whole Ocean. It was a beautiful leg, whole 13 days out in the ocean, without setting foot on the land!

dolphins' farewell from Cocos Keeling, aww! ^^

trying out sextant..

...with no further success.. ;)

food for thought and staff morale

J.'s first bread - quaint, but how tasty indeed!

me sewing our courtesy flag before approaching the land,
DIY at full throttle ;)

yohoo, our destination approached!

Nonetheless, no-one was truly happy, in fact. Reaching the land after 13 days meant we had accomplished the longest passage in our lives (for most of us), thus this stage of the journey was, irreversibly, over. By far will remain deeply within.

Rodrigues, appeared to us like a little speck on the map. It counts about 40000 inhabitants, pretty much, so bigger town alike. We were charmed with the atmosphere on the land - it looked so colonial, and African! Much more than we probably expected. People were very (!) friendly, but not nosy at all, so we finally felt more relaxed to have a stroll without heavier gaping at us all the time. 

First day of exploring the island we happened to meet a girl, who without any problems (nonverbal), cause she didn't speak any English whatsoever, took us up the hill showing us a shortcut to reach the top. Nice one!

 

^_^

One day we visited a stunning turtle reserve, where we could grasp a bit of the Rodrigues that was here a few centuries back, before it was colonized. We took a walk, filled with the excitement associated with being surrounded with those little crawlies. Thousands of them, I guesstimate.
Here are some shots:

overview of the reserve's valley

over 100 y.o., hard toil it is to live so long..

scoffing hectically hihi

Did you know turtle's lungs are
just under the top layer of the shell?
That's why they sound so odd whilst moving..;)

On the way back:

Every day we were picking different part of the island to explore, therefore we luckily had a chance to see these staggering views and meet almost nobody along the way. They're one of the most beautiful beaches and the coast, by and large, I've ever seen. Check it out yourself:

delightful coffee in unforgettable surroundings :)

 

we almost missed out the last bus...

 

due to relaxed atmosphere and upcoming food..;)

The island was the coziest and most relaxed we have visited, beautiful and versatile, representing all different kinds of landscapes. Very African and vibrant. Colorful and unique. I could keep listing the epithets endlessly, but it's enough to say we were happy to spend a full week on this lovely island (anyways, who even knew about it before I'd even mentioned it?;>)

That was, actually, my penultimate stopover, cause the following one - Mauritius was to be my parting one, preparing me for facing the 'western world' back in the UK on the 22.09.2015. Not for Jay though, he was still having his course set for South Africa heading straight down there in his mind. :)