Tamarin Trawling – Marks Meanderings

Tales of our second trip will seem tame in comparison to those of our first adventure. Another early wake up was required for today’s activity (so much for relaxing). We were picked up at 0530 by taxi. It was the same driver that we had already met. We meandered our way a little further back up the west coast than we reached in yesterday’s trip to our next meeting point. You could feel the sun was rising, although we couldn’t see it yet. As each minute passed, the darkness that we experienced as we set off began to dissipate. There is something truly magical about watching or being awake for the sunrise. A glorious sunrise is spellbinding and often captivating It is certainly a great start to a new day and gives a chance to reflect and be grateful for another day. It provides inspiration to live for the day.

The sun was rising behind the mountains that covered the terrain on this part of the island. We arrived at the former fishing location of Tamarind Bay. The fishing economy having long gone, this was now a tourist hub for watersports. Laying peacefully in the bay were jet boats that would take tourists out onto the crystal-clear waters in sporting pursuit of mother nature. Our day was going to be by paddle power. We ignored the boats as we left our activity centre carrying our sea kayak. Tired though we were, we were both excited and invigorated by this new holiday hobby we had embraced. This day was a stark contrast to the first time I booked Hannah onto such an activity in California. We made our way to the water’s edge. We waited for another couple to join us and for our guide. The beach wasn’t as clean as the one at our hotel. There was more seaweed here. We put our toes in the sea to get used to its temperature whilst a couple of local dogs ran merrily around the beach chasing each other. Such energy for first thing in the morning and a reminder of what we had left behind in England.

Our guide arrived, not with a kayak but a paddle board along with the other couple. We quickly established that they were French, and our poor guide was going to have to speak in both English and French as both couples weren’t strong enough in a second language. We had a quick lesson / recap on how to kayak and the importance of working together in unison, before pushing in the kayaks and jumping on. Someone had made a joke that kayaking can be the grounds of serious disagreements that tests the strength of a relationship!! This may have been true the first time we tried this out but this time we were quietly confident of our ability to have a good time. As we left the shoreline the sun was just peeping up over the mountains to say hello. The sun rose higher with each stroke, to keep us very warm.

We paddled our way out to the entrance of the bay, on what must be said were very calm waters. To our left was the mountain (Le Morne Brabrant) that we had climbed the previous day and to our right was the start of one of the island’s famous coast lines called Flic en Flac. Behind us, I believe, were the mountains called Trois Mamelles (literal French translation – 3 udders) and Rempart (French for fortification).

The main reason for kayaking out here was that this was a renowned feeding ground for the local dolphins. They must have known that we were coming and decided that other local bays would be more appealing than showing us their playful nature. We waited patiently bobbing up and down on the ocean. We shared stories with our guide, who was also a big fan of Italy. Today wasn’t our day – the other bays must have been preferred – and our guide suggested instead that we return to the shore and picked up the river that flowed into the bay and kayak upstream. We all agreed and turned and headed for land. I must confess that I couldn’t see where we had started so we had to have full trust in our guide that we were paddling in the right direction. By now the sunshine was there but a stiff morning breeze was blowing the wrong way for us. We certainly had to power our way back to the shore.

Upon arrival, we climbed out of our crafts and dragged them through the very shallow mouth of the river. It was noticeable how quickly the water colour changed from the ocean blue to the brown and murky river. Once we cleared the shallow water we jumped back in the kayaks and made our way upstream of the Rivière du Rempart. This was one of two rivers that converged at the shoreline with the other being the Rivière Tamarin. It so happened that we were to explore more of this river on the next day on our third outing (watch out for the blog on this).

Back to our exploration of the river Rempart we noted that there were large houses belonging to wealthy people that were dotted on one side of the riverbank as we set off up stream. Every now and again a deafening noise of birds or local building works would disrupt the solitude. As we passed the final house our guide was quick to point out that this was one of the most important house on the island. It belonged to the head of the Christian church of Mauritius. A beautiful red roof rested on the arches surrounding the outer porch. There were well-maintained lawns. Through these arches a cross with Jesus on was clearly visible.

It was here that we left civilization and went more into an overgrown area. I was expecting Tarzan to swing in front of us as we ducked low level tree branches. We swerved around the low level rocks. Our guide informed us this was a place that he would come to escape, chill and relax. How true this is I will never know but it certainly wasn’t a place for us as we would have been eaten alive by the mossies. So, we thankfully turned the kayak around before we retraced our steps (sorry I mean strokes) back to the confluence of the two rivers with the sea. It was here that I was becoming fascinated with a local bird a ‘striated heron’, I believe. They were everywhere you looked.

Sadly, our time on the kayak had come to an end, which was good job as we were now both starting to feel rather hungry, and the mossies were certainly getting well fed on us. These early morning starts are great, but they mean missing breakfast at the hotel!! On a positive note, the early start means that one is back in time to spend the rest of the day lounging around, which isn’t a bad thing.

Watch out for our next adventure as we combine the water and the hiking.