Getting to Mauritius
RV Da Yang Yi Hao
In 2014, I was selected by the International Seabed Authority for a training programme aboard a Chinese research vessel in the Indian Ocean. The ship departed from Mauritus in March 2015 and returned to same at the end of April . These next few blog posts chronicle my time in Mauritius as well as my 6 week stint at sea.
Getting There
So for those of you who had been following my previous blog ( Ren In Europe ), you may have noticed that I almost never have what could be considered a normal trip. Somewhere along the way, the bizarre usually creeps in. Luckily enough on this trip we can get it out of the way early, right off the bat. A woman was arrested on my flight to London. I kid you not. Apparently she had been creating quite the disturbance which included a strip show as well as some indecent exposure). Based on where I was sitting I didn’t realize half of what was going on around there, but if you would like to read further, you’re in luck, my lady made the news.
Gatwick
After the commotion with the police coming on board etc, we deplaned and I quickly started the search for WiFi. You only get 45 mins free in Gatwick, but I had 2 important calls (Skype) to make and 5 hours of waiting so I just bit the bullet and paid for 24 hr access (buying it hourly would have worked out to be more expensive). Before I knew it, it was time to grab some lunch before boarding. It’s surprisingly hard to find outlets in Gatwick. They have booths where you can charge small electronics like phones (for a fee of course) but for laptops etc, finding ports is more difficult. I made sure to patronize a restaurant where I could charge my laptop as well . I then boarded my 12, yes 12, hour flight to Mauritius (remember this was following on the heels of a 9 hr flight to London… yeah…). The flight was incident free this time around.
I had been quite remiss with my Oscar movie watching this year, and during the many hours at my disposal I was able to catch up a little. Over the course of the flights I managed to watch Whiplash, Gone Girl, Nightcrawler and Birdman.
Mauritius Finally
Luckily I had an invitation letter with me from the shipping agent in Port Louis. Immigration gave me some resistance and I was singled out for my bag to be searched by customs as well. I don’t know what it is about saying you’re going to meet a research vessel. The first time I did something like this (I was on my way to the Dominican Republic that time), immigration gave me a hard time in Miami even though I was only in transit. I suppose it’s not the sort of thing you hear every day.
Finally I went outside and met a man from the shipping agency who came to pick me up and transport me to the port. It seemed to me like it took a rather long time to get to the capital. Which was no small wonder considering the airport is actually close to 60 km (38 miles) away, on the opposite side of the island.
When we arrived at the port, the ship hadn’t actually come in yet. So we had to wait for about an hour for it to dock. Of course by this time (remember 9 hr flight, 5 hr layover, 12 hr flight) I had started to become fidgety and really wanted to arrive at my final destination.
| RV Da Yang Yi Hao |
After some struggle up the ship’s ladder with my luggage, I was greeted by Wei Fang who then directed me to our living quarters. It turned out to be a flat share type situation. There were two rooms, with two bunk beds each. I shared one with my roommate Hang, while Wei Fang lived in the other. We had a little common area with chairs and a table, as well as a shared bathroom. Unfortunately I was assigned the top bunk. The top bunk is notoriously harder to keep neat and not to mention, this model having no ladder, it was a bit more of a challenge to get in and out of bed.
| Common Area |
| Bunks |
I was then given a mini- tour of the ship and its facilities after which we ended up in the cafeteria for lunch. About 2 weeks before I left home, my boyfriend and I went for some sushi one night. I usually use chopsticks anyway (I had taught myself to use chopsticks years ago), but he was teasing me saying that he was sure they’d have normal utensils so I didn’t have to try so hard……. well he was wrong!!! When I was taken to lunch, there was not a fork or western utensil in sight. I was presented with two stainless steel bowls and a set of chopsticks. Eventually someone eventually managed to dig up a fork and a spoon for me though. Still no knife however. To be clear, I did use my chopsticks most of the time. I even got complimented on my skills!
There were strict meal times: Breakfast at 07:30, lunch at 11:30, dinner at 17:30, and a late meal of noodles for those working during the night at 23:30. The food is out for half-hour at most and then they lock shop. So if you miss it, you’re out of luck till the next meal, or you have to dig into your private stash.
There were strict meal times: Breakfast at 07:30, lunch at 11:30, dinner at 17:30, and a late meal of noodles for those working during the night at 23:30. The food is out for half-hour at most and then they lock shop. So if you miss it, you’re out of luck till the next meal, or you have to dig into your private stash.
After lunch I managed to get away a little bit and crash in my bunk. What seemed liked minutes later, I was summoned to take a group photo. I rolled out of bed and quickly change into my standard issue polo I had received earlier. I was so disoriented, I hardly knew what was going on. Not to mention I realized after the fact that my hair was a complete disaster. I hadn’t even had the chance to glance in the mirror before running out. Luckily nobody I know is likely to see that set of pictures.
Being a 5′ 10”- ish woman in a group od Chinese people, I may as well have been a giant. My proportions were practically Amazonian in comparison to everyone else. Once or twice I heard whispers of “so tall” as I passed by. Apparently in China I would wear XXL ( I wear M at home). See what I was saying about being a giant? In addition to the polo , I also received a pair of sandals, a shirt, a working suit (heavy duty), working shoes (steel toe) as well as some basic toiletries.
The next post will cover exploring Mauritius
Being a 5′ 10”- ish woman in a group od Chinese people, I may as well have been a giant. My proportions were practically Amazonian in comparison to everyone else. Once or twice I heard whispers of “so tall” as I passed by. Apparently in China I would wear XXL ( I wear M at home). See what I was saying about being a giant? In addition to the polo , I also received a pair of sandals, a shirt, a working suit (heavy duty), working shoes (steel toe) as well as some basic toiletries.
The next post will cover exploring Mauritius
