i rented a scooter and cruised up and down the windy mountain roads of rodrigues.

one of the better camp sites i've ever stayed at. myself and my three french friends "made sleep under ze stars" (as they would say). thanks for taking me here girls! my time on rodrigues and mauritius would not have been near as special without you.

giant tortoise on rodrigues (mauritius). these guys are friendly. and very lethargic. they also love it when you pet them. this one crooned as i massaged his long, wrinkly neck.

there were so many of these guys in the middle of the indian ocean. up on deck each morning you could find upwards of 100 flying fish. mouths gaping, their big morbid eyes stare at you from their final resting places.

on sailing to rodrigues and mauritius instead of madagascar

so just before leaving cocos - literally five minutes before raising our anchor - we got wind of pirates near madagascar. three incidents to be exact. my initial reaction: "cool!!! that's even better!!! we're still going, right???" but alas, the decision had already been made, and the captain decided it better to sail to the islands of rodrigues and mauritius than to risk battling pirates on the high seas near madagascar. but come on guys, real life pirates! maybe another time.

On the upside rodrigues and mauritius are tiny in comparison to madagascar so it is much more manageable to see these islands in a short amount of time. and i made friends on rodrigues. three french girls who are soon-to-be nurses on reunion island. their english is not bad but certainly not perfect and my french is non-existant so we had a fun time communicating with hand signals and sound effects at times as we explored the island (and to their credit, we often spoke in english as best we could).