Mayotte.

Mayotte:

Friday 22 June:

As soon as we were a few miles W of the Cap, the wind dropped to nothing and we motor-sailed for a good part of the distance to Mayotte, but the last 15 h, on Wednesday 20 June (day 10) the wind came back and we had a wonderful and fast sail with a 15 kn wind and no big waves. At midday we entered the NW Pass motored the remaining 18 NM zig-zagging between coral patches to the town Mamoudzou on the Grande Terre, part of Mayotte. As I had to visit the hospital and don’t know if they will need to keep me, I preferred to go into the small marina.

K&K left the boat yesterday. They did some cleaning, but they left me quite some jobs. At least they have done a so-and-so cleaned the bathroom and the front bedroom. The rest will be for me, which is not nice as I had spend several days cleaning the complete boat before they arrived four months ago. Also with my pain in the stomach, it is a bit tough for me to do these jobs.

Today I spend most of the day at the hospital and the conclusion is that I have had Stones in the Gall Bladder, but they are gone, but the Bladder is still very sore. I also have stones in the right Kidney and there is still one left, which they believe will be washed away eventually as it is only 5 mm in diameter. These problems is related to a digestive problem, which has also given a lot of pain and is still present. The blood test was fine and no infection found, but I got five different drugs to take. At least now I know more.

The town is nice and people friendly, smiles and say hello.

Some background information: Mayotte is part of the Comoros archipelago laying on the northern tip of Madagascar and the African mainland and consist of four main islands: Grande Comore, Moheli, Anjouan and Mayotte. Formally a French colony, the islands are now independent, except for Mayotte which is an over-seas territory of France and has a French naval base here.

The islands are volcanic and Mount Kartala on Grande Comore is still active. The islands were originally settled by Malays, Africans and Arabs. Refugees from Persia, prosperous from slave and spice trade, established a number of rival sultanates. During the seventeenth century Portuguese pirates used the islands as a base from which to attack ships returning from the East laden with goods. In the nineteenth century the Sultan of Mayotte sold his island to the French, for FF 5.000 p.a. and the rest of the islands followed suit after being subjected to French bombardments. France maintained strict control over the islands, and no one was allowed in or out of the islands without permission from the colonial authorities.

In 1912 Comoros was declared a colony and was under the administration of Madagascar until 1946. Some internal autonomy was granted in 1961 and after mass demonstrations in 1968, the French were forced to allow the formation of political parties. Tension grew between those for and against Independence and, after a referendum, independence was unilaterally declared in 1975. Mayotte meanwhile asked the French for protection and became a “territorial community” within the French Republic. In independent Comoros, political unrest followed, radical policies were taken and relations worsened with France. The economy also deteriorated. In 1978 a coup carried out by mercenaries saw the creation of the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and a return to a more conservative line. The mercenaries remain quite powerful, and in September 1995 they staged another coup, overthrowing President Said Mohamed Djohar. The French troops on nearby Mayotte intervened to restore the government.

At the 1974 referendum 64% of the Mayotte people voted against independence. Two years later, when the dictator Ali Solih started wrecking havoc on the other islands, the French held another referendum, which turned out this time with 99% voting to stay French.

The population is supposed to be about 250.000 are a mixture of African, Arab, Malagasy and French origin. But I have now been here eight days, I have learned that the population might be close to 450.000 as there is a huge amount of illegal immigrants especially from the other three Comoros islands. These litigant immigrants come to get free medical treatment, as there seems to be none of that in their own poor and corrupted islands/country, as well as to enter the EU. Earlier pregnant woman came to give birth in Mayotte and their babies would automatically be granted French and EU citizenship. But that is now cancelled and the French is trying to ship these people back to the Comoros islands, but the ships have been refused to deliver their own people and turned back the ships to Mayotte. So there seems to be about 200.000 litigant refugees living in the "bidonvilles" in this island and it has given the residents a huge amount of problem, with theft and crime, as well as strikes for a months just before I arrived. 

Thee climate is tropical, with two seasons lasting from May to October, with an average temperature of 24°C, and the rainy season from November to April, when both temperature and humidity are higher. The cyclone season is from December to March and in 1984 and 1987 Mayotte was partly destroyed by Cyclones.

 Mayotte in sight after ten days of wild sailing.