How will we get to the island ?

The Isle du Sud is about 240 nautical miles from Mauritius. There is no commercial shipping service, and so we have had to make our own arrangements. We needed a vessel that could take 8 tonnes of equipment, and our team of 20 people, so it was clear that we were looking for a substantial vessel.

We have chartered the "Sainte Rita", a 32m fishing vessel (120 tonnes). She will take us to Isle du Sud, the crew will help with unloading the equipment, and then will leave. She will return at the end of our DXpedition to take us all back to Port Louis, Mauritius.

She is an expensive vessel to charter, and the costs represent a significant part of the total costs of the expedition. But she is a very seaworthy ship, which regularly travels between Mauritius and the fishing grounds to the West and North of St Brandon. You can see a few pictures below of the Sainte Rita.