T Getting Ready To Leave Mauritius

We have been in Mauritius just over two months now and figure it is time to leave for Reunion Island.  It is 135 miles away which means an overnight passage.  Will probably leave in a couple of days.   Our plans currently are to stay in Reunion until October and then leave for South Africa.  We are considering two routes to Richards bay in South Africa.
    The first option is the one recommended by Jimmey Cornells book  which says leave at the end of October with the better spring weather and before the cyclone season here starts.  The route is from Reunion to a waypoint  about 100 miles South of Madagascar and then to Richards Bay. Total distance is about 1400 miles non-stop.
    The second option we are now seriously looking at is to go from Reunion to an anchorage at Eahola bay a mile south of Port Dauphin on the SE coast of Madagascar, which is about 500 miles and then follow coast around for 155 miles to a anchorage on the SW coast behind a island and peninsula.  Then with a good weather forecast do the last 700 miles to Richards Bay.  This route you can avoid bad weather easier and also see a wee bit of Madagascar. This route would also be done in October.   Over half the yachts coming through here are taking the longer route over the North end of Madagascar, partly as they want to see it and partly to miss the greater likelihood of bad weather on the Southern routes.
Staying in Caudan marina is entertaining.  It is not like a real marina here, as you are just tied alongside a wall in a small basin.  It is all open to the public and you are on display all day long.  On weekends it is extra busy with people stopping to admire us foreign boats and peer in your windows.  They like to have their pictures taken in front of the boats.   They often ask to sit on your boat to pose for a picture.  We have had no problems with theft, even though there is often stuff on our decks. One yacht said a pair of deck shoes disappeared, but they were on the outside wall.  We always left our shoes outside.  I think generally there is less theft here than you see in North America.  There is always security guards strolling around this area as well.  Because of this setup you can meet the locals easily and meet some interesting people.  We have walked all over Port Louis in the daytime and felt safe contrary to what we have heard. 
   I hope one day they can do something about the noisy motorbikes here.  They dont have proper mufflers and they seem to be noisier than any place we have been and they spew out blue smoke and the cars seem to have no emmision controls as well.  Your ears and nose get a real workout walking down the streets.  You often get black soot on your decks from either sugar cane fields burning or from the power plant.  so you have to hose off your decks every day.  But it is still a nice place to stay awhile.