Mauritius!

PARADISE…
Thursday, March 25, 2010
MAURITIUS DAY 1 & 2:

Mauritius was the ‘spring break port’ of the voyage.  Not many people have ever heard of this remote island to the east of Madagascar, but its white sand beaches and crystal clear water make it a memorable stop. When we woke up early to see the ship pull into port it was raining and cloudy weather.  Not exactly the situation we had imagined. However, Chris, Jimmy, Flicker, Margaret, Tammy and I hired a driver for a full day’s adventure across the island. We stopped in town to load up on one of the country’s prized products: Phoenix Beer.  As I’ve said before, each country I’ve visited has a distinct smell-Mauritius was the most beautiful smelling yet because it is a major exporter of freshly cut flowers.   The market didn’t smell of dead fish like in Japan, or human feces like in India, or even pollution like in China.  It smelled of gorgeous roses and fresh fruits.  Everywhere there were people carrying flowers in baskets or selling fruits at a stand.  After our quick stop we headed out on our hour and a half drive to the other side of the island for a walk up the Black River to the waterfalls.  The hike was spectacular.  The light rain made the scenery so much prettier.  Frogs jumped across the rocky trail from every direction and we had to cross the stream many times.  We all fell in at one point so we ended up just tromping through the streams by the end as we were all soaking wet.  We didn’t quite make it to the waterfall because the streams became too difficult to cross, but it was the perfect activity for the morning. 

On the way back across the island we stopped at an animal reserve to pet lions! Even though it was fairly anticlimactic because they were in a caged park, it was still a fun surprise stop.  The 10 lions we saw are the only ones in the country of Mauritius.  They were all under two years old. We made it to our hotel in Grand Baie just before the sun started to set that evening.  We threw our bags down, changed into swimsuits and played in the ocean until it got dark and time for dinner.  The water was perfectly warm and so clear!  The sand was almost like flour it was so fine.  Mychaela and Stephen met up with us after their class field trips and we headed out for a pizza dinner then a night at the Banana Bar.  Apparently everyone else on Semester at Sea in Grand Baie had the same plan as us because the bar was completely packed with all of our friends from the ship.  Luckily it was a great time because it was our only night in the country.   Mychaela and I walked the 10 minutes back to our hotel and we shared our king size bed with Tammy and Margaret.  Even though we didn’t have the most restful sleep we were all ready to start our last day on the island bright and early. 

After a big buffet breakfast we staked our claim on lounge chairs in a private bay and played in the water all day.  I rented a canoe and rode over to our area to surprise everyone.  It was such a blast canoeing around in the clear water- I had to jump out a few times just to swim around!  Chris and Stephen rented a sailboat and capsized it pretty quickly.  It was absolutely hysterical canoeing over to try and rescue them…Margaret and I weren’t any help because we were laughing too hard.  We made it back on the ship exactly 9 minutes before the designated time and went swimming in the pool before calling it a day.

The Mauritian people were incredibly kind and the country was spectacular.  I really hope that I get to go back and scuba dive there someday soon.