mauritius: a day in paradise

"you gather the idea that mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after mauritius" -mark twain

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everyone was excited for mauritius and most plans included laying on the beach. i set my alarm for the 0707 sunrise, with plans of heading up to see it on the deck but ended up just enjoying what i could see from my window. the water was calm and i was able to see the sun from mckendree's bed. i got a couple of great photos and then got myself ready for a day in the sun &applied my sunscreen!

after breakfast, mckendree, kelsey, ren and i watched the diplomatic briefing from our cabin. we had been warned the night before as well as throughout the morning to be patient in getting off the ship. since there was only one day, every one was rushing to get off as quickly as possible. the semester at sea trips were dismissed first, which meant kelsey and ren left for their day on a catamaran &snorkeling.

mckendree and i organized ourselves and waited in our cabin with our partners in crime for the day, caitlin and teresa. caitlin had roomed with mckendree and i in the bahamas and teresa is her roommate. soon after 0900 the ship was declared 'cleared' and there was a rush to the gangway, which was luckily located on the second deck; meaning we were closest to the exit.

as with casablanca and namibia before, we were in a rather industrial area. no trains this time, but containers and fishing boats galore. we headed to the corner of the dock, with nearly everyone else, and waited in line for a water taxi. the city center would have been a 35 minute walk away and we had been advised to take the water taxi, which would be much more efficient.

the water taxi was nothing more than a small motor boat with benches along the walls and was filled to (or beyond..) capacity. i most certainly could have put my hand in the ocean from my seat on the edge. it was quite the trip through large coast guard vessels, fishing boats, and cargo ships -- all with their crews staring at the boats filled with americans.

once we reached the waterfront, it was similar in style to the waterfront in cape town, but not as fancy. the same concept. there were stores, tour agencies and taxi drivers desperate for some work. the taxi drivers have been similar in most countries, they come up to you and don't leave you alone until you get in their cab. its a very territorial process, with most drivers fighting over who gets to take the passengers. this is a practice that makes me very uncomfortable. its hard enough for us to get our bearings when we first step on land, 20 taxi drivers running up does not help feeling overwhelmed. i'm not sure i'll be able to 'get used to it,' though i know it will be the same in most countries.

after somewhat haphazardly wandering towards a mall, we found what we'd been searching for: an atm. the exchange rate is 1 usd to 31 mauritian rupees. i wasn't sure how much to take out as i didn't want to spend too much money so i took out 20 usd worth. we also were unsure as to how far our money would go, which made our atm trip take longer.

caitlin ventured into a store and tried to get an idea of where we could find sea kayaking. after some gesturing-- though the official language is english, most people speak french -- we purchased a map and decided to head to grand baie, on the northern part of the island.

upon exiting the mall we were again approached by taxi drivers. since we had a better idea of where to go, we decided on a driver and headed off on the 30 minute drive to grand baie. we drove in rafi's brand new car, on the other side of the road. this still is a strange feeling, though its been the norm in every country we've been to thus far. while driving we listened to a pop station with american and indian music, which was fun.

out the window were endless fields of sugar cane. the fields reminded me of my grandfather's farm with rows upon rows of corn in the middle of summer. making sugar from sugar cane is a labor-intensive process and is 25% of the product exported from mauritius. it was a beautiful view and a great way to get a taste of the island.

i think we confused everyone when we requested kayaking. our driver spoke only some english and i think our attempts to imitate the motions of kayaking were interpreted as pedal boats by many. others thought we wanted to rent a sail boat to cruise around with and others thought we were looking for a catamaran. i suspect most people that come to the island are most interested in windsurfing, traditional surfing and simply laying in the sun. we saw several brochures with crazy tourist activities. aside from the traditional snorkeling there are 'blue safaris' and 'under-water walking tours.' the safaris are submarine tours and the walking tours are these crazy oxygen helmets to wear while walking on the bottom of the ocean. crazy!

it was nearly 1100 when we arrived in grand baie, and it was absolutely worth it. we stopped at a public beach where our driver talked to a guide who told us which beach to go to. gino, our non-italian guide, took us to a resort where he arranged for us to sea kayak and snorkel for the day. it was a total of 30 usd for the whole day-- a perfect price for the two activities.

an interesting trip to the bank, where the atm was being repaired and we were the only white people in the room, and we were ready for kayaking.

the downfall to this beautiful resort? there were no lockers or secure places to leave our valuables. the guide, a hotel worker and a man selling sarongs on the beach all tried to tell us that it was safe, to leave our bags, they'd be fine. well, that was not going to happen -- each of us had cameras, credit cards, cash, debit cards, id's and phones. i got very antsy and felt like we'd have no choice-- someone would sit with our things while the other 3 went out and we'd take turns.

then i remembered i had packed my vera bradley plastic lined bag. i'd figured i would have a wet swimsuit and stuffed it in my purse. it was perfect! we piled all our valuables into the bag and then put it in a plastic bag. there was no way it was waterproof, but it would protect everything. i was voted to hold the bag in my kayak, though i was nervous i'd tip over!

mckendree opted to go out on a small sail boat with one of the hotel guys and so caitlin, teresa and i took out the kayaks. it was absolutely incredible. the water was crystal clear and we could see the bottom. there was also a breakwater far out and so the water was incredibly calm. we paddled around, raced and checked out some of the boats anchored off-shore. we went quite a ways down and smelled a restaurant somewhere on the shore, reminding us just how hungry we were.

after smelling something delicious, we soon made our way back to the shore. i was sad to get out of my child-sized kayak. they looked like little white shoes, the most simplistic kayaks i've ever seen. i am glad to report that nothing happened to my expensive passenger, the vera bag with all our valuables in it.

mckendree's sailing guide recommended that we walk down the beach, to the white tents in the distance and to find the local lunch stand, in an old bus. we waded in the water for a little while to cool off and then gathered up our belongings and began our trek down the beach, promising to return for our snorkeling excursion around 3p.

our walk on the beach was wonderful, to put it simply. being a friday, many people were not on the beach. the sand was white, there were no rocks like the beaches at home! much of our walk was shaded and there were peices of coral everywhere. caitlin was funny and poked at anything the looked strange.. there was also a shrine of some sort tucked into a corner. the majority of the population is originally of indian descent and therefore hindu. it was odd to see simply because the statues looked like people from far away- they were dressed in clothes!

i collected a few small pieces of coral and tried my best to make a mental picture. i did not bring my big camera but i was hesitant to get sand in my small one. caitlin had an underwater camera so i'll hopefully get some of her photos, whenever that may be.

our guide had recommended 'mine bouille' for lunch, which was essentially lo mein but with skinny noodles. it was about 3 usd for a take out box and a liter water. perfect :) the noodles were delicious, though mine were more spicy than they were supposed to be. regardless, we enjoyed our noodles on the beach, enjoying some shade and watching the other beach-goers.

we made our way back to 'our' beach and made it to the small boat just in time for snorkeling. i must say that i am most certainly not a swimmer, i'm not a huge fan of water that i cannot stand in and i don't like feeling dirty. well, i was about to push every last one of those limits.

our small boat, similar in size to our water taxi, had a glass bottom so that we could see the ocean floor. on our boat were the four of us as well as 6 little kids from the hotel. they were all probably between the ages of 4-7 and only spoke french.. they were so cute and they were SO excited about the glass bottom boat. after taxing out for about five minutes, we came upon a few other small boats and snorkelers.

i have never snorkeled before and no one seemed too worried about that. there was no instruction-- we were sort of just told to go. we each got masks and flippers and jumped off the side. i was very nervous but once i got my bearings, i loved it! there were over 20 varieties of fish that i could count but i'm sure there were more than i counted.

the reefs were beautiful -- mostly white, some grey and some pale blue. there were some that looked like little branches and they were my favorite. there were fish everywhere, they would swim around us. the water was not more than 15-20ft deep and the water was crystal clear. having never snorkeled before i think i started with a bang. it was so peaceful underwater and it was so much easier than i had expected. i snorkeled in the indian ocean! good heavens! i had a great time and was comfortable in the water, which is unlike me.

after a couple of tries and going down too far and getting a mouthful of salt water, i got the hang of floating around and was able to regulate my breathing. i tried to stay relatively close to the at least one of the other girls and enjoyed the quiet. of course all the pretty fish and amazing coral certainly made the time enjoyable. there were a large number of black and white striped fish that reminded me of the zebras i saw in south africa. there were quite a few brown fish that were cleaning up the reefs and stayed close to the bottom. small schools of little silver fish darted away from the larger fish. get ready for another disney/pixar reference: i felt like i was in finding nemo! there was the fish that looked like gil (i looked him up, he was a moorish idol fish) and several others from the school scene.

after nearly an hour and a leak in my mask, we all piled back into our little boat, finding all of our belongings soaked. again, thank goodness for my plastic vera bag. after an encounter -- by encounter i mean me squealing and feeling nauseous -- with a small dead octopus that had been caught by the snorkeling guide, we were on our way back to the shore. the other girls, and everyone on the boat for that matter, thought i was crazy for getting so worked up about the octopus but it was gross! the other girls even touched it! and of course, our guide who was out to torture me, put the bucket with the octopus right in front of me for the ride back. uck.

making it safely back on shore, we wandered our way back to the spot where our driver planned to meet us. i'm glad we had made plans to meet up with him, it was a guaranteed ride back from an area where there were not taxis readily available. as soon as we got moving i was asleep-- all the sun and swimming tired me out. the drive back to port louis was nearly an hour due to traffic and i woke up just as we were getting out.

i was relieved to be able to see the ship, as i did not want dock time. we wanted to go to the market to buy crafts but everything closes at 5p on fridays, which was unfortunate. we wandered around which was filled with over-priced surf shops like billabong, ripcurl, roxy, etc. mckendree was on a hunt for a new bathing suit because she'd ripped her bottoms jumping off the boat for snorkeling. not wanting to spend $35 usd on a bottom, she opted to wait it out, as she had another bottom on the ship.

after feeling dissatisfied with the shopping, we searched for a cafe to get a snack. the girls opted for drinks but i was far too tired &dehydrated and opted for a big water. we also shared a big huge ice cream sundae which was the most perfect way to end our day in the sun.

we wandered our way back to the ship and found ourselves on a very drunk and anxious water taxi. on ship time was 8p and we got on our taxi around 715p. many of the excruciatingly drunk girls were panicking about getting dock time because they were nervous about the line that awaited us outside the ship. their nervous energy was enough to make even the sober kids nervous. we waited for the taxi to be full, paid our $2 usd and were on our way. once we reached the ship, there was a rush for the ladder to climb up to the dock and then people were running to the line. we took our time, waited in line, had our bags searched and were on before 740.

we hustled our way up to the barbecue on the top deck and enjoyed a nice, 'free' meal. it was fun to reunite with ren and kelsey, it felt like the 4 of us had been apart for days and it was only a matter of hours! after our meal, a shower was absolutely necessary.

there was no rest for the weary, as 9p were the opening ceremonies for the sea olympics! more on that in the next blog, i have to get some work done!

overall, i loved mauritius. i love all my ports, for different reasons. i think our one day off in paradise was exactly what we all needed, faculty and students alike. i especially enjoyed being asked if i was south african, what a compliment! i suspect that there are not that many american tourists in mauritius so south african or french would be the first guess.

the current plan is that once i get married to my prince from dubai in the winelands of south africa that i will honeymoon on the beach in mauritius..

...hey, a girl can dream!