Mauritius

Mauritius was a great place for relaxing. It has, by far, the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. The sand is white, the sea shells are clean, the water is see through and so blue it takes your breath away (and almost looks green sometimes), and there aren’t so many people that you can’t enjoy yourself.
The first day in Mauritius, I had a ticket (someone gave it to me for free!) to do a Blue Safari and Marine Conservation trip. There are only ten places in the world where you can experience the blue safari submarine. We first stopped at a beach and watched a presentation about conserving marine life (interesting, but boring…). The marine life around Mauritius is absolutely beautiful. I was able to see it for myself, underwater! That’s where the Blue Safari comes in. We took a small boat away from land to a vessel that was anchored in the ocean. From there, we boarded the submarine that took us about 35meters underwater to see all the pretty fishies! (There is a picture somewhere on here of me getting into the submarine.) It was hard to get good pictures because the water made everything look blue, however, the pictures almost look black and white because they show so little color. The windows were also pretty thick, so the quality of my pictures weren’t great either. It was awesome to see in person, though. We spent about 30 minutes in the submarine and came back up, then went back to land where we received a certificate (souvenir!) for our dive. I am glad that I was given the ticket because the cost of this trip was just over $100 (that included the transportation and a box lunch). However, I did not think it was worth that amount of money and was really glad that I hadn’t actually paid for it. Too bad for those who did, but they seemed to enjoy it. Later that day, I went with some friends to a street market in Port Louis. I didn’t really like it all. They weren’t selling anything worth buying, it was over-crowded, and really hot and stinky. I only bought a bottle of water. L
The second day was absolutely incredible. It was my ideal perfect day. (This one was also free, and also expensive!) I had never been on a sail boat before so I was really excited for the catamaran. I dropped my towel down on the front, lathered on the sunscreen, and we sailed out into the crystal blue waters of Mauritius. Right away we saw dolphins swimming in the water and we soon stopped for snorkeling. Now, I am not much of a swimmer. In fact, I still have to hold my nose when I go under water. However, I was excited to snorkel (something else I had never done before) and wasn’t going to let my lack of water breathing skills stop me. I started by getting in and swimming around for a while. Then, I attempted to snorkel. I’ll admit, I freaked out a little. Not being able to breathe, in the middle of the ocean and about 65 feet away from the catamaran was a little scary. Meanwhile, I just wanted to see the fishies underwater. I couldn’t even manage to just have my face on the water with the goggles on. I did get better at that though, just long enough to see a few things. I stuck with it, closer to the catamaran, and was finally able to stay underwater long enough to see the beauty of it all. There were millions of black and white striped fish all around me and I didn’t even know it. The colors of the coral and other plants are so vibrant! I am getting some pictures from someone who had a camera they were able to take underwater. The fish are so colorful, though. They really looked just like the ones who helped find Nemo! We spent the day laying out in the sun, listening to good music, snorkeling, and eating some delicious (an understatement) Mauritian food. Our guides even cooked it on the catamaran. It was a great day and I had a lot of fun. I could do it every weekend, and I said at one point that I was thinking about buying a catamaran after retirement.
The rest of my stay in Mauritius, several friends rented a villa and I stayed with them in Grand Baie (on the Northern coast). There was a rather huge mix-up in getting the whole thing arranged, but in the end, everyone had a good time.
While in Mauritius, I also visited a village called Bambou. It is set up much like a community. There are several houses each with a “mother.” There are classrooms, playgrounds, and a few other facilities. Children that live there are either orphans or are children who the courts ordered away from their parents for various reasons. The village keeps the children through the age of 18 if they are not given a home before then. Often times, the village keeps the children for most of those years and when the child leaves, they often keep in close touch. We toured the village and played with many of the younger children for a while. Like children from the other countries, they are amused, amazed, and intrigued by our cameras. A young girl (her picture is on the blog) in a yellow dress took my camera for a while and took so many pictures. She was having so much fun with it. However, the battery died and she became a little disappointed. I looked at the pictures later and they were so random. She had taken numerous pictures of the sky and the ground, as well as pictures of people who seemed to have lost their heads or half of their bodies. It gave the phrase “point and shoot” and a whole new meaning. There was also a young boy who seemed upset about everything. He wasn’t interested in much and just looked sad. I sat with him for a while, trying to cheer him up by showing him some things I had in my bag. He smiled, finally, when he got his hands on an ink pen I had and it was the most profound moment. (It makes you really think about the simple things in life.) I gave him a little notepad and he started to write his name. I was very impressed because this little boy was so young.
The last day, I went to the beach before leaving Grand Baie. We stuck it out through the rain and I wondered to myself… what exactly are the signs of a tsunami? The bad weather passed slowly and when we made it back to Port Louis, I spent the rest of the day relaxing, using some internet to post pictures, and eating out. Before rushing back to the ship, I was able to make a few phone calls. It’s always nice to hear the sounds of home.