Mauritius

The beautiful island of Mauritius, the “European Hawaii,” is located just east of Madagascar. Inhabiting the 720 square miles are approximately 1.3 million natives that live amongst the beaches, volcanoes, mountains, and sugarcane fields. We were there for just two short days—such a tease! The night prior to our arrival, during our usual pre-port meeting, the consensus was to treat this as spring break. And we sure did! Upon debarkation at 10am, we took a water taxi from the port to the city. The majority then headed straight to the beach, however, my friend Brittany and I decided that we wanted to see more of this picturesque island. So we hired a cab driver for the day. The first thing we did (which was my favorite), was leave Port Louis and head south to an animal sanctuary where they had animal interaction with lions and cheetahs! So we got to hang out with two cheetahs for about a half hour. There were three animal trainers in there with us, and they were very intuitive about the cheetahs’ moods. I only got hissed at once but they mostly just laid there while we stroked their fur and took lots of photos. Unfortunately there were no cubs but it was amazing to be next to these remarkable cats. After touring the rest of the reserve (white kangaroos, ostriches, turtles, monkeys), we headed down to Black River Gorge to do a little bit of hiking and see the Chameral Waterfall. The hiking trail had no indication if there was any particular destination (we were trying to get closer to the falls), so after a while we turned around and headed back to our cab. But first we bought some pineapple, creatively cut in a spiral and still on the stalk, and some sugarcane juice. Sugarcane is the primary export of Mauritius and the fresh juice was delicious. Our cab driver didn’t speak English so we weren’t really sure where we were going next – we had only been able to communicate that we wanted to see cheetahs and waterfalls and the place where there are apparently seven different colors of sand (although we never made it there; I think he just didn’t want to take us because he told us it was closed). We ended up going to another beautiful lookout point with more waterfalls and then on to the tall Hindu Statue of Mangal Mahadev. The drive was beautiful with views of the ocean, volcanoes, and mountains…similar to what I would imagine Fiji to look like.

Then it was up the coast to the Intercontinental Hotel. Semester at Sea pretty much took over the resort until the next day (I feel a little bad for the other resort guests; it was probably a good thing we were only there one night). We enjoyed the gorgeous beaches, infinity pool, a nice dinner, and our Presidential Suite. It was the most luxurious hotel suite I have ever stayed in, compliments of a friend’s mom. It had three balconies, a hot tub, and outdoor shower. Enough said. We had a fun night at the hotel, by the pool, bar, beach, and in our suite. The next morning, we woke up for a big breakfast buffet. We paddled around on sea kayaks for a little while in the crystal clear water, and then went out on a glass bottom boat to snorkel in the reef! It was my first time ever snorkeling and it was phenomenal! After I figured out how to comfortably breathe with my snorkel on (it was quite comical and I swallowed a lot of salt water), I was just in awe of the variety of fish and the vibrant colors! Pink, blue, orange, yellow, green, and turquoise, just to name a few. I felt like I was in Finding Nemo. I could see down to the ocean floor and the clear water was great place for an underwater photo shoot. We relaxed for a few more hours on the beach before heading back to the ship. On our way back we stopped in the marketplace, which was pretty overwhelming so we decided to just pick up a few souvenirs in the tourist mall/shopping center. I got a few postcards, stamps, bracelets, and souvenir soap. We spent the last of our Mauritian rupees on ice cream and proceeded to board the water taxi that took us back to the ship where we waited in line with the rest of the tired and sunburned SASers.

We finished our last long stretch of days on the ship (until the end) before India. I’m a little late with sending this out; it keeps getting busier! Between now and November 23, we have six class days on the ship; the rest of the days are in port. We just set sail from India tonight. That email will come in a few days. I can’t even begin to describe the culture shock, but I learned so much and saw many things that I never thought I’d see. The day before our arrival in India was the epic day of the Fall 2010 Sea Olympics! Our whole shipboard community is divided into “seas” and so we had a competition involving a variety of games: tug of war, lip syncing performances, synchronized swimming, crab soccer, basketball, rock-paper-scissors, sudoku, and other random games. Everyone was dressed up to represent the sea’s theme. I am in the Caribbean sea so obviously, we were the Pirates of the Caribbean. And we looked good! I only competed in tug-of-war and unfortunately, we lost (I don’t know what happened; our team was clearly stronger), but my depression soon vanished after the Pirates captured the gold medal! The prize, other than just being the best, is a dance party in the Glazer Lounge (the very nice, “off-limits to students,” faculty lounge), and first off the ship in San Diego. We are officially half way through our voyage. Hard to believe, but I know the next half will be just as incredible as the first. I love hearing from everyone so keep the emails coming.

Until next time,

Heather