Oh Mauritius!

Mauritius has to be one of the most beautiful Islands I have ever seen. Pictures this…a beautiful island about 11 times the size of Washington D.C., or 720 square kilometers, with a rich diverse population of 1.2 million people 52% of which are Hindu, all set in a tropical climate. Port Luis (lew-ie, not luis) is the capital, with a population of 176,000, and is the second largest cargo port on the continent of Africa.

The first day we arrived around 7 am. The lush green mountains were glowing in the rays of the morning sun. We are docked in a very industrial part of Port Luis so it makes getting to the waterfront kind of difficult, not like in Cape Town where you walk off the ship and you are 100 feet from the closest shop. The water taxi is 2 US dollars or 100 Rupees and the cab fares are outrageously expensive. Our “Hike and Beach” trip was one of the first to leave the ship. We were to hike Le Pouce, the thumb in English, at an elevation of 2,261 feet. The drive to the trailhead led us through some neighborhoods, where it wasn’t uncommon to see gardens on rooftops, and some very elaborate and colorful Hindu temples. There were about twenty of us hiking the mountain and it took us about 2 hours to reach the meadow summit before climbing the thumb part of the mountain! It was very steep and slippery at some points and many people were resting to take breaks from the hot humid weather. Once we all finally reached the meadow we divided into two groups where we were each to take turns actually climbing the thumb. Our packs were left at the meadow and the sheer scope of the climb was intimidating. Once at the top, I realized that all the effort was definitely worth it! The view was breathtaking! From the top, you could see all sides of the Island! About a 30 minute descent lead us to our coaches where we went to the Eureka Colonial House for lunch. The House was built in 1830 and has over 160 windows! We had a delicious traditional Creol lunch and then headed back to the coach for our ride to the famous Flic-en-Flac beach, where most SASers had villas. I must say that this is one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever been to! The water, I’m guessing, was a warm 79 degrees and felt refreshing after the hike and delicious lunch. It was also my first time swimming in the Indian Ocean!! The white fine grained sand felt very soothing under your feet and the very high salinity in the water reminded me of Hawaii. We headed back to the ship where I met up with Kristin. We took the water Taxi to the waterfront and had pizza and ice cream for dinner. I know, very healthy, but when you’re at port all you can think about is what you’re going to see and especially eat! Ship food gets old pretty fast. Kristin and I received A LOT of glances from families walking around. Two Americans wearing shorts, Kristin with blonde hair, it was strange. You feel like you’re constantly being judged.

The next day, I woke up bright an early for a 745am departure time for an FDP: Conservation of Islands with my Marine Bio professor. We left for Ile aux Airgettes where Tatjana, my professor, and the inter-port lecturer, Dennis, have connections. We toured the small Island and were able to cuddle with giant tortoises, catch skinks and see many birds. We also learned about the conservation project going on to conserve many of the reptiles, and birds. The water surrounding the Island was a glowing turquoise. After our two hour tour of the small Island we jumped back on the bus to eat our boxed lunches and head to the Brise Fer Conservation Management Area, the most well conserved rainforest in Mauritius. Unfortunately, the Maha Shivrata pilgrimage is going on and we ended up getting stuck in a parade! The guides made the decision to turn around and head for the BEACH! I would have rather headed to the beach than complete a 6 mile hike into the rainforest! We went to a different beach than the previous day in the North of the Island. This beach was divided into coves with an outlaying reef in the distance. I put my goggles on and one of the first people in the water. I miss the soothing feeling of being surrounded by a body of water. There is something very homey and comforting about the ocean and water. There were many different fish and beautiful sea grasses. I was surprised at the lack of color in the reef. By the time my fingers were completely pruned, I walked up onto a cove a ways down from the group. The beach was deserted except for one couple. I laid on the beach by myself until my fingers regained their shape and then swam back to the main cove. It was very relaxing and beautiful. The day was long, over 11 hours, but the beach was awesome!

Monday, my classmate Vicki and I woke up bright an early at 530am to catch a taxi to the fish Market. For our marine class, we must write a very extensive paper on four fish markets we visit in the different countries. It sounds exciting and easy, but you forget that no one speaks English. I can not tell you how many times I’ve wish I was bilingual! Vicki, who is a great bargainer, got our cab driver down to 500 Rupees. We walk to a large industrial building that smelled of fish. Each meat had a section in the building, pork, beef, fish etc… (Most Hindus are vegetarian) We had been told by the concierge desk in the ship that the fish market opened at 6am, however it actually opened 8am. We both had trips to catch around 9am so that was disappointing. There was a man standing behind his fish displaying counter but did not speak any English. He managed to understand something we were saying because he led us to the head of the Market where we talked to the very polite, English speaking, man who let us read regulation books and talked to us for about 10 minutes. I cannot describe the smell of that slaughter house. There were fish scales everywhere! The one fisherman we talked to said he sells mostly tuna, what a surprise. We returned to the ship at about 630am where I fell back asleep. My Marine Park trip for my Human Effects on Coastal System class left a 9am, so after a quick breakfast- the croissants on the ship are delicious; I headed out to the coach. My professor Vic Kennedy (reminds me of Mr. Hamera) and his wife accompanied us 14 students to the Marine Science Research Institute at Albion where we learned a lot about Aquaculture, Marine Research being conducted on the Island, water quality and vessel tracking systems. It was very informative and full of paper-writing information. After the educational part of the day we were led to a water taxi dock where we traveled to Ile des Deux Cocos in Blue Bay. This Island is very small and about 200 yards from the mainland of Mauritius. The Island was something out a traveler’s magazine. It looked like those Islands that you see in the tabloids that celebrities rent out for the entire week. The white sand was decorated with Cabanas, picnic tables, lounge chairs and of course a bar. Upon arrival we were greeted with a warm towel and a glass of champagne. The buffet BBQ lunch was delicious. After lunch we were fitted with snorkel gear and boarded a glass bottom boat. The entire Bay is a protected Marine Park. I have never seen coral formations like what we saw! HUGE! All different types of corals and many colorful fish decorate the reef- I even saw Nemo! We traveled to a buoy where we docked and jumped overboard to snorkel for forty minutes. You forget that the color is lost due to color degradation, the light spectrum only being able to penetrate so deep. These beige colors that we were seeing were actually purple and red at the surface of the water! After a four hour afternoon on the Island, we headed back across the bay to meet our coach and head back to the ship. This was around 415pm and our ETA at the ship was 5 pm. During the drive back, our coach all of a sudden veers off the road into a sugar cane field (sugar cane is a major export for Mauritius, started by the French). Our “chauffeur” as they call them here (almost everything is in French) said our bus was overheating. We watch the pilgrims walk by us with their altars and offerings to Lord Shiva. A little bit about Maha Shivratree- the Hindu religion believes in many gods, one being Lord Shiva, the destroyer. I do not know that much about the celebration, but do know that about 5 days before the celebration that takes place on March 5^th, Hindu families, dressed in white, begin the pilgrimage to Grand Basin where there is a lake. Thousands of people gather around the lake and deliver their offerings to Lord Shiva. The pilgrims wear flip-flops and march with their brightly colored altars down the open road taking breaks at the tents set up along the way. Luckily, about 30 minutes later another bus came take us back but it was all in the adventure. Once back on the ship and freshly showered I met up with some people, had dinner and was surprised to learn that it was ice cream night! Can you tell that ship food is a main topic of conversation?? Ice cream is only served about every 20 days or so and it usually nasty flavors, but tonight, we had vanilla and cookies-n- cream!! You could hear everyone gasp as they came in the dining room and saw the ice cream bar set up! While we’re in port we always have delicious food. Less people to feed= better food!

Tomorrow I plan to do check out the local market and try and find some postcards/ stamps. My goal was to write this before we leave so that way I can focus on school work once we are at sea. This was kind of like our Spring Break! I can’t believe that it is MARCH and that our next port is India! We have six days at sea split up into three days of classes than the much anticipated Sea Olympics, and then two more days of classes. Guess what my event is in the Sea Olympics? Yep, mashed potato sculpting! Go BERING SEA and the mighty mighty king crabs! Haha

Thank you all for the letters!! I read them as I was sitting on the beach because I received my mail when I was walking out the door! I love the pictures!

Let me know when South Africa postcards start showing up!