La Isla Bonita

I’d never heard of the country of Mauritius until I saw the SAS itinerary about a year ago.  This island is absolutely incredible!  It is total paradise.  Those really are the only words I have to describe it.   Even though we were only here for thirty-six hours, I was fortunate enough to see two very distinct sides of this little republic in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

We docked in Port Louis, Mauritius a little after 8 AM on Tuesday, March 23.  Customs were no problem and people were happy to get off the ship.   We walked about a mile from the port to the center of town.  It reminded me a lot of Hong Kong, mainly because waterfront was the most prominent area of town.  Shops, bars and cafes dotted the waterfront area.   We walked around the town and got a delicious lunch at an English Pub.  There were a lot of cultures here on the island- African, Indian, and French.   Mauritius has influences from all over since the island is basically a colonial melting pot.   Because of its location, it was a hot spot for the colonial powers.   Most if the influence is French, who controlled it for a long time, but the British always wanted it (and controlled it at some points) because of its closeness to India.  

That afternoon I got to see another side of Mauritius: I went to an SOS Orphanage Village outside of Port Louis.  It was a good drive from where the ship was and the country definitely changes once you get out of the city proper.  The neighborhoods we drove through looked pretty rough.  The orphanage was at the base of these gorgeous (and humongous) mountains.  SOS (we couldn’t figure out what it stood for) is a group that had orphanages all over the world.   There are around ten houses where roughly eight kids live inside the “village.”  There is one “mother” in each house who takes care of the children and basically raises them.  The house I went to had kids from five years old to twelve in it.   Most of the children are there because their parents are addicts or were victims of domestic violence.    We had a really interesting conversation with one of the mothers.  She just wanted to work there because she loved children.  She was in her mid-twenties, loved her job, had no plans to leave, and was embarrassed that her English wasn’t that great.  She was one of the nicest women I’ve ever met.  After our chat with the mother, we went outside and just played with the kids.  I’ve worked with a lot of kids over the past few years, but I’ve never seen kids like these orphans.  One boy, who was about eight, and whose name I have no idea how to pronounce, just sat next to me and took my arm and put it around him.  All he wanted was for me to give him a hug.  He loved my camera and wanted a piggyback ride the entire time.   We played soccer, duck-duck goose, and other games with these kids for about an hour.  My friend (the little boy) kept saying to me: “stay here mister, don’t go.”  It was really hard to say goodbye and some of the kids actually got on the bus and tried to get us to come back and stay with them longer.  The good thing is that SAS visits this orphanage almost every voyage.   This also shows that no matter how beautiful a place is problems still exist.

After the orphanage we regrouped at the ship and then went out for a nice dinner at a great seafood place on the waterfront.   We walked around the town, and it reminded me of another place I’d been.  A few years ago my family cruised to Bermuda and Port Louis, at night, reminded me of Hamilton, Bermuda.  We also went to a really cool bar that overlooked the waterfront and saw some of the ship’s crew there.  It was neat to see them outside of their jobs on the ship. 

The next day, Wednesday, was really what gives my definition of paradise to Mauritius.  My friend booked a catamaran for fifteen of us in Grant Bay, which was about twenty-five kilometers away from Port Louis.  The catamaran left from the bay and it was about an hour ride out in the open ocean to another island.   This island was pure heaven.  I thought the beaches in Hawaii were nice but this one was ten times nicer.  The sand was white and the water was crystal clear. We got to snorkel and see all kids of fish (including eels) and then lay out.  The sand felt like mud beneath your feet and it wasn’t unbearably hot.  The water temperature was also perfect.   We had a delicious BBQ lunch provided by the friendly staff of the island.  The island and beaches literally “looked like a screensaver” to use a quote from a movie. It’s a beach you’d see in a magazine, on television, just not it real, everyday life!   It was an amazing afternoon and then the catamaran headed back to the bay, but first stopped in front of Gunner’s Quoin to let us off so we could do some more swimming.  Gunner’s Quoin is a HUGE bluff/ island that overlooks the ocean.   It was really nice to be out in the open water swimming.  I realized how much I miss swimming and am looking forward to taking a nice long swim when I get home.   I also realized that I’ve now swum in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans! 

I mentioned that Mauritius has a long history of colonial occupation.  As we were sailing on the catamaran, I thought of how what it would have been like to have sailed here back in the 1700s when the world was unknown.  Unimaginable.  The bluffs and islands in the area of the ocean were amazing and it would have been so much fun to have had more time and just explore them like the old sailors did.

The only negative thing about Mauritius is that things cost exactly the same as they do in America, because the island’s economy is based on tourism.  I’d figured this when I saw the pictures from Google Images and just reading up a little on the island.  There was a cruise ship docked behind us from South Africa.  I actually met several of its passengers in the post office and they told me some great to things to do in South Africa, which I’ll be in a five days!    A taxi driver also told me that ships from all over Europe dock in Mauritius, with the Queen Mary II, one of largest ships in the world, docking there just this past Saturday. 

Prices aside, I could have stayed on this little island for another few days, months, or maybe even a year.  It really is paradise.  Mark Twain once said: “You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven, and that heaven was copied off Mauritius.”  I think he’s dead on.  The Madonna song, La Isla Bonita, also matches the description of this island perfectly.

So now we’re off to South Africa.   We’ll be rounding the Cape of Good Hope and into the Atlantic Ocean, for the last leg of my journey.  Crazy.