Mauritius

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We had a pretty calm finish to our long sail across the Indian Ocean. We arrived right on time. Mauritius looks beautiful on approach. It is green and full of interesting craggy volcanic peaks. It rained hard as we entered port and there was a big double rainbow framing Port Louis as we neared our dock. This is my 88th country visited.

There was some shipwide stress about the mandatory shipwide face to face immigration clearance, but it was a non-event. We were called in group 2 about the time our tour tickets had us leaving. We walked straight through Palm Court past the officials' table where we were rushed past without eye contact or pausing. We turned our passports and forms into ship's personnel as we exited the lounge. We went straight to Stardust where we were immediately called to depart. Pasted below is the tour description. We paid $139 each for it.

CRYSTAL IN-TRANSIT ADVENTURES: SOUTH ISLAND SIGHTS

Chamarel Falls and the Seven Colored Earths, Rum Distillery, Grand Bassin lake, Black River Gorges.

DURATION

APPROXIMATELY 6 HOURS

This outing features the sights and scenery of the southern part of the island, which boasts dramatic landscapes and stunning views.

Proceed to the town of Chamarel, home to two natural wonders: magnificent Chamarel Falls and the Seven Colored Earths. Created by volcanic rocks that cooled at different temperatures, the exposed hillsides of the Seven Colored Earths feature striking patterns of color. The waterfalls, meanwhile, plummet hundreds of feet from the cliffs’ edge

Visit the Rum distillery, followed by a refreshment at the Restaurant L’Alchimiste, within the distillery.

Enjoy a stop at Black River Gorges, which inspires more picture taking with magnificent views over the island’s forests.

Another scenic spot is Grand Bassin, a sacred lake where Hindus come to pray and worship, while others simply come to appreciate the beauty of this peaceful place.

All too soon, it will be time to return to the pier.

It is recommended that guests wear insect repellent, a hat, sunscreen and flat, comfortable shoes. The order of sights visited may vary.

We had received a memo from Destination Services days ago that Historic Marine Museum had been substituted with Voiliers de L'Ocean. Of course, there is no museum listed on our tour. I looked up the substitute and it was a shop/factory with model wooden ships. This didn't sound right so I went to the desk to see if it was a mistake. I was informed that tours change all the time and to roll with it. Well, no shit. I give you my money and I get whatever you deliver as it comes. No argument here, I know that's how it works. But, try to act like it matters. So today we drove over an hour to get to the town of Curepipe where we found dozens of boat model factories. We were shepherded through a huge souvenir shop and up a ramp to a room with maybe a dozen workers working on small boat model parts. It was a waste of time other than providing one of 3 toilet stops. Next stop was in heavy foot traffic to a tall statue of Shiva. It was bad timing as it was a big festival and meant we couldn't make our next stop of Grand Bassin Lake, or as our guide said, Ganga Talao or Sacred Lake. The road was closed to all but the Hindu pilgrims as it should have been and probably is annually. So you have to wonder why they didn't know in advance and substitute something for that. We made the photo stop at Black River Gorges where the highlight was our guide feeding the monkeys. We drove by the Rum Distillery at Chamarel but didn't stop. No one ever explained the elimination of the distillery from the tour. Our guide did not entertain questions. His answer to every question was to promise to tell us everything we needed to know about Mauritius on the long drive back to the pier. He slept on the way back. In Chamarel, we had a nice buffet lunch in a beautiful outdoor setting with a view of the ocean. The restaurant was named Chamarel. After lunch we stopped for 20 minutes at Chamarel Falls. In the same geopark we had a final stop at the volcanic remains of 7 colored earth for another 20 minutes because it was our last toilet op before the hour ride back to port. Traffic is horrific around Port Louis. We were back around 4pm.

We are due to sail at 9pm. We should arrive in Reunion Island tomorrow at 8am. We can pick up our passports after 7am to carry all day due to random immigration checks in the terminal building ashore. Our tour departs tomorrow at 8:15am. A busy couple of days. Preparation for South Africa!

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