Mauritius Continued

Continuing from my previous post, some more of Mauritius. I indulged in two adventures there. The first one is under-sea walking. You have a solar-powered oxygen kit that you wear like an helmet and tie heavy belts accentuated with heavy stones and get under the sea. The heavy belt is to help you stay put under water and the oxygen kit helmet is to help you breathe. The water was chill in the beginning but then you get one with the sea. The instructors get good care and monitor your comfort-ability regularly. Its quite an experience to have your feet buried deep in the sad while water overhead tries to push you away. Those colorful and beautiful fishes around you swim effortlessly and you marvel at their agility. As we held out our hands to feed them, they nibble tiny bits of food and swim away. An instructor grabbed a tiny sea snail and handed it over to me. I held that tiny thing for sometime and later don't know when I dropped it.

If this was once-in-a-lifetime experience, para sailing was another level of fun. Though I wouldn't call it adventurous; my husband did scream and shout. He was chiding me for being calm and laughing; and was wondering why I was not scared! Looking at the turquoise water and the deep blue sea forming a natural boundary and those pearly white sands was ecstatic. Para sailing did not give me an adrenaline rush! I am waiting for sky diving to happen! Hopefully soon!!

Another queer but amusing thing I noticed was how Indian names were Mauritian-ized. "Manju" spelt as "Manjoo", "Gokul" as "Gocool" and so on. We could go up to the door of the Prime Minister's office and take a snap! How cool is that. The landscape is volcanic; the hills surrounding have a spiky edges to them and not having seen such hills and mountains earlier; they did look a bit artificial.

One thing I marveled about the place was public toilets - well maintained and clean. Whenever I used public toilets I was scared of being nagged for money as it happens here. But none of that kind happened. 

Few pictures.

A lady at work helping keep the place clean at Grand Bay.

The oily noodles I mentioned in my last post. Could not eat 1 spoon of it. I felt bad when I had to leave the food when the lady who prepared it asked if I didnt like it. I lied that I was feeling sick. she believed me and told me to take care :-(

This one gave us company and I was glad that I didnt have to throw away the noodles. She ate it all.

A lovely dog. Was loitering around in this park.

Streets of Port Louis - the capital. 

This is what I was talking about. :)

A traffic policeman manning the traffic in front of the PM's office. The roads are narrow.

Again here is the Mauritian version of "Ranganathan Srinivasan"

Corridor of Prime Minister's office. He was out of town; else maybe I would have had an audience with him :-P

A church on the hill top. I forgot its name. French is difficult than Spanish. But I heard that this church has been pictured in lotta Bollywood movies. It was past 5 PM and the church was shut! I came to know that people dont work/loiter beyond 5 and everything shuts down!!

Port Louis as seen from the church

The next day, it was 9:30 AM and we did not have beach wear. So forced this chap to open his shop so that we could buy some beach wears. Got some awesome stuff  - sarongs with fishes printed on them. 

Catamaran! Do you remember the song "Churake Dil Mera" - Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty? Yeah the song was filmed in this island on some catamaran. Not this one; but the island is Ile Aux Cerfs

People live here. The island is so gorgeous and heaven. Our guide for the day Kishan told he stays here. 

Kishan

 

I dont know its name. It had a long tail and was cute.

Waterfall adjacent to the sea. 

The stage for Para sailing. At Ile Aux Cerf, after visiting the waterfall,  came back for Para sailing.

These guys have to try hard to control the parachute and that the guests are not hurt and land safely. They do this every 5 minutes. 

 

Thats me!!

After para sailing, a leisurely drink, playing in the sand and the turquoise water . People were relaxed, sun bathing in nude forgetting all the worries of the world :)

Rest area. 

The sea, translucent and transparent, so clean and tidy.

 Paradise? Probably...maybe...sure! I had not seen earlier such a clear blue sky, sun shine just right, clear blue water and white sands. I do not remember how long I played, but I did play in the waters for a long long time.

Lot of star fishes hit the shore. As big as one's palm, pinkish.

And some sea urchin's shell - in colors of black and purple.

After playing, a BBQ buffet. As I do not eat meat, my options were limited but I did not mind it. This view was more than sufficient.

Can you see them? Now thats romantic!

Secluded, calm and pristine. 

All for yourself....