bph: Ile Maurice

I always used to feel Mauritius is out of our reach as I felt it was way too expensive. It had been 2 1/2 years since we had made a trip outside India. So I started looking for places. After a lot of research, decided on Mauritius! It was coming close to our budget for this trip. Then we had several options for the resort. Again, after a lot of searching, I was satisfied with the SANDS Resort. This place had a private beach and that was one of the criteria we were looking for :)

We are back after a week's vacation in Ile Maurice :) And it has been one of our BEST trips so far!! Mauritius is a beautiful country - blue/green water, lush greeeeeeeeen land with mountains and great roads.

This has been our first visit to a country to the south of equator.

Day1

Our flight was at 5.55 am on a Tuesday. So we left home around 2 am. We had booked in Air-Mauritius and the flight was via Chennai. We didn't have to get off the flight in Chennai, so it was more like a direct flight from Bangalore. We landed in Mauritius at 1.30 pm local time. While we were landing, we could see the blue ocean on one side and green mountains on the other. It was beautiful!

Immigration and baggage pick-up happened fast, and we were out in one hour, where our travel rep from 'My Holidays' (the local travel agency) was waiting for us. We hopped into the car that took us to our resort, about one hour (55km) from the airport. The airport is in south Mauritius and our resort on the west coast. The drive was beautiful! Sugarcane fields on both sides of the road. Lovely weather. Roads were great! We reached our destination - The Sands Resort and Spa at 3.30 pm.

We went straight to the room after getting down at the entrance. There were no formalities to be done at the reception, which was good as we were hungry and were so glad to settle down in the room immediately. We changed and went to the restaurant to eat something. Had a burger and a pizza with cold beer on the pool side restaurant. We immediately fell in love with the resort, an ocean view as soon as we enter the resort and from our room and everywhere! What more do we need on a vacation :D . A got into the pool, I went to the beach. Then we walked along the beach in the water. There were black rocks around 25-30ft from the land, into the ocean. We walked in the water and climbed these rocks. We sat on these rocks for an hour and watched the sun set slowly :) It was lovely! The various colors of the sun was stunning. Today, the whole day we didn't touch our camera. We just wanted to soak in everything first :)

Got back to the room after watching sun-set, freshened up and went to the restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we sat on the beach chairs for a while, listening to the waves. Then crashed on our beds.

Day 2

Woke up at 6.30 am. Got ready and left the room. Weather was perfect, soft white sand, blue n clear water and the fresh air! Spent sometime at the beach before having a crazy heavy yummy breakfast.

Entrance to the resort

Today, we had planned to visit the north side of the country. So after breakfast, we changed and left the resort by car at 9.30 am. Enjoyed the drive throughout. We stopped at the Cascaville shopping mall to exchange currency to Mauritian Rupees (MUR). 1 MUR = 2 Indian rupees. It rained heavily for 10 minutes during the drive, and then the sun was out. Our first stop was Botanical gardens, which is in Pamplemousses. We stayed here from 11 to 12, walking in the middle of huge trees and plants. Well maintained, lot of exotic plants, giant water lilies and the talipot palm that flowers once in 60 years. It was a pleasant walk, the weather being so great.

Sugarcane

We drove to Port Louis from here.

We stopped at the Citadel view point, where there is a beautiful fort. This fort kind of divides Port Louis into 3 parts - right side residential, left commercial and then administrative. We had an awesome view of the whole city from the top of the fort. We could also see the harbor from here. Bought flower clip and kappechippu bracelet made in Mauritius.

The Fort

Then drove to the Caudon waterfront, where we spent a great time from 1 to 3.30pm here. Roamed around the waterfront, ate lunch at 'Beer and Spices' where the waitress spoke hindi. Had lasagne and the chef's speciality - vegetables cooked in garlic butter with creole sauce served with rice - a Mauritian dish which tasted very good. After lunch, we went to the local market taking the subway to cross the road, where all the local Mauritian people were buying and selling EVERYTHING on the streets! It was crowded but fun to watch :) I would call this place the Mauritian Chickpet :)

Local market

We walked back to the waterfront, a lovely place, with lot of small stores selling many things, waterside restaurants - it was a good walk - bought Abercrombie and Fitch chappal for mur300 and a coral necklace for mur600. Loved this area.

We drove back to the hotel.

Rainbow No. 2

As usual, we were talking to the driver all along the way, as we always want to know more about the country and about the local people. So here is a bit of what we learnt about Mauritius :) -

The roads are great through out the country, very clean and well-maintained. It is a safe place. Mauritius is 65km length wise (north to south) and 45km width wise (west to east), 330km is the entire coastal line and sugarcane is the main crop - it takes up 35% of the land. They make sugar, alcohol rum, and biogas also from sugarcane. Other industries in Mauritius are textile and tourism industries.

We were really surprised to see most of the local people look like Indians and with Indian names. Got to know that 56% of the total population are hindus - Indian origin, rest are African and French. Creole is the national language - it is a mix of french and a local dialect. They also speak Bhojpuri, French, African and Hindi. English is the medium of instruction in schools. And the kids get free education from 6 years till they go to college.

Port louis is the capital - biggest city. Very few cities are there in Mauritius, rest are all villages.

It was nice driving around from west to northern part, as we got a sense of the local culture - houses are like in India, bus-stops everywhere with benches, there are no trains-only bus, clean country, lot of traffic in Port Louis, vehicles - yellow board is rented, white is taxi/bus, black is private. Alphabets on vehicle number plates represent month of purchase if its new and purchased in Mauritius. Most of them are bought thru dealers from outside the country :)

The transport here is free is what we were told. People drive a manual car, and the police are very strict, people follow lane, yield, speedlimits. Many festivals like Christmas, Diwali, Id, Holi and Mahashivratri are celebrated. Around 500,000 people celebrate Shivaratri for a week in the big temple - Gangataloe.

Back in the hotel at 4.30pm, we saw the most beautiful rainbow! We did paddle boat for 30min - it was awesome fun in the beautiful ocean.

Relaxed on the beach for a while. We got into the water, sat on the rocks and watched sun-set from the rocks. This time took pictures. There was a cloud covering the sun towards the end, but still it was beautiful to watch the rays coming out of the cloud in all directions!

Back to the room, freshened up, had tea in the balcony. Went down to the restaurant for dinner at 7.30pm. Looooots of desserts and live music every night :)

Before hitting the bed we sat in the balcony, listening to the waves :)

Day 3

Woke up at 5.40 am, and the first thing I did every morning was to open the balcony door. The sound of waves and the sight of lot of birds was amazing.

We went for a walk along the beach, in the water for an hour. Awesome weather! It was just perfect!

We headed to the restaurant for breakfast from the beach. After a heavy breakfast, went back to the room, got ready and fixed up a spa appointment for the day after while we waited for our car. We left the hotel at 9.45am.

We headed south today. Whole of Mauritius is lush green. Roads are great everywhere! We took a left and then right this time at the mall (had taken just a left at the mall and went straight for north tour). We took smaller roads this time, passing residential area. Houses look a lot like Indian houses with clothes hanging outside. We also passed an Iskon temple.

It took us 30 minutes to reach our first place, which was at the port factory, where they make miniature ships. The base is plywood, and they cover it up with teak sheet. The sails are made from cotton and the thread is waxed to make it strong. We bought a "Santa Maria" ship from 1492 for Appa.

Opposite was the factory outlet for all the hi-end famous bags - guess, prada, jimmy choo, louis vitton!!!! Was soo hard to control! I finally bought a Dolce & Gabbana for 2500mur. Love my purchase :D

Then we went to adamas diamond factory.

30min drive from here to volcano crater of Trou aux Cerfs.

The road to our next stop - Shiva temple was amazing. We stopped here for a while, where there is a huge Shiva statue. It rained heavily for 5 minutes here. Next we went to Ganga taloe - a temple with the only Jyotirlinga outside India. They celebrate Mahashivratri on a huge scale here for 7 days. People all over the country walk all night to this temple during that time. They have idols of many Gods.

View of city Curepipe - Center of Mauritius.

We drove through the Black River National park, where there are no wild animals, only monkeys :p, was full of trees of course.

We were getting hungry. So stopped for lunch in a small village, where we had Indian thali for 400 MUR per plate.

After lunch we went to the Waterfalls.

7 colored earth, caused by volcanic explosion in Chamarel.

We stopped on our way back at the sacred lake of Grand Bassin.

My favorite road has been the one from Cascaville shopping village to Flic en Flac where the road seems to lead direct to the ocean - beautiful! Sugarcane fields with green mountains on the left.

We got back at 4 pm. Jumped into the ocean immediately. A did a one-man kayak, while I was playing in the water :p. We were here till 5.30 pm here. Showered and went for a walk to take pictures of the sunset.

Dinner was the highlight of the day - we ordered sand's fizz and home-made rum - (spiced, vanilla, coconut), olives, groundnuts, mini samosas with 2 people singing right next to us - eagles songs, some of the 80s songs and we had the pool and beach next to us - PERFECT evening!

Later we had dinner. Then sat near the pool listening to the live music till we couldn't keep our eyes open.

Day 4

Woke up at 6.30am. Breakfast at 7 - heavy long yummy! Today was the day to relax at the resort.

We got beach towels and settled down on the beach chairs. We did not plan to step out of the resort today, in fact I did not even plan to remove my feet out of the water :D. We went for a long walk for 90 minutes along the beach till Sugar Beach Resort, which was very nice, I walked in the water all along :).

Back to the hotel and relaxed on the beach.

A and I did kayaking on a 2-man Kayak boat for 45min. It was awesome fun! Loot of waves splashing water all over us. The waves were pushing us away into the ocean. It was good :)

Again, crashed on the beach.

The resort gives fruit juice fizz to everyone on the beach - morning evening. Refreshing!

Lunch at 1 - burger, large pizza with beer. Yummmmmmm

Back to the beach-relaxed.

I have never gone looking for shells before. This time I strolled along the beach collecting shells as I wanted to get 7 shells (at least) - one for each wonderful day here :)

We did paddle boat for 30 minutes, was super fun.

We shifted from the beach to the pool - an amazing infinity pool - spent lot of time here.

Forced ourselves out of the pool and went for a walk to watch sunset. Beautiful sunset!

Got back to the room, freshened up and went to the beach to dance with the Mauritian dancers :) 30min of fun Mauritian dancing :) :D

We deserved to eat after all the hard work :p , so dinner time! We used to have breakfast and dinner on the beach everyday :) Was super. Walked on the beach after dinner. Back in the room, we sat in the balcony listening to music, the band playing - all the oldies -

U look wonderful tonight

Hello

Lady in red

Careless whispers

Day 5

Woke up after a good night's sleep at 5.30 am to the sound of birds chirping. The best part of nature - sooo many birds! We sat in the balcony having tea and listening to birds and waves and watching the ocean.

In and Out :)

Walked on the beach. Breakfast by the pool/beach.

Relaxing time at the beach on beach chairs.

10am, we had booked for the glass bottom boat ride. We got to see an awesome view into the sea world - lot of coral and colorful fish - yellow, black, blue, gray, white, zebra color, yellow black stripes, yellow white tail. The ride was for 1 hour. It is like snorkeling but we don't get wet here :)

Dolphin

I sat on the beach, after the boat ride. A went for another boat ride to watch dolphins. I walked on the beach alone, taking in everything the nature had to offer :D. We did paddle boat again.

It was pool time now, so we shifted to the pool area where we ordered lunch and drinks. Got into the pool, had beer, ate veg pizza on the pool /beach side. Fun in the pool. We freshened up around 4 in the evening and went to the spa for our appointment.

After sauna and steam, went for the massage, which was amazing. Had pineapple juice before the massage and herbal tea after.

Nice dinner, great live music and sleep.

Day 6

Now it had become a routine to wake up early and go for a walk and then have a yummy breakfast on the beach :D

After the morning chores, we were all geared up for an exciting water sports day :)

We left the resort around 9 am. We were headed to the east coast this time. The roads were great and the scenary beautiful, with sugarcane fields on both sides of the road and mountains in the background. I was so tempted to stop the car and walk in the fields. It would have been lovely :) We came across lot of Indian culture here - 'Ganesha pooja saman' shop, Gandhi bhavan, women crossing the streets wearing saree/salwar, temples, houses next to each other that look like Indian houses from outside, clothes hanging outside every house, lot of iskon temples.

We reached the place called Belle Mare, where we bought tickets. The ocean was beautiful. A speed boat took us to the middle of the ocean.

Our first activity was Parasailing. A and I were tied to a parachute, and we were supposed to go up as soon as the speed boat to which our rope is tied takes off. But we had a surprise! We were pulled horizontally instead of vertically, and so all of a sudden we were in the ocean! I was shocked for a fraction of a second. Then after few seconds we were flying :D It was fun to dip in the ocean before flying :) It was amazing! The view from the top of the ocean is mind blowing. An amazing feeling! After sometime we came down, and landed on the wooden board.

From here we were taken to another boat to do under sea walk :) This was one of the best experiences!! We tie a belt that has heavy stones attached to them (to help us in going down to the bed of the ocean). We are given rubber like shoes to wear on our feet. We were taught few signs to communicate in the water. Then we get below the water on a ladder fixed to the boat. We go down till our whole body is below water, and our head is above. They put a huge, round oxygen mask on our face, and immediately we have to go below water. A person will pull us down and make sure we find the sea bed, and our feet are landed on the sea floor :) I was just in AWE by the whole experience UNDER-SEA! I went down first, and then I see a small kid following me. It took me several minutes to realize that it was A, I did not know that objects appear so small inside water :p :p

The instructor took pictures of us below water. Then he took us around for a walk in the ocean, different kinds of fish swimming right near our faces. We went one round and came back near the bottom of our boat. He gave us bread to hold in our hands, and all the fish started eating from our hands :D

We came up and I still can't stop thinking about the sea world :)

We had tubing left in our list, so we went to another boat, and from there jumped onto a big tube (its like a banana boat in the shape of a circle). We had to hold on tight, to avoid falling in the water. The tube is tied to a speed boat, and the speed boat pulls the tube. It was scary but lot of fun :)

We were dropped back to the beach after tubing. Our car was waiting for us to take us to an island called Ile Aux Cerfs.

We went to the island in a big speed boat. I enjoyed this ride, as the water was pristine blue and green. It is a very different part of the ocean this side. We arrived at the island at lunch-time. We had taken a package for the whole day, which included all the water sports activities, island tour, waterfalls and lunch. So we had packed Indian food for lunch on the island :)

The water on this island was the most beautiful I have ever seen. The waves were much higher, and the water/sand very clean. The sand very soft as well. I just jumped into the water, and stayed there for one hour. Enjoyed each and every moment here :) Had too much fun :)

The Island

When it was time for us to leave the island, it started raining heavily. We waited for sometime, and the sky cleared up. We hopped into the speed boat again, and went to the waterfalls.

The ride to the falls was nice - calm and peaceful ocean. The waterfalls was good. We returned to the land, and back to the car. We were tired, but in a good way :) Started back to the hotel, which was 1 1/2 hours away.

On our way back, we saw a beautiful exact semicircle big rainbow. We used to see many rainbows everyday. Mauritius is the land of rainbows :D

Back in the hotel, we freshened up quickly. We were covered in sand, as we were on the beach/water whole day. We headed out to our beach, to watch the sun-set. We relaxed here for sometime, and sat in our beach restaurant for a drink. Music and dinner followed :)

Day 7

Woke up at 5.30am. Sat outside for sometime, before going to our favorite beachside table to have breakfast. We ate and ate and ate :D We had to say good bye to all the waiters/tress and cooks who had become our friends, as this was our last day in the country. EVERYONE had been very friendly :)

We then relaxed on the beach for few hours. Spent time at the lovely pool.

Back to the room, packed and checked out at 12. We kept our luggage in the luggage room and headed out.

Flic en Flac is a beautiful small village that is close to our resort. We had to pass this village everytime we went out. So we decided to walk to this place after we checked out.

We walked along the beach from our resort to Flic en Flac, a 4 - 5km walk along the beach - Started from sands and passed many resorts through out the way - Sands-Maradiva-Sofitel-Hilton-Sugar Beach Resort-Li Piroque-Public beach-Flic en Flac - a nice small village with many small shops and restaurants. We were hungry and went to a small local restaurant, where we had a very yummy veg pasta. I have never finished one full plate of pasta before :) We walked more inside the city, looking at all the small shops and window shopping for a while.

Could not resist for long, shopped keychains, t-shirt and small curios.

Welcome to Flic en Flac :)

We decided to walk back to Sands resort on the road this time. It had started drizzling. So after a while, we hitched a ride in a van that was going to Sands to pick someone :)

Flic en Flac road

At the resort, we were given a departure room, where we could use the shower and bathroom. After freshening up, we left to the airport, for our flight back to India :) It is a 5 1/2 hours flight from Mauritius to B'lore. We left at 9.35pm and landed in namma ooru at 5 am.

Below are few pictures that I clicked at the resort for my scrap book and blog :)