TUESDAY, APR 6TH--MAURITIUS

We had a great day on Mauritius. We believe this is the best island we have visited. Certainly our tour today was the best yet. The day was sunny, temperature 82F, and much lower humidity than we’ve had during the last month or longer. Our tour departed at 8:45 this morning, right on time, and was called “Colorful South”. You guessed it, we toured the south part of the island. Initially we drove through Port Louis during rush hour so traffic was slow. Then we hit the countryside. During our 7 hour tour we drove past many sugar cane plantations, some pineapple plantations, banana plantations, guava plantations, drying beds that sea salt comes from, some coffee trees, chou-chou farms, and bread fruit trees. They also raise vanilla beans and tea here but we did not see that part of the island. By far sugar cane is biggest crop here. They use the sugar cane to produce rum and sugar, both of which they export. Chou-chou is a vegetable kind of like a potato but looks like a green avacado. It is boiled and cooked with onion and garlic. We had some at lunch and it was very good. Ok, our tour bus wound it’s way up in the mountains to our first stop which was at an extinct volcano crater whose floor is now heavily wooded and has a small lake also. Then we continued our drive past a huge lake that is the island’s water supply. Our guide said during dry season it gets very low and water to cities is cut off during the day. Next stops were made at the Grand Bassin which is a sacred lake for the Hindus. There was a giant statue called the Mangal Mahadev (108 feet high) and once a year a Hindu pilgrimage is made here. Next to the lake is a colorful Hindu temple where I took photos. Next we drove to the Black River Gorges National Park, a huge valley with tropical trees and vegetation. There was even a water falls. Here we found some stands with all kinds of souvenirs and some fresh pineapple. Now it was time for lunch which was at a lovely restaurant up on the mountain with breath taking views. We had the chou chou cooked with a cheese sauce to start with followed by chicken curry, rice, and a vegetable. Delicious! After lunch we traveled through guava groves to a privately owned sugar cane plantation that had two beautiful attractions. Of course the owner charged an entrance fee so probably made more money from tourists than his 2000 acre plantation. The first site was the magnificent Chamarel waterfalls and the second was an area where the soil (if you can call it that) has 7 colors in it. Nothing will grow on it and it is believed to be of volcanic origin. Then we wound our way back down the mountain to a coastal road that took us back to the ship. Along the way we passed some small fishing villages and saw some drying pans where sea salt was produced after the water evaporated. Mauritius also has some beautiful beaches but our tour did not go past them. We were back at the ship by 4pm and we will sail at 6pm for Reunion Island which is 120 miles from here. Although I took a lot of pictures today I will wait until after tomorrow’s port and those pictures before I put them on the blog. We are having cocktails this evening with Brandi Chapman, the wonderful entertainer. Once again we really enjoyed Mauritius today.