Mauritius

Our last leg in this journey and not the best arrival.  The plane was late but then on arrival the queue for visa entry was 10 lines deep on both sides.  Reckon at least 2 plane loads of people and only a couple of counters open.
We waited and waited and after 1.5 hours I got cramp in my foot so was sitting on the ground when a staff member took pity on us and got us to the front of the queue – would have been at least another 30 mins otherwise.  That was the worst in any airport I have ever been in.

We are starting our round island tour in La Gaulette, near Le Morne on the west coast.  Being a Sunday not much is open but we managed to find a small supermarket to get some water and not much else – will have to eat out tonight. Not the best food either.

Great sunset view from our balcony though.

We set off in the morning for some snorkeling off the beach – well that was a dead loss, visibility atrocious and no fish or coral at all that we could find.  We later find out we were not in the right spot – but still not much left off the beach.

Lovely BNB though and a good supermarket so all set for self catering.

A trip out on a boat to swim with Swimmer Dolphins was great but the snorkel spot later was not so good due to rough seas and a strong current.  It did look like it would have been great in better conditions though, healthy coral and fish. Our guide kept telling us not to get near the reef due to the current but on each wave you were moved metres towards it so it was not the best and hard to stay away. If you had gotten too close you would have been smashed to pieces.

On the way back in we visited Crystal Rock a pretty tiny island in crystal clear water.

For lunch we have found a great Roti place – cheaper than self catering.  60 MUR (2 aus) for a spicy chicken roti.

Driving here is interesting as there appear to be no road rules and people doing all sorts of strange things.

A walk in Black River Gorges National Park for some endemic birds was both productive and stunning.  Fantastic scenery and very peaceful.

Moving on to our second stay we stopped on route, firstly to visit Chamarel Coloured Sands.  I had been here back in 1987 and comparing the photos was interesting – much better looked after now and a board walk, cafe etc.

New look, all tidy and pristine with boardwalk all round.

Old – weeds and no boardwalk

Second stop was to snorkel in Flic En Flac,  hard to find a park as very packed but the snorkeling was not bad for off beach.

We thought we would stop in Port Louis as it was market day and supposed to be a good place for T.shirts – have been trying to get some for the grandkids since Madagascar with no luck.  Poor Steve driving, the traffic was horrendous the one-way system impossible and google gets everything wrong in Mauritius for some reason.  It was a real nightmare and we quickly decided to give up, 45 mins approx to basically go round in a circle of maybe 400 metres.  It was very stressful with cars (or maybe the drivers) doing completely insane and unimaginable things.

Our next BNB was very hard to find, google took us down an impassable unmade lane which we had to reverse back up, then other ways with roads that did not exist.  We did eventually get there and it is a lovely place and walking distance to beach, shops etc. Lucky as with everywhere else parking is impossible.

One thing we are finding that is lovely here is everywhere we go there are so many birds, not sure I have ever seen such large quantities all over the place.  Lovely to watch them in the gardens etc.

Our fist trip in this area was to drive to Trou aux Biches for a snorkel early morning – even then at 7.30 it was almost impossible to find a park and the beaches already busy.  For some reason the water was much colder here so we could not stay in as long but it was worthwhile with a lot of fish and some clumps of coral.

Another couple of snorkeling trips out was to Pereybere with the usual parking issues. These were also interesting sites with quite a lot of variety of fish and my favourite a huge Zebra Moray Eel but again the coral is not the best but does look like it might be recovering in places.

At the end of the lane of our BNB we have found another amazing Roti place – breakfast and lunch for us at 40 MUR (1.30 AUD) for a spicy chicken roti – wish I could make them like this, will definitely try when home.

A scenic coastal drive down the east coast to our last stop in Blue Bay.  Some lovely scenery on route, the first point of interest is a very cute church on the tip of the North.

Staying in a guest house this time but still with our own kitchen.  Luckily as only limited tourist food around this area, no cheap local roti’s ..SAD …

Pleasantly surprised by the reef here – so much better than anywhere else on the island. On our first and second swims in we saw so many fish and other different things, different eels, Peacock Mantis Shrimp, Lizardfish etc.

Really great for a off the beach house reef.  The most common fish here is the Mauritian Gregory and it loves to attack you – well bump into you anyway and warn you off it’s patch.

We opted for a boat to take us to a couple of other spots in the marine park that you are not allowed to do without a guide.  It was supposed to be 4 snorkelling spots but somehow ended up as 2 – not sure why but we were cold so were happy enough.  The first spot was coral bommies and incredible numbers of really big fish

The above fish may not look big but it was massive.

The second was known for the sea anemones growing and now one of the last places you have a reasonable chance of finding the Mauritian Anemonefish which used to be common everywhere.  Initially it looked as if we would not find any but then we came upon a patch of coral with lots of anemone’s where there were good numbers, the water was deep though so not great for photography,

Our last guest house – Blueberyl was interesting as front balcony you have views of the reef.

The rear balcony was larger but bit like being at the end of a runway.

Our last 2 whole days for snorkeling were very windy and although we tried the current was too strong so could not stay in long on either day.

The morning of the day we leave the sea was like glass so at 6.30am we went in for a great snorkel, no current and wonderful visibility.  I saw a different species of Moray Eel and Steve found a Peacock Flounder, so funny watching them swim.

After breakfast a trip out to Ile aux Aigrettes (a wildlife sanctuary) was planned.  Arrived at 9.15 as instructed only to find we have been moved to a later time – lucky we are only 8 mins away so can go back and come out again.  It was a very interesting visit with sightings of rare birds and lizards.  The wildlife foundation are doing a great job of bringing some species back from the edge of extinction.

Back to the ranch and another snorkel before lunch not as good as the morning as the current and wind are getting up but still well worthwhile and a great way to finish up before our evening flight back to Australia.