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Published: August 23rd 2012
Mauritius
Skiing behind a 'orse' - loved the different accents. 'No problem' also a typical saying.June 1983
A couple of months after we were married we moved up to Johannesburg from Cape Town for better work opportunities. Exciting to live in another city but sad at the same time to say goodbye to our home town, Cape Town with its beautiful mountains and sea. After much adjusting, hard work and settling down and a couple of years later, it was time for our next annual holiday and we decided to be daring and go to
Mauritius.
This was our first holiday abroad! Admittedly it was really just going to be a beach holiday, but it was quite a big step for us in those days to venture out of our country!
Preparations began. Excitement building up. It's the middle of winter, how could we consider packing costumes and light summer clothing when the temperature at home was so cold? To crown it all, we had one of our cold snaps as we left Johannesburg with an icy wind blowing, so we wrapped up warmly for that. As we approached Mauritius, Paul was fortunate to be allowed into the cockpit and he had a spectacular panoramic view over the Le Morne peninsula with
Mauritius
Good bay for snorkelling and watersports turquoise blue seas and tropical greenery. I could see a bit of it too from my window, so I was thrilled. As we exited the door of the aeroplane, we were hit in the face by a blast of hot humid air! Very quickly we shed all our thick layers and couldn't wait to get to the hotel to strip off and don our costumes.
The drive in the taxi was pretty hair-raising with lots of hooting and squeezing past other vehicles on the narrow island roads, but the sweet fragrances from the sugar cane fields and tropical blooms along the side of the road soothed our senses and we got to our hotel in one piece. We were greeted by curvaceous ladies in bikinis and sarongs with a cocktail for each of us and this set us in the mood for a laid back holiday.
Paul was so eager to get into the sea and explore underwater, so we climbed on board a glass bottom boat and went out in the bay. We could not believe all the beautiful coral and fish that we could see. It didn't take
Mauritius
Typical wooden handywork from Mauritius long for Paul to put on a mask and dive underwater. I took a little bit longer, remembering my first snorkel at Storms River Mouth, but the sea was far calmer here and soon I jumped in as well. This snorkel was certainly far easier than my last one and I found this much more relaxing. At least I could take time to look at the fish and coral and didn't have to worry about waves crashing over my head and inhaling sea water! Furthermore, the water was far warmer than the average 12 degrees C around the Cape Province coast line - probably about 22 degrees C - I could get used to this!
Those two weeks were such a treat for us, swimming, snorkelling, soaking up the sun and exploring Mauritius. We spent 1 week at a hotel at the south eastern side and the second week on the western side near the Le Morne peninsula. The beaches with their white sands, contrasting black volcanic rock and torqouise blue warm sea is enough to tempt any weary traveller. At night we enjoyed our pre dinner cocktails and ate far too much, but the travel bug
Mauritius
Evening entertainment - sega dancers well and truly bit us then. Paul did a resort dive course, and went scuba diving and saw the most amazing 'coral garden' proudly shown to him by the dive master who took such interest in the sea life as if it were his own. I didn't have enough confidence in my diving skills to join my husband, so continued to snorkel instead and still managed to marvel at the underwater world. We did not just spend time in the water and on the beach, but took in all the usual tourist sights of Mauritius and were intrigued by all the hand made curious, the spices and the people of Mauritius. It was very difficult to leave and head back to reality, but unfortunately all good things come to an end!
My apologies for no photographs, but the quality of the pictures are not the best and I am rather technically challenged and haven't managed to scan and download them.
Update: Hopefully you will be able to see the few photos that I have loaded, eventually.
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Dalene
non-member comment
Sea and cocktails
Herinneringe is so kosbaar en jy het baie daarvan. Vandag het ek saam met jou na Mauritius gereis en ai het ek dit geniet. Sien uit na my volgende hernneringsvakansie saam met jou. "well done"