Port Louis, Mauritius
Mauritius is one of three major islands that also include Reunion and the Seychelles. These islands are favored vacation destinations for folks from Africa, Europe, and Asia. Mauritius prides itself in being a peaceful and tolerant multicultural community including Hindus, Muslims, and Creoles. Sugar cane has historically been a primary cash crop on the island, however, since Europe dropped sugar subsidies to Mauritius, the profitability of sugar has declined and the island is moving more toward tourism as a replacement economy. There is also progress being made toward development of Mauritius as a "cyber community" that would provide 100% wireless access throughout the island and serve as a major hub of technology-based enterprises...basically work and live in paradise as long as your business can be managed electronically. Certainly a cool vision with lots of work and money needed to make the vision a reality.
There is considerable property development portside in Port Luis- almost too westernized for my tastes- seemingly trying to compete with the Cape Town waterfront. This port was a good transition place to prepare for India. The markets were an amazing collection of vendors, food, crafts, fragrances, noise, and crowds. I can understand why folks buying meat come early in the morning as later in the day the combination of heat, humidity, and flies make the meat less desirable to purchase.
Mauritius was created by a series of volcanoes- of which, 25 extinct volcanoes form the spine of the island. The beaches and water are beautiful. We went on a volcanic exploration field experience to learn more and along the way detoured to visit the pilgrimage site of Grand Bassin- which is a holy lake for Hindus. This festival, Maha Shivaratri, is celebrated by 500,000 Hindus each year in Mauritius. Legend is that the lake is in fact part of the Ganges and as such is a very holy site. So we visited the huge statue of Shiva in pouring, cold rain and mingled with some pilgrims while eating some native food, which paranthetically, was provided free of charge by a Mauritian construction company! Altho the learning about the volcanic history was interesting, connecting with the Shiva festival trumped the lava holes.
We went on a catamaran snorkeling trip and unfortunately dove a reef that was not as rich with sea life as we expected. We did learn that underwater experiences were considerably better around Reunion, however, we did not make it there.
My impression is that the Mauritian tourist sector is in its early developmental stages and this was reflected in the quality of some of the experiences. We traveled between the ship and portside either by cab or by water taxi. The Port Louis Boatman's Club offered a wide variety of wooden boats that more often than not seemed to barely make it to their destination. It was interesting to pick up passengers from other ships in port-cargo and fishing vessels- from Japan and China. We were not successful in fully communicating with our fellow Vietnamese ship workers but they did manage to get some photos of Kelsey on their cell phones.
Mauritius was probably the most challenging port so far for student issues. We had a few serious incidents that resulted in hospitalizations that were soon moved to our on ship ICU clinic. All are well now but it was a bit challenging for a while.
We left Mauritius on March 4 and are headed for Chennai, India. The seas were about 3.5 meters (10 feet) upon leaving Mauritius and have since calmed to a nice one meter swell. Last night we had a wonderful 5 course Captain's dinner with 24 faculty and staff plus the Captain's senior team.
Tomorrow, Saturday, is a no-class day and instead the community will be involved in the Sea Olympics all day. This is a competition among the ten "seas" on the ship. Each sea has about 80 folks. Although we have the most seasoned experience, our faculty and staff "Silver Sea" may be outperformed by the students in a few of the more physical events. Time will tell.. ... That's it for now. Stay tuned....
Craig
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