29th February 2016

Thanks to the air conditioning, we enjoyed a solid night’s sleep. Still, it was with great reluctance on my part that I dragged myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8 am.

Showered and dressed, we made our way through the early morning heat to breakfast. Disappointingly, despite their left-hand driving and English-speaking habits, Mauritius clings to its French heritage in one crucial area, breakfast. This was right up Sue’s street but decidedly not mine. Sweet pastries hold no appeal for me, especially not in the morning when my senses and taste buds are barely awake.

I settled for some fruit, quickly followed by thin slices of cheese and ham. The bread, admittedly, was excellent, though good bread isn’t exactly unique; ciabatta, for one, does a fine job!

The Hertz agent arrived on time at 10 am, and after a quick bit of paperwork, we were handed the keys to a Suzuki Alto. About an hour later, we were on the road, heading up the coast to explore whatever we could find.

Our first stop was at a national park that had been reclaimed from an old sugar mill. The area was far too large to explore in the heat, so we opted for a short walk around the ruins before moving on to Roches Noires. The beach there was lovely, just one of many stunning spots we’d discover that day.

From there, we came across a shopping complex in Goodlands, where we stocked up on water (though not quite enough beer for the week). I also grabbed a sausage pizza to eat later.

We found another beautiful beach at Grand Gaube, and after a quick look around, we settled down for a while. I ate my pizza, while Sue munched on some fruit and pretzels, I’m beginning to think she’s gone a bit “Frenchified”!

The binoculars have proven useful, as there are always stunning views wherever we stop, with pretty little islands offshore tempting us to speculate about them.

We’ve been driving for no more than 15 minutes at a time, stopping regularly to explore and enjoy the sights. Slowly, we worked our way north up the coast to the very top of the island. We’re determined to dip our toes in this sparkling blue ocean before we move on to the Seychelles next week. Surely, there can’t be spiny urchins lurking on every beach, can there?

We reached the top of the island and, as we made our way south, we came across Grand Baie, the most developed resort we’d encountered so far. Despite that, it was still a picture-postcard scene in every direction.

To break up the time on the white sandy beach, we decided to do a bit of shopping. Sue was on the hunt for a Dodo souvenir, while I tried my best to stay out of her line of sight. Afterwards, we returned to the car and spent some time on the beach, where we watched a game of boule taking place under a canopy of Banyan trees. It was wonderfully cool and peaceful.

With my GPS playing up, we eventually headed back to our hotel, arriving around 6 pm. After a quick nap, we got dressed for dinner and made our way back up the coast to a Mauritian restaurant we had spotted earlier in the day. I opted for Creole, while Sue went for an Indian dish. It was a lovely way to end the day after all the exploring.

Back at the hotel, we settled down on our verandah with the beer we’d bought earlier and enjoyed watching a three-piece band play across the pool from us for about an hour. Afterwards, we took a peaceful stroll along the beach under the starlit sky before retiring to bed, feeling content after a lovely day of exploring.