Ros Rose trip to Mauritius Dec 2022

Time to say a sad goodbye to Jas, Vicky and Juju something I hate doing as you never know when we will see them again, although Vicky is working on us meeting up in Taiwan in September when they hope to go back and celebrate her grandmother’s birthday. We lazed about all day well some folk did as I had the packing to do and making sure we left our room OK. We went back to the Bay for a 2.30pm lunch and the breeze from the ocean was quite strong, ideal for kite surfers though. Vicky, Jas and Juju came to the airport to see us off. We are now sitting in the airport at 8.30pm having been to Duty Free. All the items are in Euros and as I had some we decided to spend them. The plane is due to leave at 11pm so a late night for us. The journey to Dubai was uneventful and duty free no cheaper than at home so we didn’t buy any and took a leisurely walk to our gate as we weren’t in any rush this time. I managed to get enough Gifts on Pokemon for Thomas and Nicola to ensure that they have the pos

The only thing left on my “to do”list was to visit the Rivulet Terre Rouge Estuary Bird Sanctuary which was next to the Dockland North of Port Louis.   According to the information it is the largest estuary area in Mauritius and numerous birds migrate here between October and February. However as we arrived in the heat of the day at 1.30pm we only saw 2 or 3 birds so it was a bit disappointing. It was free so we can’t complain. The National Parks and the Government have gone to a lot of trouble to actually make the area attractive with a walkway, a boardwalk over the marshes, a hide, a plant greenhouse and 2 of the enormous tortoises. As it is next to the Docklands it is a complete contrast to the industrial area. On our way to the Bird Sanctuary we had to pass by the town of Albion so we popped down to have a look and discovered a really nice Public Beach area and the sea looked as though snorkelling would be good. I did my last souvenir visit to Super U and then returned to Jas and V

I  remembered to get Geoff’s cards out of the folder as today was his birthday. Jason and Vicky had arranged for us to go to Blue Bay and take a speed boat over to the Ile aux Agrettes. It is an island that is a nature reserve to preserve several endangered species, both animal and plants.   We arrived just before 1.30 pm ready to get on the boat and marvelled at the colour of the water. No wonder Blue Bay has its name because the sea colours are amazing. The island is made up of coral limestone and covers 27 hectares of very uneven ground. The weather was extremely hot and we were taken on an hour and a half tour to showcase the huge Aldabra tortoises( we could have been back in the Galápagos), pink pigeons, olive white eye bird, ebony trees and the Mauritius Fido bird to name most of them. The tour would have been better in the cooler months but I am glad that we had the experience. Many people add on the snorkelling but after visiting La Morne it would be just as easy to snorkel the

After the extended Football match last night only Jason had to get up really early. Vicky had arranged to trial new cleaning ladies so Geoff and I went off to Mahebourg market. The Monday market is a very big affair although there is a smaller one on other days. Big it definitely is and we wandered up and down rows of clothing, shoes, household goods, toys and in a slightly different area the fruit and vegetable stalls. Unlike Central Market in Port Louis these prices seemed reasonable. Not far from the market was the Rault Biscuit Factory with the tour and tasting costing 225 rupees each, which I thought was well worth it. The biscuits are made from the ground flour of the cassava root/tubers as there is no wheat grown on the island an alternative was found. The biscuits are still all made with the original machinery with the majority of the work done by hand, including all the packaging. Apparently the biscuits are very healthy. At the end of the tour we could taste the 10 varieties,

Our early start was at 5.30 am because we had to drive to Black River to pick up our boat, “ Envole.) I made the decision to join the others but I think an One and a half hour trip would have been enough for me but as it was Geoff’s birthday present from his offspring it was a 4 hour stint. Vicky fished for about 39 minutes and proved to be an expert as she caught 18 fish in that time. Geoff did catch the first fish of the day after only fishing for a few minutes. I managed 4 and Geoff and Jason made a sterling effort and caught the rest. The boatmen, 2 brothers under the umbrella of Rishi’s Expeditions kept 73 but discarded several smaller ones. The only fish name I can remember is the Lion fish but we have just remembered the Capitain fish. We didn’t have to travel far away from the quay and the fishing was done in 14 meters of very clear water. Fishermen does all sorts of trips such as dolphin and whale watching and for those who want a longer trip, deep sea fishing.  Geoff thorough

A very busy day for us all especially Jason who did all the driving after a late night previously. Vicky and Jas organised the day for us. We drove to the other side of the Waterfront and into the Aquarium at Port Louis. There were numerous fish including Sand sharks, tiger and white tipped sharks and some very strange looking ones. At the beginning there were some seahorses which I think are lovely and seem really unreal. Our next trip was to head to the north coast at Grand Bale ( next to Mont Choisy where the golf tournament is being held at the moment.) We had lunch at the Bloom restaurant and then walked along to look at the Public Beach. It is a great shame that all the hotels have blocked off most of the coastline again and although the Public Beach is lovely it is also quite crowded. We asked Jas to drive along the coast road so that we could see a bit more and get a view of some of the off-shore islands.  This part of Mauritius is quite “flat” in comparison to the rest of the