We passed this rock on a boat safari

Last week in – Part 1 – I talked about best time to visit and where we stayed.

What to do all day in Mauritius? You could lie on the beach or recline on a lounger at one of the pools and catch up on your reading while soaking up the sun. Or you could get a bit more active and try one of the many sports on offer such as volleyball, beach football, bocce ball, water-skiing, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking or water polo. Our hotel offered excursions such as glass-bottom boat tours, snorkeling and scuba diving.

Lunch at the national park

Reps from various day trip and excursion companies punt their products in the hotel reception. You page through catalogues and compare prices. We decided to try a day trip out to sea on a boat with a midday seafood BBQ. We made sure we let them know that I’m vegetarian and checked when we boarded the boat that they had me down as a veggie. All good.

Small beach near our resort

Off we went out to sea. They dropped anchor and people were swimming and snorkeling while the rest of us lazed on board the boat.The guys organising the excursion popped the sparkly and fired up the BBQ. Come lunch time – all they had for me – was a white bread roll and a portion of salad. Everyone else was piling their plates with ‘eat all you can’ fish, lobster and prawns. We paid the same price as the others and it’s not like I could go elsewhere to eat. The guys on the boat were unmoved by my plight. I was furious and complained bitterly to the hotel when we returned. The hotel tried to make right and gave us a complimentary glass bottomed boat ride which didn’t appease me one bit.

There are so many excursions and outings to choose from. Try deep sea fishing, safari jeep trips, scuba diving, swimming with dolphins, quad biking trips, helicopter flips, hiking, skydiving, horse riding, mountain climbing, para sailing, water skiing, visiting nearby islands, sea kayaking, a submarine safari, rock climbing . . I would say there’s actually too much choice.

Out to swim and snorkel on a boat safari

We booked a few spa treatments at the hotel and they were good. It might be because the Mauritian population is predominantly of Indian descent that the focus at our hotel was on Ayurveda. Treatments included Indian Ayurvedic Head Massage, Balinese Massage, Reflexology, Royal Thai Massage, and Hot Stone Therapy. I also had a manicure and pedicure.

Greenie at a Hindu temple

We did a day trip alone with a local guide come taxi driver He drove us around the island taking in the capital city Port Louis, Grand Baie, lots of little villages, Hindu shrines, various beaches en route and local markets. The nice thing about hooking up with a local driver was that we could ask him to stop so we could walk around. We got to see what we wanted away from big tourist attractions.

We also did a group bus tour which took us to the plantations, historical buildings and we saw the – Chamarel Falls – in the Black River Gorges National Park. See it on a map here – Lonely Planet map. The advantage of being with a proper tour guide was he shared interesting information and the historical background to places we visited.

Mauritius is not a must-see-this, must-see-that kind of place. The island is similar whether you are north, west, south or east so you can lurk in one location and you aren’t missing out too much. This isn’t a ‘party like your life depends on it’ place either. Mauritius is where you go to get away from it all, to relax, to have a holiday. Your only real decisions are more about what activities to fit into your day, if any at all.

Charmarel Waterfall

Here are some links you may find useful to plan your holiday –
Tourism Mauritius
Aardvark Safaris
Safari Now accommodation
Wiki Travel Mauritius

National Park

For more tips and what to do in other destinations visit the – Greenie Travel Archive – page.

Go to – My Holidays and Trips – at the top of this page to read about other places we have visited. Or just click on – this link.

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