February 27-28, 2009We spent only one day in paradise. Mauritius is part of a chain of small volcanic islands known as the Mascarene Archipelago, which lies about 600 miles east of Madagascar. The island of Reunion is part of the same island chain. The now extinct flightless Dodo Bird was indigenous to Mauritius. The Dutch, French and then the English ruled this small island at various points in its history. It gained its independence in 1968. Mauritius has maintained its French character and French is commonly spoken there as well as Creole and English. Slaves from Africa were brought to the island to work the sugar cane fields. Later the British brought indentured laborers from India. Today Mauritius is considered a melting pot of many cultures and they are proud of the fact that they mostly get along with each other. It has a working democracy and a high literacy rate for both men and women.
We were allowed off the ship but only for a day while we refueled in Port Louis. We took a
scheduled trip to an area south of Port Louis, known as Black River. There one hundred of us voyagers boarded 4 huge catamarans and sailed off shore to snorkel on the reef and generally to lay about in the sun soaking up this tropical wonder. Reggie even got to take the helm for awhile. After motoring around to look at the spinner dolphin and anchoring to snorkel, the catamarans were rafted together. To the sounds of reggae and the local sega beat, our crew served us drinks and grilled fish and chicken for lunch. After lunch we had another lovely swim in the 80+ degree blue lagoon. Then they raised the 
mainsail and the jib and we took off for a brief sail before returning to the marina and the bus ride back to the ship. None of us wanted to leave.
We were allowed off the ship but only for a day while we refueled in Port Louis. We took a
scheduled trip to an area south of Port Louis, known as Black River. There one hundred of us voyagers boarded 4 huge catamarans and sailed off shore to snorkel on the reef and generally to lay about in the sun soaking up this tropical wonder. Reggie even got to take the helm for awhile. After motoring around to look at the spinner dolphin and anchoring to snorkel, the catamarans were rafted together. To the sounds of reggae and the local sega beat, our crew served us drinks and grilled fish and chicken for lunch. After lunch we had another lovely swim in the 80+ degree blue lagoon. Then they raised the 
mainsail and the jib and we took off for a brief sail before returning to the marina and the bus ride back to the ship. None of us wanted to leave.We left Port Louis about 8PM that evening with our sun tans and wonderful memories of our day in paradise. The next day out in the Indian Ocean we had the Sea Olympics. Just like resident halls in dormitories back home, the students are divided up into seas such as The Arabian Sea or the Baltic Sea…there are 8 of them. In the Sea Olympics they compete against each other. Even the faculty, staff, life long learners and family members had our own sea called the Odd-i-sea. The competition included things like volley ball, tug of war and some weird things like mash potato sculpturing. It was loud and chaotic and very, very hot. The ocean was flat and glassy that day.
The sea that won will get to disembark first when we get to Ft. Lauderdale in May. I was part of a relay race that included passing an orange from chin to chin and water from cup to cup. I opted for the water as it seemed like something I could actually do. The Odd-i-Sea was really no match against the youthful student seas. Everybody had fun and we ended the day with a barbeque on the Pool Deck….always a popular alternative to the usual fare. Five days after that we arrived in Chennai, India.Note: I have added a photo to the previously posted entry just below this one.
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