It’s a small island Katharine, so I’m surprised you found it at all! I’ve traveled across the island a couple of times from West to East by public bus and it’s no more than an hour and a half (including all the stops along the way) – great way to see all of the island and get and idea of what’s happening in the villages. Great seafood restaurants as you can imagine! All in all I’m happy to be here for a few months – it was a good choice. Culturally very diverse and interesting place with down-to-earth people. Thanks for visiting my post!

Hello Mr Anaya, Great to hear from you! Thank you for relating your thoughts on Mauritius and I would indeed be interested to hear about how those books influenced your destiny (here, or perhaps on your blog?) Interestingly the film ‘Le Grand Blue’ which is not specifically about Captain Costeau, but a very inspiring (and very mystical) story about diving and oceans very much inspired some of my own early spiritual and well as travel aspirations (I was a surfer/bodyboarder in my youth, but in the end never became a diver).

The waters of this island are stunningly blue and so transparent – the beaches are superb, but I spend more time in the villages and the city – I really like the Mauritian people – they ar every laid-back and easy-going, cool with everyone.

The most famous story that ever originated from the island the story of Paul et Virginie (by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, 1788) about a couple that lost each other during a shipwreck incident on the coast – there are some statues dedicated to the story and I believe it’s very famous in the French-speaking world. I will still be here for a few months and then we will see where the journey takes us… Thank you for stopping by, Mr A!

Thank you for stopping by M – eye of the storm passing us right now – heavy winds and rain, but should hopefully pass in a few hours for tranquility to return. Enjoy the sunshine and do stop by again! 🙂
J.

Hi Debra. Thanks for your feedback on the photos! I’m happy with how these came out – the beach photos were taken with a new camera that has a manual focus lens which I obtained before I came (rated quite high for sharp focus). The Botanical garden pics were taken with a bridge camera also recently acquired, rated high for aim-and-shoot style pics, so your comments tell me I made some good choices 🙂
In lak’ech,
Jacques

Hi Martina, thank you for reading and I’m glad you liked the pictures. The good news is that all these pictures were taken at public beaches on the North-West coast and Mauritians can access them freely. I saw many people having picnics and swimming and there were families on the bus from the capital with me who went for a day-trip to the beach. It is the case though that there are quite a lot of private beaches in between these public beaches that are exclusive for the tourists at the resorts. Mauritius has a tourism oriented economy so there’s kind of a dual-economy here. I’ve been living like a local since I arrived, which is usually my way of traveling. Sometimes I’m charged a bit more for things than locals (I suppose I have not blended-in enough yet, but I’m working on it!) 🙂