Mauritius!

Hello all!
We’ve just arrived in Mauritius! It’s beautiful outside, but looks like every other port so far (from the ship). The currency is the Mauritius Rupee, which has an exchange rate of 30:1 to the USDollar. It is about 40 miles by 30 miles, so it’s pretty tiny.
I’m spending the day hiking and exploring the local city of Port Louis. It would be nice to hit the beach, but I’ve got to pick up post cards and get online for a little bit too. Tonight I’ll probably end up at a villa rented by some friends… and come back to the ship so I don’t get charged for room and board!
I decided to go on a catamaran voyage on the second day here. We leave at 8 am to get on a catamaran, which takes us to Gabriel Island, and includes lunch, an open bar and snorkeling all day. It was really inexpensive and I’m pretty excited about it! Someone compared it to spring break since we all just finished our midterms, but it’s on a much smaller scale as it’s just enough time to refuel and get back into the middle of the big blue to head to India.
The dodo bird was indigenous to this island, and was HUGE. Like 3 feet tall-ish, I think. Unfortunately, it went extinct 400 years ago.. but is still a fascinating attribute and is pictured on their flag.
The last thing is a note on the cultural and logistical pre-port last night because it was so great. Dean David is HILARIOUS. He listed the 17 things he knows about Mauritius. Some of these include that Mauritius is an island, that Mauritius has a flag,… Mauritius is dark at night (the slide was black), that Mauritius has happy fish (showed a picture of a fish smiling with a laughing soundtrack) and that “Mauritius has a lot of … beaches” (with a picture of a lady in a bikini with huge boobs on the beach”).
The people here are mostly Indian and African and speak French, so I’m excited to practice a little more of that! Alright, the diplomatic briefing is almost over so I’m going to prepare for my day. Until next time!


Amanda Kleiman
abkleiman@semesteratsea.net