Mauritius Memories - Thursday 10th August

I've realised it has been a ridiculously long time since I wrote up our first Mauritius diary post and so I thought it was time I got a move on with the rest. After all, the writing was done at the time and I've even sorted the photos into the right date order - just need to match them up and get them on the blog! 

So this was written up on Thursday 10th August 2017...

 Well today was the first day of truly mixed weather. We'd seen how quickly the weather can change the other day when a hot sunny day turned to a quick shower and then the sun came out again but today we had rather more rain.  Today started out sunny - we had our usual breakfast on the beach at La Maree.

Then granny took D and Miss T to see the animals again whilst me, Richard and J headed off on the snorkelling trip. 

The boat took us out further to sea to where the coral reef and prettier fish were to be found. Except they didn't want to be found today. With the sea a little choppy there was zero visibility. 

Compared to all the amazing fish and sea creatures we'd seen yesterday on the glass bottomed boat, today we literally saw nothing. 

After a bit of a fiasco finding a way to get into the water from the boat (oh the joys of having arthritis in my hip meant I couldn't bend my leg enough to get down the steps of the boat once flippers were on!) I eventually managed to get in the water from the other side of the boat where I could swing my leg round then kind of fall into the water. 

To be honest I didn't have much going for me from the outset when it came to snorkelling....my tendency to get sea sick, fear of swimming in the sea, inability to breathe through my mouth to use the snorkel, and not being able to see anything once I took my glasses off. It was never destined to be the best snorkelling trip ever. 

But I felt really glad to have done it - to have found a way around my hip/arthritis obstacle which otherwise prevents me from doing things like this, to overcoming my fear of the sea and managing to use the snorkel - albeit with nothing to see.  Which is probably just as well as I couldn't even see my way back to the boat without my glasses anyhow. 

Thankfully the queasiness stayed away today! There's always a silver lining eh? That and how it only started to rain REALLY hard once we were back on the boat. 

As the trip was over sooner than expected, we decided to grab a pedallo for me and J and a kayak for Richard. 

J was a brilliant peddler so that it didn't harm my hip - arthritis getting in the way again. But then another torrential shower and the waves getting bigger freaked me out enough to head back to shore. J wasn't done yet so Richard joined him on the pedalo for a while longer. 

We found Granny, D and Miss T at the quarter deck bar enjoying drinks and snacks but by then the snorkelling half of the family had worked up a big enough appetite for lunch. 

Having indulged in big meals and desserts since we got here, today I started by loading my plate with salad before anything else. 

There is such an amazing selection of food available here that it's hard to resist trying a little bit of everything. 

Such care and thought is given to make each meal an experience. At the Belle Vue where we've been eating, they often have live cooking taking place where you watch the food being made and then you can eat it whilst it's hot and fresh. Today they were making savoury pancakes live and on Tuesday evening for Indian night it was the naan bread that was being made. Another time it was delicious pineapple fritters. I've also really noticed and appreciated the changes they have made when presenting the food for the buffet.  For example on Indian night there was dry rice decoratively scattered along with a display of spices. 

After lunch and between dodging rain showers we braved the chilly water of the swimming pools. On the plus side with the water being on the cool side most people opt to sunbathe around the pool so we tend to have the actual pool to ourselves to swim in and splash about in. 

After swimming and then drying off in the sun with hot chocolates and tea to warm us up we finally gave up being outdoors when the next big rain shower hit. We shuffled under cover in the Quarter deck bar for more drinks and mocktails. 

This place has a brilliant selection of cocktails and mocktails. Having decided that I love the taste and creamy texture of Cacao Colada but not enjoying the alcohol kick, I think we've discovered that the Paille en Queue is the mocktail equivalent  (or at least similar enough).

The kids also love 'afternoon tea' time. From around 3.30 each day a savoury snack and some sweet treats appear at the quarter deck bar. Yesterday we enjoyed pakora, crepes and cinnamon biscuits. Today it was freshly made samosas, marble cake and crepes.  

The kids filled up on crepes to keep them going until dinner. 

The boys wanted to visit the animals again and J had missed out on seeing the waterfall and Ancient ruins of Balaclava with Granny in the morning, so me and the boys headed there for a while before showers and getting ready for dinner. 

I don't actually know anything about Balaclava or the ruins. It will be interesting to Google it. 

Current time in the UK Approaching 7pm. Current time is Mauritius approaching 10pm which after a busy and exhausting day means bedtime.