Mauritius Memories: Sunday 20th August 2017

It's so hard to believe that today was our last full day here. We've got most of tomorrow in resort before bring picked up shortly after 6pm to head to the airport but the 'travelling home day' never feels like a proper day of holiday. 

Today I discovered something that I kind of wish I'd discovered two weeks ago when we arrived. 

Having tried the snorkelling trip a few days after arriving and being disappointed to not see ANYTHING (although I was pleased to have gone out on the boat to do snorkelling that far out at sea and enjoyed that aspect of the experience), I'd given up on trying again. 

Today I decided to have a go from the beach. It was so clear and I felt like I saw loads of amazing things. 

Couldn't resist doing a 'hot dog legs' photo! 

Initially I was excited just to see the sea bed as that looked pretty in itself. When Richard pointed ahead to fish I couldn't see them as without my glasses on I'm extremely short sighted. So I nearly gave up again. 

Then we tried with me being led and just looking immediately down above the fish as I could see a bit better by doing that. 

I saw a big clam, the mauritian clown fish with their black and white pattern stripes, and so many other fish - some small and one that looked so big. I was delighted. 

It had already been an exciting day with D spotting a black and white striped sea snake hiding in the rocks this morning. So now I felt like I finally 'got' what snorkelling was all about. J and D had a go too and enjoyed it. Despite Miss T practising looking under water with her goggles for over a year in preparation for this holiday she wasn't interested in having a go. 

After lunch we went back for more snorkelling but the tide had come in and the sea was so much more churned up that I just couldn't see clearly enough. 

So we gave up and Richard and the boys went kayaking up the river. And me and Miss T built sandcastles and then went for a swim in the pool. 

After that it was our favourite time of day - afternoon tea with crepes and cake and cookies and today it was chicken wings and drumsticks as the savoury snack.

Together with a hot drink it's perfect as an after swimming snacktime to warm up. Having said that the pool didn't feel so cold today. After having the pool to ourselves in week 1, this week it's been busier with more kids around generally and inflatables and just more people braving the cold water. 

We headed to the Jetty in the evening to see if we could spot any fish like yesterday. We saw a lion fish, a teeny red starfish and a few other fish but less than yesterday as there were more ripples in the sea. 

Showers and dinner time then bed. Miss T fell asleep at the dinner table again. Hoping we will all find it as easy as that to sleep on the flight tomorrow evening!