Port Louis, Mauritius

We paid a visit to Port Louis, Mauritius and spent 8 hours or so exploring this small (pop 1.3 million) island country on a guided tour. Unfortunately though, we did not get a chance to see much of Reunion when we docked there. That’s because the cyclone that passed over the island washed out the roads on our scheduled tour. Fortunately, we missed the cyclone.

We did manage to spend some time in one of the towns by the beach in Reunion, which reminded us of St. Martin. No surprise there, it is a region of France and has a population of 850,000. It is the most prosperous area in the region, measured by per capita GDP. The shops and architecture reveal French influence on the island.

Mauritius and Reunion share some of the same physical characteristics, which is not too surprising since they are only about 100 miles apart. The countryside of Mauritius is covered with lush foliage, undoubtedly due all the rainfall they get. In this respect both Mauritius and Reunion bear a resemblance to Maui, Hawaii. On Mauritius there is a long dormant volcano, reported to be 500 years old, and there are a number of waterfalls. One, Chamarel Falls, is 272 feet long. There is also place called the Seven Colored Earths, so named because the layers of sand that make up the grounds are colored differently.

We were fortunate enough to attend a Crystal hosted dinner party with other world cruise passengers. After a tour of a museum at Domain La Bourdonnais Estate, we had cocktails, then dinner at Table du Chateau restaurant, followed by a fireworks display. Then back to the ship. Some footage of the event, as well as photos from Mauritius and Reunion are included in this post.

On the 23rd we set sail for Broome, Australia—a journey that will take 8 days at sea. That will be a good test of our sea legs. So far so good.

To see the photos below in larger sizes and in a Lightbox, please just click on any of the photos.

Thanks for visiting.

JFB