Mauritius and Reunion Island

May 18-20, 2024

With the continuation of the tender curse, we unfortunately had to miss Madagascar due to a cyclone developing between the ship and the intended port. Major bummer. Instead, we overnighted in Mauritius. Which is a very lovely island and we enjoyed two days with our driver Sucret (full day driver here was $80/day + tip). (A bit of trivia – Mauritius was the last sighting of a dodo bird before it became extinct in 1681).

After a little bit of miscommunication on day #1, we found our driver and journeyed south the the Valle de Colour – an establishment you can wander the property by foot for $10pp, a little more by buggy, zip line or bicycle zip line. We wanted the hike, and wandered on the well marked path past waterfalls and a little strip of multi-colored rock, seeing multiple birds and plants en route. We saw the white tropicbird in flight – beautiful but could not get a decent picture.

Afterwards, Sucret took us to a a few overlooks of large, lush valleys.

Lunch took way too long at the Indian restaurant by the river, so we decided on a short walk on a small beach nearby before returning to the ship.

We took the shuttle bus to the mall after a quick shower and enjoyed a beer on the waterfront (though had a rude waiter) and spent a little time in the casino.

Day two was beach day. We’d hoped to get some snorkeling from the beach – and there was a little, but nothing nearly as nice as in the Seychelles.

After wandering a couple of beaches, we continued to the Botanical Gardens. The gardens were established to honor Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo, the first president of the Seychelles. Banyan trees and giant water lilies were the highlights of the park (and finding an abandoned weaverbird’s nest).

We made a quick stop by the mall on the way back to grab some trinkets (for me – a dodo bird t-shirt) before returning to the ship to sail onwards to Reunion Island.

With only eight hours in port, we wanted to enjoy our short time, and Andrea found a highly rated walk along an old riverbed. We mentioned the hike to one of the port’s guards as we left, he came out after us to let us know the trail was closed (likely due to a cyclone a month or so before). We made plan B – a different hike along the waterfront, and would take the bus to the trailhead since the cabs all wanted upwards of $50 for the short trip. The problem – it was a Holiday, and even though the bus system’s own app showed the schedule with buses coming out, it turned out only a few bus lines were running that day, and not the line we needed. Plan C – took the complimentary shuttle bus to the mall at 9AM. The good news – since the mall did not open until 10, the shuttle “guide” took us on a 40 minute free bus tour to the northern edge of the island over “the most expensive roadway in the world”.

When we arrived near the mall we saw a greenway, and decided to hike that.

We did see some interesting art,

and walked to the “pleasure boat marina”,

but otherwise there was not much to see. Once we returned to the mall we shopped for a few items – the Carrefour sold Reunion Island Vanilla beans vacuum packed for safe import (glad I found them- a friend who visited the vanilla plantation said they wanted almost $50 for a bag of 3 beans, the grocery store had them for just over $10). We wanted to grab lunch but it was crowded and service was slow, so returned to the ship.

History lesson

Originally, vanilla was pollinated by a small fly that ate the barrier between the flower’s stamen and pistol. Early planters found the plant grew well on Reunion Island – but the fly would not survive, making the plants just decorative until in 1841 when a 12yo slave boy named Edmund Albius developed a technique with a blade of grass and a flick of the thumb that consistently and inexpensively grew a vanilla bean. His master, a botanist named Beaumont, gave him credit for the discovery, but none of the profits nor his freedom until slavery was outlawed in 1848. Unfortunately, Edmund died in poverty in 1880, but the technique he developed is in use to this day.