Nadine’s nieces and nephews were back in school today, so we decided to enjoy the day ourselves around the resort.
After breakfast, I headed over to the spa for some relaxation. It’s a nice place here, where the treatment rooms are all little villas over the water. Here’s the spa entrance.
Just after lunch, we decided to set out on a glass bottom boat tour, which the resort operates twice per day. Here we are waiting on the beach before getting on the boat.
Out on the tour, we saw lots of marine life, including many different types of coral, fish, eels, sea urchins, and other assorted marine life. Photography isn’t easy through the glass bottom, but here are a few images.
In addition to the underwater views, it was a pleasant boat ride around the area.
Later that day, we decided to have a nice dinner at the hotel, as they were having a special seafood buffet at one of their restaurants, which we didn’t want to miss.
After a bit of travelling around lately, the plan today was for Anita and family to come over to our resort and spend the day relaxing. The weather is perfect. Here’s a view from our beach in the morning.
Here are the girls enjoying a bottle of champagne on the beach (well, most of them are enjoying it)!
We ordered lunch, went swimming and just enjoyed the place for the day.
The weather stayed nice until the end of the day. The photo below is late in the afternoon.
We’re beginning to see that the weather is a little different here. It frequently rains, but for very short bursts, and often that rain happens at the same time as bright sunshine. See the lovely photo below, taken from our veranda, during the pouring rain.
It’s difficult to see the rain in the still photo, but below is a video taken at the same time.
The rain cleared, and we walked out for breakfast.
Our plan for today was to head toward the southwest of Mauritius, to meet up with Tsiry, Anita and the kids, and drive out to Chamarel. It was raining most of our drive, so we couldn’t put the convertible top down.
Along the route to Chamarel, we passed the Hindu Temple at Grand Bassin. Approaching the temple we see this giant concrete statue of Shiva on the side of the road.
On the opposite side of the road, still under construction, is another giant status; this one of Lord Durga.
Here we are at the sacred lake by the temple. You can see that the rainy weather is starting to clear.
We walked up to the top of the hill beside the lake, and had lovely views in all directions.
At this point, we walked back down and got back on the road toward Chamarel. With the weather now clear, the kids piled into the back of our convertible, and we were able to finally put the top down. The road was fun to drive, around a series of hairpin turns, as it switch backed down toward the ocean. We stopped at a view point along the road, where we had a nice view to the ocean.
I don’t think I’ve posted a picture of our transportation during our stay here. Below is our car parked at the viewpoint.
Before we get to Chamarel, we stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant on the mountain, offering expansive views from our table.
This view is out toward Le Morne.
Here are Nadine and Océane admiring the views.
After lunch, it was only about another 5 minutes to Chamarel. Here we are at Chamarel Falls.
And here is a short video clip of the falls.
Just a short distance from the falls, is a very unique attraction. Below are some photos of the Seven Coloured Earths of Chamarel. This is a small area of sand dunes, containing sand distinctly displaying red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow hues. I have no idea what causes this, or why the dunes don’t seem to wash away, but they’re pretty cool!
It is getting late in the day, and we have a long drive of nearly 2 hours to get back to the resort along the coastal road. Here is a picture of a sunset from a viewpoint as we were descending the mountain.
For the rest of the drive, we didn’t take many photos, as it was pretty dark. I’d like to come back here to experience this coastal drive during daylight, as I suspect it wold be pretty spectacular.
Back at the resort, we all had a nice dinner, before Tsiry and his family returned home. It was a nice full day.
