April 4, Mauritius - The Oberoi Mauritius Resort

Saturday, April 4, Day 61 - Mauritius - The Oberoi Mauritius Resort.

We both slept very well after our long day yesterday. Our lovely room was cool, exceptionally quiet and nobody stirred until 7:30AM. We make some coffee and tea and enjoy the patio and view from our room. The adults only pool is just the other side of the hedge.

Then get dressed and call for the golf cart to take us to breakfast. This place is quite spread out and we are trying to give Carolyn’s feet a few day’s rest. Breakfast is in an open air restaurant but it is not yet hot and sultry and the food is good. They have usual international buffet along with eggs and other dishes cooked to order. We treat ourselves to Eggs Benedict and fresh squeezed orange juice yum!

Leaving the restaurant we walk over to the water sports area and decide we will take a glass bottom boat ride this afternoon. Next, Carolyn stops in the "Boutique" and shops while Dick walks up to reception and has a nice conversation with some of the staff. He receives a copy of a small hard bound book, "Mauritius From Its Origin," as a gift. A very nice gesture!

Several thousand rupees later, Carolyn is done and we call for our golf cart and return to the room through the beautifully maintained grounds. This hotel is built on a historic fort site and every now and then you see a bit of that history. We have very good internet here and do not know when that will happen again so we work on downloading pictures and uploading to the blog web site.

Lunch passes without comment and we call for a cart to take us for our boat ride at 2:30PM. We share the boat with a newly wed Chinese couple who fail to see a single fish for staring into each others eyes and a family of three from Mumbai, India who are on vacation prior to moving to Singapore. The reef we are shown is not impressive but we do see a Moorish Idol fish which is quite beautiful and a trumpet fish along with some others we haven’t seen before, There is a chart back at the boat house and we figure out what we saw. There is not too much color. We are not sure if this is from looking at it from a boat or what but the ride is only 30 minutes.

We must get into the Indian Ocean at least once so we grab some beach towels and head into the roped off swimming area for a 45 minute soak as we watch strong showers work over the island and mountains. All we get is some drifting mist from the rain and it stops almost as soon as it starts. The water is warm and we float like corks all the while talking about how nice this little interlude is and how can we get back for a week or more stay. The resort is really beautiful and the service is divine!! We reluctantly get out and head back to the room. 

Cleaned up, wet suits out to dry, we fix a drink and call room service for an order of fried calamari while deciding what to actually do about dinner.  After drinks and some internet time, we decide why mess up a good thing and order Caesar salads with grilled chicken from room service with brownies for dessert.  We have a delightful view from our room and it is so nice just to do nothing but enjoy this superb hotel/resort.

We do manage to get caught up on our blog before going to bed. No telling when we will be able to post again.

Tomorrow we fly to South Africa, pick up our car and head to Kruger National Park for our self drive safari there and in Addo National Park; all part of a driving tour around the East and South coast to Cape Town where we will board the Queen Mary on April 18 for the last leg of her world voyage back to Southampton in our Queen’s Grill suite! We came over to Sydney on the Queen Elizabeth in steerage so this is going to be a real treat!