When presented with the opportunity to use a toilet, use it. You really never know when you’ll get another chance and when staying for two weeks on a tropical island constantly hydrating and on boats with no toilets, it becomes even more imperative.

We transferred from Lakaz Chamarel on day eight and took the long, winding road (52 turns in fact, to climb the central mountain) and headed from the southwest side of the island to the northwest. Looking at Mauritius on a map, it doesn’t look terrible large but it took almost two hours to transverse the island. Contrary to what The Beatles may say, our long and winding road did not lead to your door but instead to Constance Prince Maurice, where we would stay for the remainder of our holiday.

Our arrival at Constance was on brand, greeted with smiling faces and a level of service that almost boarders on excess. We got settled into our beach front room and took in the coastline that the hotel prides itself on.

Aqua Soleil

Once settled, we prepared for our final excursion, a snorkeling and speedboat tour of the east side of Mauritius. Our early morning departure allowed enough time to pick up other guests before making our way south, past the airport to Blue Bay Marine Park. Listed as a marine park in 1997, the area hosts some of the most diverse marine life in all of Mauritius on top of the developing reefs of coral. After we met our guides (‘comics’ may be a better word) for the day, Immanuel and Wesley, the six Germans we’d share the excursion with and exercised travel rule #2, we were off to swim with the fish. We were able to spot a large variety of species including sea cucumbers, moorish idols, butterfly fish and huge schools of three spot dascyllus.

Through a cacophony of Bon Jovi, Earth Wind and Fire and european artists I couldn’t identify, we made our way from the marine park to Ile Aux Aigrettes, an island made entirely out of coral, not volcanic rock like the mainland where we saw an Aldabra tortoise resting easy in the shade. We continued our speedboat journey to Ile Aux Fouguets, also known as Lighthouse island. Our guides were very insightful into the origination of the naming of island, teaching us that it’s called Lighthouse Island because it has a lighthouse on it. Seriously, the entire excursion were full of these types of jokes.

The lighthouse was originally built in 1864 to guide incoming sailors through the channel onto the reef in order to reach the (then) main port on the eastern seaboard. The lighthouse went unused during WWI to not attack enemies and in WWII was used as an army lookout. More recently, a fire broke out on the island, decimating the structure and has since fallen into disrepair.

After our lunch of chicken, fish and rum (along with some musical accompaniment provided by the staff) at Ile Aux Cerfs, we headed for our final stop, the Grand River South East Waterfall. The Grand River South East river is Mauritius’s longest river and ends in dramatic fashion as it meets the sea.

Special thanks to Wesley and Immanuel from the Aqua Soleil. They were both fantastic guides and operators as they led us from island to island. Their bubbly demeanor, endless supply of humor (not to mention their tasty “Jungle Juice”) and contagious fun attitude made for an incredible excursion that was a highlight of our trip!

Travel/Post Details:

• Post includes activities from May 22-24 2023
• Featured Image – Looking over the clear waters of Nablus Bay Marine Park before jumping in
• Accommodation – Constance Prince Maurice (Junior Beachfront Suite)
• On May 22, we did another Summertimes excursion called “Aquarelle.” which had us on a catamaran all day with one spot of snorkeling. I did not include this in the post due to the excursion being very ordinary and not much more than a booze cruise. Just a reminder of Travel Rule #4 (Roll with the punches) that not everything on a holiday will be extraordinary and that there will be some missteps along the way. Did have a tasty lunch though of BBQ chicken and grilled eggplant that had a mushroom texture but was delicious!
• May 22 – dinner at Archipel where I got hassled for my shoes not meeting the dress code but convinced them to serve me anyway, also had staff with no personality.
• May 23 – Dinner at Barachois; May 24 – Dinner at Asian. No footwear concerns with much better staff.
• Lauren did not throw up on the transfer to Constance nor did she on either boat tours!