Hey hey hey!
So how are you all?!? Hope everyone had an amazing spring break! Can’t wait to hear about it! We are currently sailing from Mauritius to South Africa and as I am typing this we are somewhere off the Southeast tip of Madagascar. Altho by the time I send this we will probably be past Madagascar or off the west side. I am never able to finish a whole blog in one sit down so it usually takes me a day or two to completely type it and then send it lol. There is just so much going on aboard this ship!
Shout outs – Kayla – What up girl?!? So Chicago huh? How was that? I have never been there, well actually I have been in the airport but never the actual city. It’s on my list though. Haha yeah it’s weird because I wouldn’t consider Edmond very “hickish” but when I tell them stories about stuff we do on Friday nights and our epic ranch trips then they are all like “Haha yeah Tyler you are definitely a country boy.” And you know what that’s fine with me! I like being simple and laid back, makes life more fun . So who the heck is Jed Clampett? I’m not familiar with him? Shirley – Haha dude your good…I’ve been there with the Swine Week craziness so no sweat. I have heard some really awesome things about Ecuador from my sister and dad. I am super jealous of all of you and I would have killed to be there. God is so freaking awesome! Man that is so cool about college…what are you talking about?!? Sure I will miss ya but at the same time you are fulfilling a calling and that is the coolest thing ever!! Although you know that now we have to hang out like ALL summer to make up for being apart in the fall. Can’t wait to catch up my man, now we both have plenty of stories to share haha. Esther – Girl you crack me up. Yeah I like that they know I’m a country boy, then they all know I’m chill and just lovin life baby!! And which country friends would you be referring to? The ones who get their 4 wheel drive cars stuck on a flat piece of land that was anything but a ditch? Haha oh good times! I’m not really in any hurry to watch Slumdog because I know that it won’t be anything like what I saw cause that is like all people talked about when they were reflecting. Sorry that it took so long to respond. The last 4 days have been nuts! For an exact position the moment I am sending this, we are in between Madagascar and the Southern Tip of Africa and we will arrive in Cape Town in 3 days.
Picture – The picture above is of Grillz(far right), me(middle…duh!), and Toby (actually his real name is Ben, but that is a whole different story) in our van on the second day. The second day is explained better below but I just like this picture so I threw it in here. I honestly could have picked any of my pictures from Mauritius, there were just too many to choose from. There were pictures of the island, the beaches, the trips, and everything in between. So don’t worry there are plenty more pictures for me to show you this summer. If you click the picture it gets bigger...gotta love technology ;)
Before I tell you all about my adventures in Mauritius, I wanted to briefly mention an event that happened while sailing from India to Mauritius. We have a day aboard the ship that is called Neptune Day and it is a day to celebrate crossing the equator into the Southern Hemisphere. I personally don’t think it was that big of deal but hey…we got the day off with no classes and another barbeque dinner! Hey that’s good enough for me!! The biggest thing that happens on Neptune Day is head shavings that occur in the morning. It is a maritime tradition to shave your head and become a shellback the first time you cross the equator by taking a ship. I personally didn’t shave my head because it wasn’t that big of a deal to me and I have shaved my head before. The big deal is the girls that partake in this. Let me just tell you, I have an amazing amount of respect for every girl that shaved their head. And I mean shaved…like #1 buzz cut. I was honestly surprised by the number of girls that did it, over 25 girls shaved their heads. It was so cool because no one judged them afterwards when they were bald. It was like “Hey you shaved your head for Neptune Day that is so cool!” A couple of my really good friends, Rorrie and Ali (B.B.) shaved their heads and it was cool because they just don’t care what people think and wanted to do it for themselves. You don’t find that mentality much anymore in the states with mass media telling everyone how they “should or shouldn’t look.” It was nice to see everyone living in the moment. And while they were shaving their heads there was like a miny dance party/karaoke session that went on which was a blast because we were all just dancing around the pool to songs like Don’t Stop Believing and Summer of 69 (personal favorite) and having an awesome time not going to class. I didn’t have enough to write an entire blog about Neptune Day but I still wanted to mention it so there you go!
Okay so let me just start out by saying that Mauritius might just be the prettiest place I have ever been in my life. It is hard to compare it to Switzerland or Alaska because those are totally different environments but compared to anything similar, Mauritius takes the cake! Think Hawaii but more gorgeous...yeah I said MORE. We pulled into the harbor and it was just breathtaking. The water was the clearest water I have ever seen in my life, the beaches were white like you see on postcards and in books, and the mountains in the center of the island were like something out of a movie. Pictures don’t do this place justice so clearly my words can’t even begin to describe the environment I was in.
Not many people have ever even heard of Mauritius, I know I hadn’t until I saw that I was going there back in the fall. It is a small little island that is off the eastern edge of Madagascar. And I mean small, you can’t even see it on most maps without a magnifying glass. From any point on the island you can get to the opposite side in around an hour if the traffic cooperates. There is a coral reef that surrounds the majority of the island, white beaches as far as the eye can see and the middle of the island consists of mountains sporadically placed. Probably the most unique mountains I have ever seen simply because there would be like one by itself then a quarter of a mile away there would be a small chain of 3-4. Just so amazingly unique and beautiful. Over 1 million people call this island home but honestly I didn’t think it was that crowded and I was never overwhelmed by massive amounts of people. Altho I did just come from China and India so I guess I have a biased opinion currently. French is the dominant language spoken although most of the citizens speak some English, mainly as a result of the tourism industry which is a significant portion of the country’s income.
Our stay in Mauritius was just a short 2 days, actually not even that long. More like 32 hours from the time we got off to the time we got back on. Needless to say that didn’t matter to any of us. We made the most of it! Day 1 in Mauritius was extremely eventful. My morning started at 730 with breakfast, followed by immigration/customs clearance at 800 and then a diplomatic briefing from the American Consul around 845 I think. We had people going through customs so I can’t remember the exact time. After the briefing we were dismissed off the ship. I was going on an FDP with my Marine Biology professor to go snorkeling on the coral reef so we got to get off the ship first and load up our buses. There were about 45 of us in total and it was an awesome group of people. I had a lot of friends on the trip which of course makes it more memorable.
The first leg of our journey was about a 30 minute bus ride. Our first stop was at the Ministry of Agro Industry and Fisheries Division for a lecture on sustainability in the Mauritius fishing industry and in the waters surrounding the island. It was interesting to hear their take on the issue of sustainability and how passionate they are about what they do. The lecture was brief and after about an hour we said goodbye and loaded back onto the buses to head to our next location which was the highlight of our day, the Blue Bay Marine Park. After about an hour bus ride we arrived and loaded onto 2 glass bottom boats. We spent about 45 minutes traveling back and forth along the bay looking through the floor of our boat and checking out the coral and fish species that called this place home. It was crazy because the fish weren’t afraid of the boat at all and spent the majority of their time ignoring us and going about their daily lives of swimming around and eating (don’t really know what else fish do but it sounds like a good life haha).
Our boats took us to a private island for lunch where we had quite possibly the best buffet I have ever had. There was chicken, freshly grilled shrimp, prawns that were unbelievable, lamb chops with barbeque sauce, fresh fruit that was amazing, and then bananas fosters!! And the best part was that it was all we could eat, and I ate ALL that I could eat! I think I had a whole plate of the bananas fosters, gahhhhh it was freaking delicious!!
After everyone had their fill of food we finally got to snorkel!! We grabbed fins and masks that were provided for us and jumped into the boats to get out to the reef. We get to the buoy where our captain tied the boat up and the captain motioned for us to get in. Well the people who were back by the ladder didn’t hear him or didn’t notice and no one really moved to get up. I was near the front of the boat with Jeremy and we were like why is no one moving. Must have been one of those language barrier things I dunno. I motioned to the captain to make sure it was okay to get in and he gave me the thumbs up sign. So since no one moved, I just jumped off the side through the space between the canopy and the railing. I mean I wanted to snorkel on the reef man! Everyone in our boat looked at me like I was nuts and I was like “What, the captain said I could.” Jeremy was quick to jump in too and then Tom followed him; by that time the rest of the boat was starting to file off the back but I didn’t really pay attention because I was face down in the water at that point.
Okay this was the sweetest thing I have ever done in the ocean. Like I said earlier, the water was crystal clear and you could see forever under water. We were anchored off a reef about 10 feet and the depth of the area we were snorkeling ranged from about 4 feet to 12 feet in some areas. It was crazy!! As soon as I put my mask on and looked around I was in the middle of literally hundreds of fish! I can’t prove it because my camera isn’t an underwater camera but I swear that it’s true. Just to be able to float along and see the inner working of the coral reef population was awesome!! We saw fish, snails, sponges, and several different types of coral. Some fish were super tiny, like just 2-3 inches, then there were some big ones too that were longer than a foot. We didn’t see anything super big because it was a very shallow bay that was protected by natural barriers so it wasn’t good habitat for bigger fish species or marine mammals.
I don’t even know how long we were in the water but I think it was about 30-45 minutes (which only felt like 5) we were called back into the boat and returned to the beach so the other half of our group could take their turn. It was a bummer that we didn’t get to spend more time swimming through the reef with the fishes but we just didn’t have time. We were ferried back to the buses by our glass bottom boats and driven across the island back to our ship. I still can’t believe that I got to snorkel on a reef for school purposes. My classroom was literally a coral reef. How sick is that?!? I still can’t believe it!
After showering and changing out of our swimsuits, I met up with Emerson, Isaac, Shannon, and Shelly and we went out to explore the Port Louis area and grab some dinner. We decided to walk because the waterfront/city center was only about 1 km away and walking allows you to see the city so much better and get a better feel for the layout/environment around you. We ran into Kelly and Cosette at an outdoor grill near the water front and decided to join them for dinner. It was really good food and everyone thoroughly enjoyed what they ordered. The best part was just the atmosphere, we had a nice breeze coming off the water, there was great music playing in the background, and just a great atmosphere to chillax in and enjoy the evening. After dinner we spent some time exploring the city which included stopping at McDonalds for ice cream cones (it was cheap ice cream and I like cheap!) and taking pictures with a Ronald McDonald statue. After exploring the city we headed back to the ship and I decided to call it a night because we were waking up to leave early the next morning. Had to take advantage of the precious time we had in Mauritius man!
My second (and sadly last) day in Mauritius began super early with a 730 breakfast where I met up with Grillz, Emerson, Shelly, Isaac, and Shannon. Grillz worked out a deal with a tour agent who had a representative on the ship and we were able to get a van and driver for the day for just $30 a person. We wanted to go hiking so we headed off in our van to the Black River Gorge National Park in the center of the island. It was about an hour ride there which was quick because we had a 16 passenger van and there were only 6 of us so we were able to spread out and relax. I wasn’t really tired so I just enjoyed the view as we headed inland.
When we got to the park we told our driver we were going to go hiking and be back in an hour. He proceeded to tell us that we should be careful and not go on the trails without a hiring a guide because it was “dangerous.” Well we definitely weren’t about to pay to hire a guide so we set off on the trail and just decided to “risk it.” The trail was really easy to follow and started out as more of a rough road that you would take a jeep or 4x4 on. I say started because it gradually got steeper, narrower, and more difficult the farther up we went. Our group was moving at different paces, Isaac and Shannon wanted to take pictures of a lot of the flowers, Emerson and Shelly weren’t really wearing the right shoes, and Grillz and I were going too fast for everyone else. So to satisfy everyone we split into 3 groups of 2 so that we could go at our own pace and see what we wanted to see. Like I said the trail progressively got steeper and steeper, but Grillz and I wanted to reach the top so we just kept going. I should also mention that it had rained the night before so it was slick and muddy a lot of the trail, especially the higher up we got. About 75% of the way up the trail to the summit it got to the point where we were climbing straight up the side of the mountain on our hands and knees using tree roots and make-shift steps made out of plywood. We were SOOOOO dirty by the end of it and I was caked in mud. About 15 minutes from the top we ran into a group of Europeans coming down. We could have gone around them but we realized that we had to start making our way back down to meet the rest of our group and our driver and if we passed them we would get stuck behind them on the way down and it would take forever. So we regrettably started our way back down. Okay, so it was much harder going down than coming up. I’m not gunna lie, I definitely bit it a couple times and so did Grillz. I never fell really really bad but it was definitely slow going because it was wet rocks and mud especially on the part where it was straight up and down. Oh well…we eventually caught up to the rest of our group and proceeded down to the parking lot with them at a slower pace. At the bottom near the parking lot there was a river so we were able to wash our shoes and legs off before getting back in the van. Some people were giving us weird looks but we didn’t really care cause we were hot and sweaty and the water felt really good!
We loaded back into the van and headed off to a local beach called flic and flac to spend the remainder of our day and find some lunch to eat. It was about a half hour drive and when we got there we ran into Graham, Brooke, Colin, and Drew and picked a little hole in the wall bar and grill right off the beach to grab some lunch and sit for a little while. The lunch was good and it was nice to just chillax near the beach and people watch. After lunch we chilled on the beach and went to the local supermarket to load up on snacks. On the beach I met up with another group of SASers and decided to sit with them. At 3 we met up with our driver for our ride back to the ship because we had only hired him until 4. Toby was on his way back too and he hitched a ride with us since we had room in our van. The picture above was taken on our way back to the ship. We all had ice cream cones but Grillz and I had already finished ours, Toby was just “savoring the goodness” as he put it.
So on the way back to the ship our driver starts turning down these back roads and we were like “Hmmmm this isn’t at all how we came.” We asked him about it and he explained that he received a phone call about a big wreck that was blocking the entire street and he was trying to go around it to save time. Well apparently a lot of people had been tipped off by friends because our back roads became jam packed and we were literally in stand-still traffic. It was terrible! Although at the same time kinda cool because they handle traffic situations very different than us. One reason it was so bad is because they have no sense of the “zipper system.” It was more of a free for all and whoever nosed their car out farther and/or had the bigger vehicle won out and got position. It took us 1 hour to move about 100 yards and what was supposed to be a 30-40 minute ride turned into 2 hours and 30 minutes. We arrived at the ship 30 minutes before on-ship time and there was a huge line to get on the boat. We were like running through the parking lot trying to get in line before other buses full of kids because if you aren’t back on the ship by on-ship time you get dock time in the next port and I was not about to miss time in South Africa. I barely made it…had like 10 minutes to spare when I made it inside the ship. Even if you are inline you still get dock time. You have to be checked in on the ship through security before 6. We found out later that a significant amount of people got dock-time that were coming back from flick and flac because of the wreck and bad traffic. Guess we just got lucky lol. Although we were in such a hurry to get out of our van and run into line that I lost my phone (pretty sure I left it on the back seat of the van pictured in the picture above…which is another reason I chose this pic haha).
I thought I would be more upset about losing my phone but honestly it wasn’t that bad. Sure it sucks and I’m out like $200 for my new phone but that could have been a lot worse. In the past 2 months this is like the only bad thing that has happened to me. I count this as not bad at all and I am so thankful that nothing else has happened. I mean, think if I lost my camera and wasn’t able to take pictures, or lost my passport and had to stay in a country and quit this journey. Or I could have gotten sick but I haven’t (although apparently malaria takes like 8 days to show symptoms so technically I could have malaria and not know it). Haha oh well knock-on-wood right?!? No I count myself lucky. God has definitely been looking out for me and I praise Him every day for that. Also you all praying back home has been a big part of that. Thank you so much and your prayers are greatly appreciated!!
Sorry it took so long to post again. It’s been crazy busy and I wanted to give everyone a chance to catch up from the ones I posted during your alls Spring Break. My next post won’t be until after South Africa so it will be about a week. Sooooooo until then…just enjoy this one!
Hope you all are doing amazing! Miss all of you more and more everyday!
T
John 3:29-30
