Mauritius looks like a tiny speck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, located below the Equator. You really have to zoom in google maps to identify the island. My hubby and I reached the island after a 5.5 hours flight from Bangalore. There are a few things that I noticed during the drive to our hotel. The island was full of sugarcane plantations and the ocean looked marvelous. The color of the water was different shades of blue which ranged from aquamarine to turquoise, with patches of dark blue close to the beach. During our stay, we observed that the color of the sea changed throughout the day and she looked her best in the afternoon. Most of the Mauritians were third or fourth generation Indians, with Indian names but spoke French.

Our hotel was located in Trou Deau Douce. This part of the island was lined with hotels which had private beaches. The ocean added glory to the otherwise mundane hotel. There were a lot of foreigners in our hotel, most of them Europeans, who loved to get tanned. They lay on the beach chairs from morning till noon and applied loads of sunscreen. Well, our Indian skin does not need further tanning, so we gave up that plan of relaxation.

Mauritius offered a variety of water activities. On the first day we went for undersea walking and para-sailing. The undersea walking platform was quite far from the beach. At the platform, we wore the glass helmet which was connected to the oxygen tanks and jumped into the ocean. We were told to keep our feet planted on the sea floor. Walking was a struggle. Every movement took effort. Time passed slowly and the glass masks gave a distorted view. We were in a undersea forest of corals, surrounded by fishes with zebra stripes. I tried catching a few fishes, but they were quite nimble. Half the time, I expected to see a shark heading towards us and schemed about how I can run fast in slow motion. We spent 15 minutes in the undersea walk and by end of the 15th minute, the reluctant me had to be pushed on to the top of the platform.

The parasailing activity was close to the Ile Aux Cerfs island. The boat ride was very choppy. Given that we did not have life jackets, I held on to the boat, and prayed that we would not topple. On the parasailing platform, I almost decided to shun the activity because of my fear of heights. I hate the pull of gravity. One of the fellow tourists, pushed me to do it by saying that, you never know if you will get to try it again or not. I took a deep breath and decided to do it. My hubby and I were strapped to the parachute and then we were gently lifted into the air and dragged by a speed boat. We stayed in air for 15 minutes and the view was marvelous. The blue sky and the blue ocean enveloped us on all sides. We got a bird's eye view of the island. Para-sailing was my first favorite activity in this trip.