Hi All!

We are currently docked in Mauritius!! How surreal!

Sadly we are not allowed to get off until 6AM tomorrow morning. We sped up and arrived early because a passenger, who happens to be my “dad” in my extended family, had a non-life-threatening medical emergency. He has a detached retina, and cannot really see from one eye so he needs surgery ASAP. So we were either going to make a stop in Reunion Island, which we passed by on our way here, or speed up and arrive earlier in Mauritius. We ended up arriving earlier in Mauritius and he has gotten off and is flying out to India for the surgery where he will join us again.

The reason why we cannot get off the ship till tomorrow morning at 6AM, which was our original scheduled arrival time, is because Mauritius will only allow Semester At Sea participants to stay on the island for no more than 12 hours. Why? Because since the program first arrived here in 2005, the amount of time they can stay has decreased from 4 days to 1 day. Why? Because in all of the previous voyages people have trashed villas, hotels, had rooftop sex, incidents of rape, assault and many more all due to overconsumption of alcohol, because Mauritius is seen as a party island. This is sad, and is also a sad and darker side of the program and many American students who go abroad, as their main goal is often to get drunk every night in the countries they go to and treat it as their backyard playground.

Anyways, the good thing is that we have not been completely banned from the island, and let us hope that stays that way. I have always wanted to come to Mauritius since I first read about award winning resorts on the island in Time Magazine one year. And I am excited for the opportunity to just kick back and bathe under the sun!

I will be spending my day tomorrow on a catamaran sailing in the waters around the Island, and also snorkeling in the coral reefs off the island. This should be very relaxing and very exciting and very colorful, and I am excited!

Ok off to bed as I need to get up early to take the water taxi into town, and I shall have updates on my day in Mauritius soon!

-Garythegastronomictraveler.