Mauritius
5 April 2026
Mauritius, pronounced like muh-REE-shus, is part of a volcanic island chain, like. It’s formed over a “hot spot” of magma that creates a line of islands as the Earth’s crust slowly moves and passes over the hot spot and the lava erupts to the surface. There are three islands in the chain. To the east is Rodrigues Island, which the British took from the French in 1809, Mauritius Island in the center, which the British took from the French in 1810, and Réunion Island, which the British let the French keep, so far. The islands were valuable to the Europeans as a place in the Indian Ocean to have a port and supply depot for their navy.
Though English and French are common on Mauritius, thanks to their years as French and British colonies, 90% of the population speak “Mauritian Creole” at home, with 4.4% speaking French and just 0.6% speaking English at home. 67% trace their family origins to India, and 48% of the population are Hindu. Like every other place we’ve visited since Tahiti, they drive on the wrong side of the road. British.
Port Louis, the capital city, is named for French King Louis XV, so they pronounce it like “Port Louie.” The ending S is silent in French.
We had booked the “Port Louis City Tour,” and we first visited their museum of natural history, where they keep the dodo bird bones. The dodo was basically a goose on steroids, weighting up to 50 pounds/23 kg. Since they had no natural enemies on Mauritius, and ate ground vegetation, they had no need to fly or run, so they became fat and flightless. They did well until humans discovered the island in the 1500s. By the late 1600s the last dodo was gone. The museum has lots of complete skeletons, though, and the one painting from life of a dodo, done by a Dutch sailor before they went extinct.
Next they took us to their Catholic Cathedral. Being Easter Sunday, it was in full operation, though most of the shops in town were closed. I was surprised to see a Catholic cathedral with a statue of Queen Victoria in front, since the British don’t have a great history with the Catholic church, but it works for Mauritius.
Then they took us to an open air shopping mall for 90 minutes, very nice place with all the designer shops. I was fairly miserable, as were most of the men, but the women seemed delighted to get to shop after 6 days at sea.
Next they took us to lunch in an open air restaurant. Lots of open air in Mauritius. They’re far enough from the equator to be a little cooler than the places we’ve been lately, but still warm. Since Mauritius is an Indian culture, our meal included delicious chicken curry and rice, but also the best Caesar Salad I’ve ever tasted!
The end of the tour was a visit to their aquarium, which was very nice, just like every other big aquarium I’ve ever visited, from New Orleans to Dingle, Ireland. You see one aquarium, you’ve seen them all, and they are all great!
Just arrived Mauritius Video Catholic Church in Mauritus Video
Dancers in Mauritius
Now it’s 3 days at sea, then our next stop at Durban, South Africa.
Looks like the dessert chefs had an Easter decoration competition. Winner was a huge hollow chocolate egg about 2 feet tall, with bees and honeycomb, for some reason, and little white bunnies coming out of chocolate eggs. Second prize was another egg with bees and honeycomb. Third was a beautiful peacock guarding golden eggs. (Peacocks don’t lay eggs.)
I assume everything on them had to be edible. Wonder who got to eat them! I can make a guess. The captain’s family have been on board since Kuala Lumpur. Three kids, or grandchildren, about 8 to 12. I see him with them and their mother in the buffet often. Otherwise, the only way to see the captain is to attend one of his fancy cocktail parties, which are not my style!
