Sun, 3/2/25   Mauritius

Day 57 - Monday, March 3rd, 2025 – Port Louis, Mauritius
  So after seven days at sea, we were going to make land again. Unfortunately, I had little or no hope for us to do or see anything great here. All of our research said that this island was not wheelchair friendly at all. Nonetheless, we had breakfast and went ashore. The first thing I noticed was it was already steaming hot out. We were in the shade and there was a wind blowing but it was sweltering for lack of a better term.

There were several tour operators that were willing to carry me in their car, but Mary and I decided we were not doing that. It raises too many safety concerns. Both for me and for them. We needed a lift van. Of course, none of them had that. Our next option was to try the bus that took us into town. None of these buses were lift equipped. So that was out.

Our next option was to walk into town. After asking a few people we got a couple of clues. There was a paved path that showed promise. It was a well-defined walkway that led towards the city. It even had signs that said this way to the city. Already sweating and warm, we walked the walkway. They said it would take about 10 minutes. We walk the 10 minutes and found ourselves kind of in the middle of nowhere. We followed the signs another 5 or 6 minutes and we ended up at to the port Mauritius aquarium. From there we were supposed to be able to take a bridge into the city except the bridge was closed. Not sure why, but the bridge was closed. We asked the aquarium lady what our options were she pointed out a different direction that would lead us up to a hotel. We could go through the hotel to get to the city. We walked another 5 to 7 minutes and found the hotel. To get into the hotel was a pretty serious hill. By now Mary was really smoking hot. I tried to use my smart drive, but there was not a whole lot of area for me to use it successfully. This meant Mary had to do the hard work. By the time we got him into the hotel Mary was beyond spent. We spent a good 20 minutes there just cooling off. Then we ran into another couple from the ship. At this point I think Mary was ready to turn around. This other couple did some research to see if they could get out through the hotel. As it turns out they had two options both of which did not work - something to do with the elevator being too small and the other way blocked. They were not happy either. We sat in the hotel for probably near an hour - mostly to get Mary cooled down. I was able to use my smart drive a little more on the way back which helped, but it was a good 20 minute walk back. There was not much area for shade so by the time we got back to the Cruise terminal again, Mary was smoking. We sat there for a while. Mary was able to buy T-shirts, refrigerator magnets and postcards. So it was not a complete bust. We made our way back up into the ship. We were back in our room by noon. I would say we gave it our best. The part that gets me is that they have this well defined path that led nowhere. I guess I shouldn't say nowhere, but there were two or three ways out but they were all blocked. I was not as frustrated as Mary was. As I stated up front, I knew this was going to be the non starter from the get go.

Mary cooled off for a little while then decided to go back on shore. I stayed back in the room. She took the bus into town. She did some shopping that she needed to do. She was on the hunt for more stevia as she ran out of the stuff she bought earlier. She was gone quite a while.

to the point where I started to wonder. A little after 2:00 she made it back into the room. She intended to take the bus back, but could not find the pick up point in this large shopping area. Instead, she grabbed a cab and took the cab back to the ship.

She said there was not much in the town once she got there. I guess it would have been nice to see it, but I'm glad we did not go through the extra effort.

Because I just decided to do a time lapse of the ship leaving, we did not get to dinner until 7:00. Mary had soup, salad and Alfredo pasta. I had soup, salad and fried snapper. It was a nice piece of fish, it's a shame it had to be fried but it did taste good. We both had champagne sorbet for dessert. By the time we were done with dinner it was a little after 9:00. I think we were both tired from the frustration and fun. We came upstairs and went to bed shortly thereafter. I'm not sure I would call this a successful day. I knew that it was going to be tough in Mauritius and it was. I would have to say we gave it our best though. That's gotta count for something, right?