Turning Crispy in the Sun

If you thought Mauritius was expensive, too commercial, too far away, and not girlfriend or kid friendly, think again.

In fact, Mauritius is just like the old tropical island cliché. I just went to Mauritius on a holiday and found out that it has everything a surfer needs. For starters, it’s close to home. One 4 hour direct flight from Cape Town will get you there, and when you land you’ll find the weather is warm and sunny, and it stays that way all year round. The water temp is perfect for boardies and a vest top, which is also warm enough to go snorkelling with the girlfriend.

It’s a beautiful place, with white sand beaches that are shrouded by palm trees and perfect for tanning or reading a book while lying in a hammock. I did none of these things, but hey, they were there.The island is full of little hidden treasures from the waterfalls in the black river gorge to hiking trails that lead to breathtaking views over the island and the turquoise reef passes. I did see these.

We stayed at the Indian Ocean Island resort, and were spoilt by opening our sliding room door onto the beach, with water lapping at the legs of our very own beach chairs. Each evening we drank (free) cocktails on the beach or at one of the pools. It sounds like another cliché, but this kind of life certainly is relaxing, lounging around with your only worry being that the ice in your drink might melt before you finish it.

We hooked up with some friends one of the days, they were chuffed because they had just stashed their kids at the ‘kids club” and we all snuck off to be pampered at spa, which it turns out is surprisingly soothing.

All the other things like spas and bars were cool, but the most important discovery for me was that Le Mone’ is a wave riders paradise. The water is warm and clear and there were great waves. Incidentally it is also known as one of the best locations for kiting & windsurfing in the Southern hemisphere, but I didn’t get round to doing any of that, I stuck to the surf, which was cooking. I scored One Eye reef really good a bunch of times, and many of those were on my ace. It’s a hollow left reef break that you have to paddle to (about 10 min), with a right-hander that turns on and can cook at high tide too.

After a drive in our cheap little hired car I realised that Mauritius is littered with world class surf spots on both the North and South coasts, most of which are unsurfed. There are also some amazing little bays and hidden cove beaches that add to the islands mystery and magic.

For a break in the surfing, we took a visit to the Rum distilleries to taste some of the local juice and visited the famous Vanilla plantation, before capping it off with a dolphin dive just around the corner. I was there with my girl, so we did the romantic stuff, like swimming under a waterfall before sharing a papaya and watching the sun set. We also travelled up to the waterfront at Port Louis and experienced the craft markets and awesome local restaurants.

Whatever you really want to do, Mauritius has a little of everything for everyone. And you don’t have to spend half your inheritance to take an island holiday with your girlfriend or wife and kids.

This was a trip to chill and with a “not very large” budget it was doable for me. Ok maybe it’s not Hawaii in terms of very large waves, but it comes damn close in all aspects.