The second week we rented an apartment studio on the East Coast, in Trou D'eau Douce. We had the upper floor on one of the buildings, with two bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, a bathroom, and a garden-facing balcony. The complex offered some breakfast option at an additional cost, but we didn't know that when we arrived so we ended up making our own breakfast that week, mainly sandwiches, yoghurt with cereal, and fruit. While we had direct access to the beach, it had a lot of small boats close to the shore since it was one of the drop-off points going to/from Île aux Cerfs, an island just off the coast which was a very popular day trip destination. So we didn't go swimming there, but rather drove just five minutes North to Palmar public beach, a very long, pretty beach with pine trees and few tourists.
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| Fried noodles at one of the local restaurants, chili and garlic sauce in the containers |
Palmar beach, as well as a big part of the East Coast, has a reef off the coast where the waves break, which makes for calm and child friendly waters near the beach as well as excellent snorkeling opportunities. The size of the beach meant it was rarely crowded, though some parts of the area filled up with locals during the weekends. The locals often go for full days or even weekends by the beach, bringing tables, chairs, tents, barbecues and lots of food - and of course, all of their family and friends and music. It was really nice to see - generally, we found the East Coast to be less touristy, and it was a nice experience to feel like just that - a tourist and a visitor among the local population, rather than the population mainly consisting of tourists.
In our village there was a nice mix of restaurants and local food places, but for some reason many of them were closed on many of the days when we were there. Except for one or two restaurants that had their opening hours online, it seemed to be very random which ones were open on which days, and sometimes we had to go around looking for a long time or even go back to place we didn't really like just to get something to eat for dinner. We did manage to score some excellent ones though, and a lot of fish, fried noodles and boulettes.
This week we also took the opportunity to go on more excursions:
First we went to Sept Cascades also known as Tamarind Falls. This route consisted of a series of waterfalls, and was very popular among tourists who went on tours where they rappelled down. We went for the walking option and had a really nice time, and of course took a swim as well. As you might expect, the view was fantastic. The only lunch restaurant nearby that we could find had only set menus, which we were skeptical to first since it felt a bit much, but we got to try several local foods as well as a really nice dessert of coconut tapioca pudding with peach ice cream. We also went to Alexandra Falls, located in the Black River Gorges National Park where we were almost alone on the hike. We saw some monkeys as well in the forest by the parking lot, which was a fun addition.
The next day we went to Île aux Cerfs, which is the main tourist excursion to make from this area. The boat prices vary a lot even though it just takes 10 minutes; we opted to book from our hotel to ensure that we would be picked up and dropped off at the public beach near our accommodation. Once we arrived at the island, they tried to sell a range of activities, including glass bottom boats, water rings or paragliding, and a boat tour to the GRSE waterfall, all which we opted out of. We were more interested in finding a quiet spot on the beach, but we had to walk quite a bit to get away from the crowds. It was nice, but we found the beaches on mainland to be much prettier. Nothing special, definitely okay to miss. We also brought lunch with us which we bought in the village on mainland, since we had heard the food options on the island were few and expensive. We had roti with curries, where the tomato one was fantastic. We bought this for lunch on several occasions since it was very cheap, the only downside was that the carton packaging somewhat disintegrated during the day from the warm curries, so it was not super easy to eat. Still very good!
Then we visited Bras D'eau national park, a nature area with surprisingly few tourists. A walking trail in the forest, nice an calm and plenty of different landscapes. After a hike, we went to a local village where we saw a hindu temple, had lunch at a local food wagon and accidentally ordered a huge seafood platter (although it was very good). They also served sea urchins which seemed to be very popular among locals, although we didn't try it.
Our next excursion started with a visit to Grand Riviere South Est Falls (GRSE), the waterfall which is most often visited by boat from Île aux Cerfs tour. However, we drove and parked just 200m away, to walk and see it from above which I highly recommend. It was a really nice waterfall, and if we had known we probably would have brought swimwear and stayed a bit longer. There was also a family of monkeys jumping across which was a nice treat to see. We saw several boats below, waiting their turn to go to the front of the waterfall, and try to take their picture in the swaying boat while getting a light shower from the waterfall. And we were quite happy that we weren't one of them! After, we went to La Vallée de Ferney where we did quite a long hike. When we got back we bought some homemade juice drinks - passion fruit, and tamarind, which was a very nice way to cool off and replenish some energy.
The next day we did some more relaxing. We mainly stayed on the nearby beach, and just did a small visit to Mare La Chaux, Flacq, an old sugar mill in a nearby village. It was completely empty, and not much there really but it was a very photogenic space and we saw some pretty flamboyant trees. We also went to a local market, which seemed mostly empty except for a fruit/veg section, and a food section. We picked out some local juice, some roti with curry, and several deep fried snacks with different vegetables in, which was very good! The rest of the day was spent on the beach, and we got a nice treat finding several trees filled with flying foxes.
Our last excursion we saved for the final day of our trip. Our flight wasn't until the evening, so we did an early start and set out for the South West corner and Le Morne Brabant, one of Mauritius main tourist attractions. While we unfortunately couldn't hike to the top of the mountain and have a chance to see the famous underwater falls, we spent some time at the beach, and walked along a long beach filled with resorts to get a nice view of Le Morne. Then we drove onwards to Blue Bay Beach; it's also a quite touristy place but the location very close to the airport was very convenient for us. There are plenty of food options there, but unfortunately not so much shade except for the far corner of the beach, which we sought out to escape the heat. We spent last few hours there, did one last snorkeling and some relaxing before going to the airport and heading home.
Overall the way back went quite smoothly, A slept almost the whole first flight but was a bit restless during the second flight. And of course, a lot of hours to pass at Istanbul.
Generally we had a very nice vacation, I could definitely recommend to go - although as we have now been once, I don't feel it's a place we will return to. And that's all for this time!
