Mont Choisy Beach, Mauritius
During our Semester at Sea voyage, we had brief stops at a few ports that I haven’t reported on. Here are some notes on those.
Interlude 1: Hilo, Hawai’i
We had less than a day in Hilo—seven or eight hours, to be exact. Noah and Mommy, together with Jamie and Jude, put the top down on a rented Mustang and went to look at volcanos, walk through lava tubes, and hit Target.
Noah and Jude in the Mustang with the top down
At Mauna Kea
The daddies had responsibilities. I took a bunch of students zip-lining and botanizing.
On the Big Island
Whee!
The ship docked for a day in Honolulu to gas up for the long sail across the Pacific.
Interlude 2: Singapore
Wow, so this is Singapore?
We had two days and a night in Singapore. Singapore is a modern, first-world city, the result of capitalism on steroids. Shipping, finance, tech—big industries are in Singapore. And so people come there from all over, augmenting a base of Malaysians and the post-colonial Britishness that’s still strong.
We wandered through Little India, where we got the best jolt of Hindu texture we would get the whole voyage.
In Little India
I LOVED the rich imagination in Hinduism
Offerings
We found a wonderful park with a great water play area for Noah.
We also toured by bus that evening, to see the decorations for the spring festival.
We also toured by bus that evening, to see the decorations for the spring festival.
And then on our second day, we took the tram to the beach on Sentosa Island. Taking the tram allowed us to get a lofty view of our beloved ship.
At the beach, it was us, a few other Euro foreigners—and many groups of Indian men.
Singapore is a weird place. It’s the country in the world with the highest income disparity on the planet. It’s also, bar none, the country where we felt most oppressed by government surveillance. It’s illegal to chew gum publicly in Singapore. It was curious to see that capitalism and authoritarianism can very happily coexist.
Interlude 3: Mauritius
The ship stopped in Mauritius, an island country in the middle of the Indian Ocean, to refuel and to give us all a break. Initially we were all supposed to stay on the ship unless we’d signed up for a field excursion, and most of those did not seem appropriate for Noah. Then they opened up a special treat for faculty and staff only: a trip to the beach.
Shipmates in Their Natural Element (photo credit: Randi's mom)
Mauritius is a gorgeous tropical island with a colorful, whimsical flag. It's famous for being the home of the Dodo (RIP). We had a gorgeous sunrise sail into the harbor--with whales!
The gorgeous beach is called Mont Choisy. Daddy and Noah went snorkeling with Suki and Amare and their moms, while Mommy went grocery shopping and hung out on the beach.
Noah and buddy Randi (photo credit: Randi's mom)
Daddy's luscious (and illegal) beverage
We rode across the bay on an inflatable couch!
(photo credit: Randi's mom)
In the evening there was a barbecue on board the ship, and we got to talk with friends—friends who had by now become immensely dear to us.
Noah relished the interludes, as we all did.
On Sentosa Island, Singapore
