As you can see, after all my whining and sadness, Dive Spirit Mauritius was able to get us in the water. However, before I inundate you with dive photos (someone got a dive housing for a better camera, yeaaaaa!) I have to pass on some photos I forgot to include in the first Mauritius blog.
The morning after the cyclone these guys were hard at it in 33ºC and 90% humidity. Hard working fellows. They had all the trash cleared from the roadway into our place.After the cyclone, the owners of the dive shop were so kind to invite us to lunch with them. They promised an authentic Mauritius meal and boy did they deliver.
Upside Down DishWhere the name comes from
It was with great excitement we received the news that the dive shop was going to try diving on Thursday, which would give us two days of diving. It was an anxious wait by the shore while the final decision was made.So this was our visibility. It sucked but we didn’t care. It was great to be in the water.
We were scheduled to do a wreck diving course while we were here, however that was obviously cancelled. The power of the cyclone was impressive. It had moved the wreck around, peeled more of the hull off so it was swaying in the current, and had scoured all the coral off the outside of the hull. Bear in mind this wreck is 24 metres under the surface. Amazing to see the power.
This little fish was very curious as to who was silly enough to be out in this water.Our second dive on the first day was aborted due to Karen’s first stage regulator malfunctioning and delivering limited air. No big problem, just disappointing. It is a testament to the training you do that when equipment inevitably fails there are resources and people there to help you out.We celebrated our first day in the water by going out for dinner. A very tasty meal of grilled marlin and tuna. The chef kept giving us extra pieces of marlin, fun experience.We did another wreck first thing on our second day. The visibility was better by a couple of metres. We swam around the freshly damaged wreck then focused on some of the wreck’s residents.The good thing about photographing fish is you need to get close, which also limits the negative effect of the sediment in the water. This little Lion Fish was hanging around the bow of the ship.This Scorpion Fish was trying to blend in on the hull of the ship, but our sharp eyed guide pointed it out to us. Can you see it?
The second dive of our last day diving was hands down, the best. We descended to about 20 metres and just let the gentle current carry us over the top of a reef. No rush, hardly any kicking, just enjoying.
Lots of names, but I like Turkey Moray. Who thought of that?Love the eyes.Karen spotted this Flounder hiding on the sand. Incredible camouflage until I came over and startled it.It settled on this coral and changed colour within 2 – 3 seconds. Amazing.There were several black and white lion fish around, but pick always goes for the colour.Love these anemones. So much lives in and around them. True symbiosis. This Trumpet Fish wanted nothing to do with me.We finished the dive with the discovery of an octopus. You can just see its head peaking out between the coral. A great way to wind things up.
It was a very turbulent time for us on Mauritius but I have to give a huge shout out to Dive Spirit Mauritius. They were great communicating with us both before our arrival and during the confusion that Cyclone Belal brought to the island.
In the end, it was a good time with great experiences. Will we be back? One never knows. I will leave you with a photo we snapped in a restaurant after our last dive. The staff worked around this street dog so he could rest under the air conditioner blowing at the front door. You can judge people by how they treat other creatures. Mauritius has good people.
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