A Little Taste of Paradise!

Spring Break 2010 complete. We just celebrated the finishing of mid-terms, the 1st round of papers and all of the stuff that has to happen halfway throughout the semester. We were off the ship for less than 36 hours and I can say we made every moment count. Yesterday morning we pulled into the beautiful island of Mauritius, a small island off the coast of Madagascar. As the sun rose so did the level of excitement on the ship. Once immigration signaled the okay, we were off. Several friends and I jumped off the boat and headed to our hotel for the night. Many SAS kids, booked rooms at a beach resort, the Intercontinental. We lived the life of luxury for the evening. I have never stayed in a hotel quite like this before. The view from our rooms was breathtaking. After trying to absorb it all, 3 friends and I decided that we wanted to dive that afternoon.  We were able to find a company that would take us out on our own private dive. It was so amazing to be able to dive again. The marine life was so beautiful, but more than anything the visibility was unreal. I felt as if I was swimming in an aquarium. We dove for over an hour and I was in pure amazement at the end.  After the dive we went back to the hotel and met up with our friends who had stayed back. At this point, most of Semester at Sea was at our hotel. After getting ready, we walked out to the jetty and watched the sunset. The past several days, I have been fortunate to see some of the most beautiful sunsets. We took pictures, pictures, and more pictures. It was a masterpiece, there are no other words to describe it. We then hung around the pool bar for the rest of the night. There were so many students there from SAS it was unreal. We danced, we laughed, we sung, and we made memories that I will never forget. The sun started playing peek-a-boo, as we were heading in. I slept for a very short while, before I had the opportunity to Skype my family. I am telling you, whoever invented Skype was a genius. It was so wonderful to be able to see my parents face and have a real conversation with them. We talked forever and I did not want to hang up. It is so hard to find a time to talk being 8 hours apart. As they were going to bed for the night, I was getting up for the day. I was also able to talk to my housemates and sister. It was an absolute blessing to hear everyone’s voices.
        Before too much longer the cab was there to pick our group up. We decided to head out on a catamaran for the day.  Today was something spectacular. We took an hour and half boat ride to an island, had lunch, snorkeled, and goofed off. The ride there and back was just spectacular. I have found my new favorite color, the blue of the Indian Ocean. IT was like nothing I have seen before. It was so opaque you could look down and see coral several meters down. This was an all day event and before we knew it we had to be back on the ship. We jam packed these two days, but it was well worth it. Mauritius is a place I will always remember, and hopefully one day will step back on to the island of paradise!
        We are now on our way to India! I have no idea what to expect, but I know I am in for a treat. We have 6 days on the ship, so I will be busy these next few days trying to catch up on school and sleep. As far as blogging goes, I am going to make it a goal to blog a little more than just after ports. This will allow me to better explain what living on a ship is like. Days on the boat seem a little repetitive to us, but there are definitely some stories worth sharing. Hope all is well! Love and miss you all!