A Tuesday Holiday

Mauritius has a LOT of holidays.  They used to have even more, and then a few years ago the government told each major religon to get organized and pick the few they wanted, and then a few others got added too.  So, we get all the major religious events off - Eid, Easter, Christmas, Divali, Ganesh and Ougadi.  Today was the Holiday for the 'Arrival of the Indentured Labourers', which occurred 176 years ago.  The Indian indenture system started in the 1830s, when thousands of Indians were transported to Mauritius to provide labour for the sugar plantations.  The area where the ships arrived is a world heritage site, in Port Louis.

Since the boys did not have school we took a day long trip to the far northwest side of the island, to the very touristy spot of Grand Baie.  It was very nice, but it is very high end and built up, and thus does not look like most of Mauritius.

Grand Baie is the center for big time deep sea fishing, and the world record marlin was caught off this coast.  There are many charter companies along this section of the island.  Here are Will and Neya posing in front of one of the boats.  In the background you see a big catamaran, which is the boat we chartered for December 2nd, when we will all go on a day long cruise around the island.

Sorry - should have rotated this before I posted.  Here is Sam in front of some of the recent catch boards for deep sea fishing.  This one was for a 374 lb Black Marlin.  Other game fishes are tuna, skipjack, shark and marlin.

Will at Grand Baie.