Mauritius and Sea Olympics

Rough weather struck again, and we ended up leaving Cape Town about twelve hours late. Since we were going to be in Mauritius a total of about twelve hours, rumor on the ship was that we would miss the port entirely. However, having the fastest ship in its class has its advantages. We picked up the speed the four days in between Cape Town and Port Louis. It was a bit rougher, but we made it there in time. Diplomatic briefing was shorter than usual, as the island is primarily a tourist destination. There are no major problems, aside from the usual pick pocketing. I got on the bus to Ile des Deux Cocos, a smaller island located within Blue Bay Maritime National Park. While on the drive, we passed numerous sugar cane fields, something that the island is known for. We got off of the bus, and could see the island a short ways off. We got on glass bottom boats for a quick ride over there. Everyone went swimming when we first got there, and then I took a walk to the rough, ocean side of the island. I’ve never seen waves break that impressively. Lunch was ready shortly after getting back, and like most food in foreign countries, was delicious. We had our choice of grilled fish, crayfish, shrimp skewers, lamb, or chicken. Most people had several options. After lunch, they took groups of us out in the boats, farther away from the island, for snorkeling. I saw many of the usual tropical species, plus many things I’ve never seen before. There were several of the largest angelfish I’ve ever seen. We had to head back to the island, but there was space open on the next boat, so PJ and I went out for a second snorkeling session. I definitely did not want to stop this trip. Shortly after getting back to the island, we had to go back to the mainland and take the buses back to Port Louis. We had a short time in Port Louis, its very tourist oriented, but fun for a short while. That night, once everyone was back on the ship, we had the opening ceremonies for the Sea Olympics. Everyone is put on a “sea,” based on where you live on the ship. I am on the Baltic Sea. We had been planning events, and had some meetings, in the time between South Africa and Mauritius. I ended up being our mascot, the Baltic Sea Ninja. We met in our hallway about half an hour before the ceremony to get ready. Two other guys wrote our chant, and we ran through it once more. I had to go up for instructions before it started, and then everyone came up in full black. The mascots and flag bearers paraded in, and then each sea came down to do our chants. The games themselves started early the next morning. I planned to go as the mascot to several events, but people did not show up as planned, so I ended up being in several events as well. The general pattern of the day was utter failure. We got knocked out of volleyball early, lost in the Olympic relay, and several other smaller events. I played on the flip cup, and we won our first round, but lost in the second. The highlight of the day was synchronized swimming. The teams put some serious work into this one. Our sea had to go first, but I think they did an awesome job. That evening was the closing ceremony and final awards. The announced the winners of the judging events: mashed potato sculpting, synchronized swimming, best mascot, best flag, and best chant. We got shafted, not a single medal in any of those. In total we had one gold, and one silver medal, but at least we were not dead last. The overall winner was the Adriatic Sea, and the prize is that they get to get off of the ship first when we return to Florida.