Day 287: Mauritius – 20/10/10

I have a bad night’s sleep and wake up unable to believe I still feel so bad.  It’s been over 24 hours now and these things are usually short lived.  Mike makes me eat some breakfast and drink lots of water immediately I come to.  My stomach is horrendously bloated – I look about 6 months pregnant!

Today we should be doing the underwater walk and I really don’t feel up to it but Mike reminds me that this is the one thing I have talked about doing since I saw it in the WARC folder and I decide to shovel down some Imodium and take the chance.

Still looking a little green around the gills and feeling very weak and wobbly, I meet the others outside the hotel where the ten of us pile into the waiting minibus.  I am very quiet and sleepy on the journey to the other side of the island but start to perk up a bit as we get closer.

We get changed and walk down to the beach, where we all get into a motor boat and are taken out to the floating ‘dive platform’ or rather a boat with a hole in the middle and a ladder going down into the sea.

Mike and I are the first couple to be fitted with our equipment – a huge helmet that sits on your shoulders which weighs 40 lbs and a belt with weights.  You have to go down the ladder into the sea to shoulder height before they can fit the helmet as it’s so heavy.  Mike goes in the water first, squealing that it’s so cold, and disappears through the hole, a pipe pumping air into the helmet.  I go down next and he’s right, it is cold but the shock of the cold isn’t as great as the shock of the weight as it is plonked onto my shoulders although as I descend the weight disappears.  I climb down the ladder, scared that the water will fill the helmet but of course it doesn’t as the air keeps it out.  There’s quite a drop from the bottom of the ladder to the sea bed but there’s a friendly guy waiting to grab you and guide you down – if you tip your head too far the helmet will fill with water – there’s no way my neck is bending at all! 

Six of us descend as the first group.  The glass in the helmets is so thick that it makes our heads look smaller than they are.  Everyone looks like a ‘pin head’, our heads far too small for our bodies.

Photo:  Mike and I, Mr and Mrs Pin Head

Photo:  Rosemary, Bill, me and Mike being careful not to get our wires crossed

One of the guys running the show swims around and gives us pieces of bread to feed the fish with.  It’s amazing holding your hand out and suddenly having a swarm of fish grabbing at your fingers trying to get the food.  They get so distracted that you can even brush your fingers across them.

None of us has an underwater camera with us so they thoughtfully take the pictures to charge us for later!  The following shots of the fish we see are theirs (enhanced probably).

  Photos:  A pipefish and friends

We are only in the water for about 20 minutes and don’t really walk about that much as we would be in danger of tangling the air supply tubes if we did, but it’s still a fun experience.  I pose for photos, feed the fish, have some video taken and try desperately to keep my feet firmly on the sea bed.  It’s difficult as my heels keep coming up - I am far too buoyant, having my own little flotation packs attached to me (use your imagination).  Then it’s time to get out and let the others have their turn.  While we wait, drying out in the sun, I watch someone parasailing, floating around in the sky over the reef.  I tell Mike that I would love to do it and one of the guys in the boat says he can get them to come over and get me.  When Bill says he would like to do it too, we decide to do a tandem, and before Mike can change his mind about me doing it, I leap from one motor boat into another.  By this time, four of the others have decided to do it too.

Bill and I go first.  We are helped into life jackets (like we don’t know how to do them up ourselves) and then into the harness.  The back of the boat has a landing platform which should make things easier coming back down.  We climb onto the platform and are attached to the parachute.  They let it out with a whoosh then we are dragged backwards on our bottoms until suddenly we are airborne.  It is so incredibly peaceful and it’s a lovely view.  The sea is turquoise and the reef is clearly visible.  I wave frantically to Mike, by now standing on the beach but unfortunately no one has their camera with them to record the fact that I have actually done it.  It’s over all too quickly though, and they start to reel us in, giving us the cursory dunking up to the waist on our way down.  We land gently on the platform and move over to let the next couple go up and I suddenly realise how much better I feel.

We have lunch next door to the sea adventure place.  It’s Chinese again, and once more, I choose badly, selecting the most boring thing on the menu although I don’t mean to.  Having said that, a bland rice based dish is probably what my tummy needs, although I find I can only eat about a quarter of it and take the rest of it back in a doggy bag.

While the rest of them can indulge in wine (Jutta has brought at least four bottles with her in a cool box), I stick to water.  How boring but sensible in the circumstances.

We take a different scenic route back and it’s about 4pm when we arrive at the marina where Jutta invites everyone to go back to Chessie for ‘just one little last drink’.  Bill and Mike cry off to bed but the rest of us go, although I don’t have anything alcoholic, disregarding Jutta’s medical advice that it would be good for me.  I know my stomach!

I wander back to Jeannius at about 6 pm, desperate for a cup of tea.  I heat up some of the leftover rice dish and immediately have another wave of stomach cramps.  Not quite better yet then, but what a great day!  I’m so glad Mike talked me out of bed!!!