Today we led a Semester at Sea catamaran and snorkeling trip. We had a very peaceful day. Our group rented 4 catamarans; we had some of our faculty and Life Long Learners as well as a few students on our catamaran. We drove south about 45 minutes to Little Black River Bay. First, we did some dolphin watching. Next, we snorkeled and then we had a great lunch of grilled swordfish and chicken - YUM! It was a nice change of pace and a great opportunity to decompress before our 7 day trip to India.

Mauritius is another place we would love to visit again. The people here are very friendly; many speak either French or English and the population is about 1.3 million. The people of Mauritius are primarily Indian and African, although there are also some people of Chinese descent. The Dutch established the first permanent settlement in 1638 and the French took control in 1715, followed by the British in 1810. Sugar cane is about 25% of their export earnings. About ½ of the people here are Hindus and most of the others are Christian or Muslim.

Fun Fact:

-about 40 students were late for "on ship" time. TROUBLE for them!