MY FIRST TIME IN MAURITIUS
*This post is sponsored by
Heritage Resorts
&
Air Mauritius
(I visited Mauritius between 6 and 16 September 2019)
If you practice kite, Mauritius it’s probably on your “places to go” list… Well, you’re not wrong. Personally, I had been wanting to visit the island for years, it is known by everyone the brutal kite conditions that the island has (you know, that about the waves) and, well, my time had finally come. The best waves in the world and huge lagoons to navigate are some of the things you can find in this piece of site. What else can you expect from Mauritius? How to get here, where to stay? Let me take you through my experience in what was the best trip I’ve taken so far:
WHY I WENT TO MAURITIUS
I was very lucky in the world to have been invited by Heritage Resorts & Air Mauritius during the GKA Mauritius (Freestyle and Wave Kite World Championships) to be something like the kiter reporter who is not competing. During my stay I had some Instagram accounts:
@thekitemag
@mikaili_sol ,
@duotone.kiteboarding
and, of course, my own urges:
@fuertejulia
If you enter my profile, you can find in the "featured stories" all the collection of stories I made in Mauritius.
HOW TO GET THERE
I flew with Air Mauritius. This company offers direct flights from Amsterdam (AMS), Paris (CDG) and London (LHR). Wow, you just have to fly to one of these destinations and, Voila! Direct flight to the destination of your dreams. This year, and today (I am writing this on September 26, 2019) I have 51 flights, wow, what else not but, experience in airplanes and companies I have ... The plane I travelled to Mauritius on is one of the most comfortable I've travelled on in a long time and no, I didn't travel in business class, I travelled as a tourist 😉 I am not a super tall girl (I measure about 173cm) but, on airplanes I always find myself colliding my knees with the front seat, in this plane no, I had room to spare! and... I even had footrests! After so many airplanes, these things are highly valued. On the other hand, the entertainment screen was quite large, there were plenty of movies, books and music to choose from and the food was tasty. Once you arrive in Mauritius you pass the typical passport control and in a matter of 45-50 minutes you reach Bel Ombre Heritage Hotel. Do not forget to enjoy the beautiful views that you will have as soon as you leave the airport.
ACCOMMODATION
I know it's hard to believe as this post is sponsored by the hotel itself but, I've never been to a better hotel! Let me tell you why: As soon as you arrive at the reception, it gives you to hallucinate. It is a beautiful reception, super spacious and bright and they receive you helping you to unload the suitcases of your transfer and offering you a juice (I do not remember what) delicious. Once you check in, they take you to what will be your room (they have different types of rooms, so you can choose the one that best suits you and your needs). In my case, I was extremely lucky to stay in the 'Villas Valriche' in the 10 days I was in Mauritius. The villas have different "set ups" but my villa had, nothing more and nothing less than: a golf cart to move around the hotel, 3 bedrooms, each with its bathroom (or 2), a toilet, kitchen, dining room and terrace with pool and BBQ area. My room was amazing, you open the curtain and you have beautiful views, all green, the birds singing... My bathroom had a huge bathtub and an outside shower (where I opted to shower almost every day as the outside temperature invited it)... To go to breakfast we had to take the golf cart every morning and in about 5 minutes we arrived, the road from the villa to the hotel was also amazing. We drove (and you will drive if you come), through the golf course and some beautiful Mauritian mini jungles, wake up like this, yes. Sitting down for breakfast means choosing from a fairly large buffet of food, from a barista making you the coffee of your choice or crepes, waffles, scrambled eggs ... You sit and your views are a beautiful pool on the beach among palm trees. Yes, it really wasn't a dream!
To get there we were given a golf cart since there are about 5 minutes in between the vila and the breakfast place. The road from the vila to breakfast is simply insane already, you go through the golf course and it just feels like you're not in a hotel but more like having a tour through a breathtaking Mauritian jungle. Sitting at breakfast means sitting close to the pool that leads to the beach and in less than 100 meters you can already go kiting in the lagoon. Every morning felts like a blessing. I think we were very lucky to be able to experience breakfast in a place like that every single morning.
THE KITE SPOT
Bel Ombre
is the new place to be. I think it is the ideal place if you travel with children or family who do not kite, mostly because you can have them a few meters from you while you sail. The family (or colleagues) may be enjoying the pool, hammocks or lagoon while you enjoy the conditions; inside the lagoon and outside the reef waves. If you want to watch videos of the spot, take a look at the GKA Kitesurf Instagram. In addition, we will review the typical questions you ask when you go to a spot for the first time:
– WATER TEMPERATURE: The water is hot, I wore a 2mm shorty from
ION, the MUSE model
(long sleeve and short leg) but there were also people who went without neoprene, in a T-shirt.
– KITE SIZES: I only used DICE 7 and 9 meters and as a board my 5″0 Hybrid
(I have about 62kg on top)
– AIR TEMPERATURE: during the day and with sun, I was in short sleeves and shorts. For the day with clouds, I put on a jacket because it gave me the cool. At night, the temperature is similar to that of Fuerteventura: sweatshirt and long trousers.
GKA: THE COMPETITION
I thought I would write a whole post about the competition but I think the best thing you can do is visit the GKA website (you can also read this post in English where it did give me to extend a little more with the subject) to read the press releases, see the photos ... I personally had a great time watching the competition, I really enjoy freestyle and the action could almost be played from how close I was. The waves were a little further away but it was also brutal to be able to see them compete.
Photo: Svetlana Romantsova/GKA
THINGS TO DO
I’m not going to lie to you, I didn’t have time to do all the things I would have liked to do but hey, next year more. Of the things I was able to do, these are the things I can recommend:
- Go see dolphins and/or whales. Contact “
Bart Surf school Mauritius
” to experience it in the best possible way. - One Eye Scale
- Check out the waterfalls.
THINGS WORTH MENTIONING
- Buildings. This is one of the things that surprised me the most (positively) about Mauritius. The construction of hotels and houses, at least in the Bel Ombre area, is integrated into the landscape. There are no large buildings protruding from among the palm trees. If you go out to sea and look up at land, you’ll have a hard time seeing where your hotel is, and I love this. Many thanks to Mauritius and whoever supported this type of development, hopefully many more sites will take note.
- Culture. The Internet will tell you better than me but, Mauritius was a Dutch, English and French colony… In addition, geographically it belongs to Africa and there are also many people from India. And, all these cultures coexist in harmony. Seeing Hindu temples and churches side by side is not uncommon around here, and I love it too.
- Common sense. Perhaps it almost goes without saying, but the sea is dangerous. In Mauritius the waves are big, there is current and, as in any other spot you get into, the best thing you can do before entering is to ask a local about the conditions. Be careful, use your head 🙂
SUMMARIZING
This island stole my heart. It’s brutally pretty, wild, the food cool, the people cool, the waves (you can’t imagine what’s cool), the Heritage Resort re-mola…. I only have good words for this island and my experience on it. Should you visit Mauritius? Of course.
I hope this post helps you on your next visit to Mauritius and I hope you liked it.
A million thanks again to:
@heritageresorts
@airmauritius
for the invitation and for having made the trip of my dreams come true. And thanks also to Louka Pitot, it all started thanks to him, run to see his Instagram and follow him.
Mauritius, see you next year < 3
See you in the water,
