Rob's Book Blog: Two weeks in Paradise

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, but life has been a little busy! Following the family holiday at the end of August, and a few other minor bits and pieces, my wife and I were fortunate enough to finally take our honeymoon! Now, we got married on the 31^st May 2013, so there has been a bit of a break since the wedding, but to anyone out there with jobs and children, I'm sure you can appreciate the logistics of taking two weeks away from everything and everyone!

First off, Mauritius is BEAUTIFUL! Truly paradise. To those of you who don't know, it is a small island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. At approximately 55 miles north to south and 45 miles east to west, it is home to around 1.3million people. The official language is English, though most people tend to speak Mauritian Creole and French. It is home to many faiths, predominantly Hindu, with a significant proportion of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, and everyone does very well at living together and respecting each other's cultures.

My wife and I had the most amazing time, saw so much of the island and it's treasures, and I wanted to use this blog to show everyone pictures of some of what we got up to on our honeymoon.

(And before you ask, NO! There will be none of those sorts of pictures! You people are disgusting....)

Firstly, we stayed in a hotel in the north-east region of the island (Grand Gaube), called the Veranda Paul et Virginie Hotel and Spa. It's a small hotel but very friendly, with a lot of all inclusive water sports on the beach. They have their own glass bottom boat for exploring the local coral reef, as well as pedalos, windsurfing, kayaks, and snorkelling equipment.

The local beer (Phoenix) is delicious, a mild lager that is very refreshing in the 30 degree heat in September and October (a season the locals laughingly refer to as Winter!). The rum is also very tasty, also made on the island from their predominant crop – sugar cane. Many a day was spent by the pool, sipping at the beer, followed by a night of entertainment with a glass or two of rum and coke.

As I'm sure you can tell, we really didn't want to come home...

Anyway, for today, here are some pictures from in and around the hotel, just to make you all jealous. Over the next few days, I will post entries about the various trips and excursions we were lucky enough to do whilst in Mauritius, so check below the pictures for details.