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View from our balcony in the morning sun
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The travel day hits harder than either one of us expected, I think, and so both Mario and I are slow to get into gear this morning. Ultimately, we decide that we should just give in to the loss of momentum and relax a bit, since that's what this vacation is supposed to be about, and we have done little of it. Around noon, we decide to go for a walk down to the beach to walk along the littoral.
When we checked in, Carole mentioned that a lot had been done around the beach area since our last visit, in an attempt to beautiful it and make it safer and more welcoming. We discovered last time that this beach had quickly become the favorite of the tourist crowds in Sainte-Anne and Saint-Francois, due to it being relatively unaffected by the influx of sargasses (seaweed) in recent years. The beaches in the south were getting overwhelmed by them, affecting the water quality, the general beauty of the beaches, and emitting a horrible fish-like stench as they decomposed, too. Today, as we walked along the beaches closest to town, we saw the difference: a new sidewalk runs the length of the water, from the church to the start of the beach. Along here, a few small vendors have set up, as well as a surfing school or two, and the road is filled with parked cars as a result.
We walk to the beginning of the Anse du Souffleur beach, where people take up the precious waterfront real estate with their lounge chairs, big towels, coolers, plastic toys and grass mats. Here too, the parking lot is full, but that was the case two years ago. What is new is the lolos - food trucks - that have set up semi-permanant placement along the roadway, with a sort-of dining room next to it. And not just a couple of cracking plastic patio chairs and a table with three legs - No, this places have a couple of shade tents each, 20 or so tables and at least 50 chairs set up. There are table numbers, and a handful of people (likely all members of the same family, as some are just kids) are actually busing and serving tables! There are 3 or four places like this in the large treed area leading up to the beach, and every one is full up of tourists eating lunch. But it's a big enough area, and so doesn't feel crowded, nor does it overlap in any way onto the beach - and it's CLEAN. Surprisingly so. We decide to pick up a couple of bokits at one of the stalls to take with us, wanting to eat at the beach instead.
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| Hiking through the forest |
We follow one of the many new cement pathways that crisscross the treed area, heading towards the end of the beach. Here, we head behind the cemetery, which has a prime oceanfront property, and along the road to next beach. This one is less manicured. The trees as a bit more wild and the sand area more narrow. But there is parking, and carbets, and if you are knowledgeable about the area, you know this is often a better, quieter beach than Anse du Souffleur. But it too got too popular, with many a tourist driving down the bumpy roads here, finding roadside parking, and taking up the place once only discovered by locals. So the city did something about it: they close the road. In reality, this is not new, the road was supposed to be closed to car traffic, but as we often say, if a car fits, a car goes, and everyone would attempt the drive down the rough back road to further and further beaches. Not anymore - big boulders now block the way, and signage explains the need to return the area to its more natural roots, so trees and plants and flowers are now retaking the roadway and parking spots, and so now we hike down the road. It's quiet, as the sandal-wearing tourists won't make the long trek down here anymore. The small access spots to the beach are still visible, as the city didn't take down the carbets down here, so we hike all the way down to the end, to the last shelter, and sit down for a bite. Then we jump in the water to explore the quiet lagoon back here, where we so loved to snorkel on our last visit to Port-Louis.
 | | The furthest carbet, table buried in sand |
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 | | Heading into the water |
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 | | Looking down the beach towards Port-Louis - quiet |
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 | | Small school of fish |
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 | | A sand dollar! |
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Sadly, the sea is agitated, and with is being cloudy and grey, the underwater visibility is not great, so besides large masses of sea grass, we see little else. We relax on the sand until we dry off, then get dressed and finish the hike until the Pointe des Antigues, though it is only another 10 minutes or so. Here, you can see the entire coast, and all the way across the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin to Ste-Rose, the ridge of mountains, and even La Soufrière. I bet the sunsets here are incredible, but the hike back would be dark. And long! Strangely, we pass a signpost on our way back that indicates we are 4.7 km from Saint-Louis, but this being a flat trail, it went so quickly, we didn't even notice we'd gone that far! For a day that we had planned only a simple stroll to the beach for a swim, we *still* hiked 9+ km. Go us!
 | | Hiking across Pointe des Antigues |
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 | Tiny hermit crabs emerging from a coconut snack!!
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 | | Crab holding tight to his catch of a fish head |
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 | | A crab getting a cleaning by some small fish |
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 | | Following the boardwalk through the mangroves |
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 | | Egret fishing in the lagoon |
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 | | View of the sunset from our balcony |
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We walk to the beginning of the Anse du Souffleur beach, where people take up the precious waterfront real estate with their lounge chairs, big towels, coolers, plastic toys and grass mats. Here too, the parking lot is full, but that was the case two years ago. What is new is the lolos - food trucks - that have set up semi-permanant placement along the roadway, with a sort-of dining room next to it. And not just a couple of cracking plastic patio chairs and a table with three legs - No, this places have a couple of shade tents each, 20 or so tables and at least 50 chairs set up. There are table numbers, and a handful of people (likely all members of the same family, as some are just kids) are actually busing and serving tables! There are 3 or four places like this in the large treed area leading up to the beach, and every one is full up of tourists eating lunch. But it's a big enough area, and so doesn't feel crowded, nor does it overlap in any way onto the beach - and it's CLEAN. Surprisingly so. We decide to pick up a couple of bokits at one of the stalls to take with us, wanting to eat at the beach instead.
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