one day of shear excitement & fear in mauritius!

although our time at sea was only 4 days, it felt like a long week and so we were ready to get off for a days rest and have some fun!  on our way there, we had to slow down at a us naval base, due to the severity of 3 folks on board-one crew member, one student with an infection and one with a rare blood issue and all three could not wait until the next port! because of these special circumstances, we slowed down at this base and on came navy seals with guns and a doctor to take the 3 folks off the ship! we sure have had our fair share of already crazy illnesses, monkey bites, kidney stones and the like and i was clear that this would be a port where some added craziness may happen as well, as we only had one day in mauritius and folks were going to make the most of it~spring vacation here we come!

pulling up to the port, the island was beautiful and lush~i did not realize that it would so green and later so lush in the mountainous tropical forest at the park! unfortunately for many who had not made plans, we arrived here on a sunday, which we have done many times now~ a bummer as many shops and stores were not open!

i decided to jump on board the adventure park bridges and ropes course adventure as i had not done one in such a long time!  this was also going to be a great chance to spend time with krista in addition to debbie, daniel, danny and al who happen to also be on the trip! we got into port and off we went! the drive up the mountainside was stunning!
i was thinking about just hanging out at the beautiful beaches, but because i did not have time to research it, i thought the 2nd half at the most famous beach would fulfill my hanging out needs along with getting into the beautiful water! little did i know that the ropes course was going to be so grueling that the 2nd half was the best part!

once we got to the park, it became clear that this was going to be a sweltering adventure with mosquitos waiting for us in the jungle! counting my blessings that i had been doing my P90X, i slathered on as much deet as i possibly could along with my sunscreen, the put on our harnesses and off we went! i wanted to be towards the front as the group was large, so krista and i jumped in the front and started crossing these slated bridges!


at first i was feeling pretty competent and keeping up with the students in front of me and behind, but when we got to the fork in the path and the sign said "advanced only", i decided to go for it! and go for it is was!

the trail went straight up through the jungle with mosquitos starting to gather on my legs. fortunately i had my camelback with me and i just kept drinking water and breathing my way through the ropes course. i was pretty proud of myself keeping up with the 20 and 30 year young folks until after the short zip line part of the course!

in that moment it became clear that i was in no way needing to impress anyone and i walked down the hill and watched and took pictures of the rest of the "monkeys" doing their thing!

we got back down to the little lodge at the end of the 7 ropes course and several folks had not even attempted the course part, so i was feeling pretty good about my little feat! we had an interesting chicken curry , beans and rice that was brought up for us along with some water and cokes and we wasted no time drinking and eating our bodies back to normal!

we could not get to the beach soon enough as we all jumped into the soothing water and floated around. i fell asleep for awhile on the beach and when i woke up it was time to head back to the ship.

we grabbed an ice cream from a store front and got on the bus. as it turned out, there was one student who decided to meet up with some friends from another trip and ended up getting drunk on the other bus, which al had to deal with! it turned out to be a very serious affair and the student was driven to the emergency room and left there with an adult due to the severity of his choice! al was amazing and probably kept the student alive~the rest of their bus was pretty shaken from the ordeal and for the first time, i was in shear fear that we actually might lose a student to his choice to over drink~the hard part for me was the fact that this student was in front of me during the entire ropes course, having very normal conversations with me and a fellow student!!

we arrived back to the ship with many folks returning about the same time~many of which also choose to drink themselves into an altered state and needing attention! i ended up helping the res life team that night due to the large numbers of student choosing to drink too much and unfortunately left many of us upset and a bit distraught about people's choices! the next 6 days will be an interesting time~as it has become clear that the community needs to have a conversation before our arrival in Singapore and for the rest of the voyage!

i also know that this will be a busy time for our team as well~really needing to get our gear in action to be ready for the quick rest of the voyage! once we hit vietnam, there would only be 2 days here and there until our final stretch home!

so i await for the response...of hoping the student makes it, of how the rest of the community will respond and if our community will come together to turn this around at the 1/2 way point of the voyage!

Authentic Connections~committed to a world where peace, passion and love are present for everyone ​as they transition gracefully from one chapter of their lives to the next. 

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"Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -- but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor." - Oliver Wendell Holmes