Parasailing in Mauritius

I along with my three school friends, Anshu, Sonu and Shweta, went on fun trip to Mauritius. Our South Mauritius tour was pre-booked but we picked the individual activities after we arrived. I never imagined parasailing in Mauritius was going to be so much fun!

Two of my friends did everything that was available on the South tour, while Anshu and I decided to give helmet diving a miss. I did helmet diving in Boracay, Philippines and I was not too keen to do it again! I opted for Parasailing and Waterfall trip and I was happy with my selection. I also gave the bumpy boat ride a miss which all three of my friends opted for!

I have gone parasailing before in exotic locations, even my kids have done it. For me it was quite an experience to go parasailing both in Boracay and Goa. However, on the last two occasions it was the kind of the boat where you took off from the boat and landed back on the boat, doing nothing in the meanwhile, except enjoying the experience! Not so in Mauritius.

To begin with, the rains gods were undecided. They lashed their fury for a while, we took shelter under a piece of canvas on the wooden platform. All activities were temporarily suspended. But then the gods changed their minds and the rains stopped.

In Mauritius we were going up in pairs. Anshu and Sonu went together; I went with Shweta! But here you took off from a platform and landed back on it by yourself, all you needed was to follow the ground staff’s instructions and pull correctly on the strings. Sounds simple, right?Well, we shall see.

My friends went off first. After taking a round in the beautiful surroundings they made a perfect landing. Now it was our turn. I was the one who was going to pull down the strings to land. The ground staff told me as I was responsible for landing I could not carry the GoPro. I gave it to my friends on the ground.

Soon, we were up in the air! I did try to enjoy the view but the landing was preying on my mind. What if I could not do it properly? The boat which pulled us, gave us the customary dip in the sea water and soon it was time to land.

I was all concentration to follow the instructions of the ground crew. When they asked me to tug left, I did so. When they asked me to tug right I followed it as if my life depended on it! Then they asked me to pull right again and I could see they wanted me to pull more, so I used both my hands to pull right and soon we were there taking a tumble on the terra firma! Yes we did take a tumble at the landing but we were not hurt, in fact we were giggling.  That is what adrenaline does to you I suppose?

I asked one of the instructors later “what is the worst landing that you have seen?” He said normally nothing happens but sometimes people miss the wooden platform and land in the sea and we need to pull them back. Everyone wears a life jacket so that is the worst that can happen to you!

We went to visit the  Grand River South-East Waterfalls next. We were not as close to the waterfall as it looks in the picture but it is fun. We returned to the back to parasailing platform to drop someone from our boat. And then I saw it, a couple landing in the water right in front of our eyes! The instructor spotted me and gave me an eye contact, gesturing “now you see?”

As we headed out to Ile Aux Cerfs to enjoy our lunch and relax by the beach, the task of getting the people out of the water was underway. I thanked my lucky stars that it was not us, after all we only took a tumble on the platform! And that ladies and gentlemen sums up our experience of parasailing in Mauritius!

What follows below is the guest post by my friend Anshu! I have known her and everyone else on this trip since Kindergarten (KG)! After much back and forth we decided to go to Mauritius. The biggest factor in their favor was no visa requirements for Indian nationals! After my Prague visa experience, I wanted an easy destination! But I digress, over to my friend Anshu writing about our Mauritius trip! You will get to read my version soon!

Travelling with school friends is always special. Mridula, Shweta, Sonu and me (Anshu) are friends since kindergarten who meet once a year some place in India but decided to take our summer break in Mauritius this year. We were super excited. It was Shweta and Sonu’s second visit abroad, mine third, and Mridula’s twenty-fifth (yes you read it right – 25th) but her enthusiasm was no less than ours. Understandably so, Mridula being a travel blogger who is quite sought after [It is me Mridula again, see how favorably your school friends view you!]

We spent six days in Mauritius and what memorable six days they were. Time just flew by. Mauritius is blessed with beautiful beaches and lovely cheerful people who greeted us with warmth and made our stay very comfortable and enjoyable.

I experienced para-sailing, snorkeling, and zip lining for the very first time and all of them were great fun. We got to see star fish from close up for the first time.

South Island tour was an amazing experience and anyone visiting Mauritius must not give it a miss. Food was a bit disappointing, especially for vegetarians, but Mridula – the veteran traveler – explained that getting vegetarian food of the kind our pallets are accustomed to is rare when abroad.

Anyway, the best part of the tour was the opportunity to spend time with childhood friends, everything else was just the icing on that cake.

When we went on a family vacation, parasailing for kids in Goa was never on the agenda. But they managed to put it there soon and were done with it too!

We finally managed to take a family vacation to South Goa this November. We all travel a lot, my husband does, so do I! Chhavi travels with both of us! But we three rarely get a chance to go together!

But this time we were a big group. Seshadri and I were there, so were double trouble– Chhavi and my niece Vasu. Seshadri’s parents were there. And one of Seshadri’s college friend joined us too. So in all we were 7 people staying in a serviced apartment in Goa.

Still one evening it was only the kids and me chilling at the Fatrade Beach. Everyone else was tired and taking their siesta. Double trouble asked me if they could go parasailing. I told them to go and inquire about it. If the experts allowed them I would think about it.

The place was about 50 meters from the shack which we used to frequent. I thought the girls will not go on their own to ask! But off they went without giving me a backward glance!

They came running back to say they would be allowed and it 2400 rupees for two people. However, at that moment due to lack of customers, the parasailing was halted temporarily. I knew that. But they thought it had stop for the day. I didn’t correct them.

So, they went back to the beach again. However, in a while the parasailing guys got another customer and it went up in the air. They came running with excitement shouting, “lets go, lets go!”

I got up thinking I will talk to the guys and see if they were really allowed. I was still finding it hard to believe that they would take two small children up in the sky! But they told me as well, that it was not a problem at all.

Out came two small life jackets for kids. The girls are eight and ten. There was no other adult from my family on the beach. The decision to let them go was entirely mine. Truth be told I was scared but I did not want to hold them back! Tintin was equally surprised at what I was doing!

But my heart was almost in my mouth. I, for a second, thought of the consequences of something going wrong but then I had seen the sail go up so many times the same day. There was an instructor with them. He went on all the sails.

And within no time they were soaring up in the sky. They must have remained up in the air for just a little more than a minute. And yet it felt like an eternity.

Here is a short video of their adventure. I stopped mid-way because the guys handling the activity wanted me out of the way of the ropes.

As they came back to terra firma, I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. They were busy, chattering with each-other. And of course, they wanted to do it again!