Backdate: Mauritius Jun 2023 Day 5

10/6/23 Sat: PotaTOHs woke up at 5am and drove out to Tamarin Bay for our 2.5h sea kayaking adventure with Lokal Adventure (S$116.15 for two pax) that would start at 6am. We arrived at about 5.55am and saw the guides in pink vests. Had to carry the heavy kayaks to the beach haha. *There was a cute stray dog that ran over and "accompanied" us before we kayaked.* 

Anne, our French instructor who'd been living in Mauritius for 20 years by then, briefed us before we hopped onto the kayaks. *Damn I was still having menses that day...* There were five of us in the group, with two others a French couple and one solo German guy. It was very peaceful and quiet in the morning as we paddled towards the middle of the ocean, where sky broke in no time...

In that one hour we were at sea, Anne told us a school of dolphin would come to Tamarin Bay from either the Black River or Flic en Flac area to rest and mate in the west daily. Anne said what we saw were the Spinner dolphins as they tend to be in larger groups than the Bottlenose dolphins.

Other tour group bring kayaks began appearing at later times as well as speedboats chasing dolphins came, but Anne wasn't a fan of that. She liked everyone to keep a distance with these wild animals and not disturb them too much... a stand I agree with, so we headed to the Tamarin River soon.

It was another beautiful sight over there...

We parked our kayaks under a tree and it drizzled. Anne prepared breakfast for us~ passionfruit, apple and cucumber mix, Bhaja with chickpeas and coconut and nutella puri. The two fried ones made delicious breakfast!

Walked up the shore at about 8.30am and Anne sent us lots of photos on the spot! PotaTOHs headed back to our Airbnb for a shower and Potato made breakfast for all of us.

We drove over to Champ de Mars racecourse at 10.30am and Port Louis was busy, even on a Saturday. A staff of Preetam, the trainer Mike introduced me to, guided us to drive into their stable and park our car there. *Potato brushed the front corner of the car with the wall a bit I think.* 

We went upstairs and saw Sachin and his wife, before Preetam came over as well. Preetam told us there had a reserved table for us at the owners' area where we could get up closer to the horses as they parade and do their unsaddling after races nearby, so we rushed over before the rails "close". It happens every time a race was about to start.

It was quite crowded at the area and we ordered some drinks, not knowing Preetam they all had a "room" at the grandstand building where there were snacks and drinks lol. I also began to feel cold for no reason and a bit unwell there. *Who knew Preetam's first horse Hardfallinrain returned a winner! We should have been up in the room earlier to get tips and bet on him haha.* 

We went up to Preetam's box after that, enjoyed the snacks and chatted with Sachin and his wife for a bit. I took a bet with Seattle Kid buying WIN and PLACE and he ran second~ I won rs570 for the rs300 place bet on him, but I still made a loss after all because he did not win. *Potato also betted on the Cup race we watched before we left to join in the fun, but a pity the horse came in fourth.* Nonetheless, we enjoyed a good four hours there, thanks to their warm hospitality. We stayed till about 3.30pm... and his runner in the next race was a winner again aish!

Then, we drove over to Port Louis Central Market, where we only spent about half an hour walking around because it was so packed, and then to Coudan Waterfront Shopping Centre area. My thighs were still aching badly and with the slight fever I was running, I didn't have much of a mood to shop.

Saw the metro and beautiful sea. WL and WS went to queue for Churros at one point while Potato and I sat at a fountain by the side. *I was almost running a fever by then... most probably because I did not sleep enough yesterday. Plus my achy thighs? Had to skip hiking Le Pouce the next morning!*

I remember dozing off on the drive back home. They stopped at Cascavelle shopping centre to get ti-puri and pizza for our dinner. By the time we got home at 7pm, I ate a bit, popped a panadol and slept not long after...