Over the next few days I invite you to read the pages from our travel journal. If you missed Day 1 read here. If you missed Day 2 read here.

Day 3 Saturday 26 November 201:

I woke up first. This is a very rare thing. Surprisingly Greg was still fast asleep. What a gorgeous day it is. The wind is relentless on the East coast, but it’s not unbearable and I now understand why. When it dies down, the heat and humidity that hits is stifling. I don’t think I’ll complain about the strong breeze anymore.

Fruit, eggs, bacon and my vanilla tea later, we needed to be at the boat house at 10am. Today we were going to do something unique. Undersea walking. We lay in the sun a bit, waiting for the boat to arrive. We didn’t wait long and soon we were speeding off to another boat anchored, just before the Break waters. We climbed on board the new boat and discovered a square hole in the middle of the boat. This was where we would enter the ocean from.

The man explained the process and some nerves mixed with excitement washed over me. I had to remember the signals. Giving a thumbs up did not mean I was “OK” or “Good” … it meant I wanted to return to the surface. Right. Good to know. We put our sea shoes on to protect our feet from the coral/urchins and then got into the water via a ladder from the hole in the middle of the boat…and once my neck was above the water, a 40kg bubble/astronaut type helmet was put onto my shoulders, I submerged into the water.

Those 40kgs become almost weightless. What a beautiful world we have underwater. Everything was crystal clear and there were fish everywhere. We had a mini photo shoot and video made of us dancing underwater and then the instructor gave us a handful of bread. Suddenly the fish went beserk and you could feel their tiny nibbles – like little sucking feelings. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel the fish against my body at all. Amazing, surreal and magical.

We finally got to the surface and another speed boat had parked next to our boat. They were there to fetch Greg and I for Para-sailing. We climbed into the new boat and it felt all very James Bond-like.

I’ll leave this up to Greg to explain…

We unapologetically “boat hopped” to the awaiting boat, filled with a numerous group from England, complete “wif all the pommie accents, yeah!”

After a short, speed packed ride (and after “disembarking” a crew member on shore to appease the coast guard), a floating deck loomed into view. This, we were to figure out, would serve as our “Launch pad/aircraft carrier deck.” 2 tandems before us and it looked fantastic. We just hadn’t realized HOW amazing an experience lay in wait. Kitted in a life jacket and sitting harness strapped to a big colourful parachute and attached to a 200HP speedboat driven by an enthusiastic Mauritian, you are suddenly out of control. The moment the slack is up on the rope, you are lifted heavenwards on a gentle pillow of air rising and are elevated to a birds eye view. You can see forever, resort after resort nestled along white shores, bathed by the turquoise and blue ocean, showing off it’s impressive coral formations. You glide effortlessly talking, pointing, laughing… Bai and I even managed to sneak in an upside down kiss.

At one point you are ceremoniously dunked into the azure sea. Bailey was first in and drew a startling resemblance to a vanilla tea bag being immersed into water. The Vanilla Blonde flavoured the Indian Ocean just there. We then came in on a carrier landing, me pulling the strings to steer us in… I’m very glad I went against listening to the Mauritians, who told us not to take our camera with in case it got wet. I now have the most gorgeous photos from the heavens. I’m blessed to have shared this with my Bai.

We headed back and indulged in some more Vitamin D on the beach and decided to skip lunch. We were peckish, but not hungry enough for a lunch, so I ordered a bowl of chips (pommes frites) with vanilla rum and coke and that was delivered onto the beach for us. Brats.

Greg decided to wind sail and set out for the horizon…um, the break waters. It looked like amazing fun, but I wanted to bronze myself horizontally.

Greg had more ants in his pants and went off to wake board. He climbed onto a speed boat and off he sped to another bay – better for wake boarding. I was hoping he’d be back soon because we were scheduled to hop on a glass bottom boat and then snorkel out far. There was no sign of him as the boat arrived. I was just giving up on the idea when I heard “Excuse me ma’am” from behind me. Greg had run all the way back –  10 min run through the pine forest to get back in time. The wake boarders had dropped him off because there were so many on the boat all wanting their turn. Very happy he did. I appreciate the effort and his not wanting to let me down.

We grabbed our snorkeling gear and got onto the glass bottom boat. OK, it’s more like a rectangular glass window. It’s quite amazing to see the incredible structures. Some coral is beautifully formed and some is broken…like brittle bones – a coral graveyard.

We headed out to just before the Break waters again, dropped anchor, put our gear on and dropped into the sea. We explored this wonderful undersea world I know so little about it, but respect so greatly. We saw Angel fish, pipe fish, box fish, puffers, a moray eel, a frog fish, a mean looking red sea urchin, sea cucumbers, sea snake and I just loved how peaceful it was. If it weren’t for me getting cold and my fingers pruning so much they hurt, I would have stayed in longer. A trip back to the shore and the salt crystallizing on our skin, we headed back to the pool area. Awesome lounge/acid jazz music played while we enjoyed vanilla tea and scones. We swam in the bath like pool, tried out the Jacuzzi and chatted about the day. I am so blissfully happy and blessed.

We decided to head back, chill out, write the journal together, read, shower and got ready for dinner.

We had dinner at Le Marche buffet. No matter what dish you try, it is always tasty. As for the dessert section? 3 letters. OMG. I had to try it all… in the name of research, of course!

We headed to The Shore Bar for a drink. A band and singers performed and then in the middle of the Piazza the Mauritian dancers did a fusion of dances for us. Really incredible.

Bed time followed afterwards… I’m very excited for our itinerary tomorrow. I will be crossing off something on my Bucket List and I can’t even begin to contain my excitement.

1. Don’t forget to call World Leisure Holidays now on 0860 954 954 to book your trip. Their website is www.wlh.co.za