World Cruise--Sadness At Sea

Port Louis on the island of Mauritius had been quite an experience for us. We’d toured the island before so we decided to use our time to explore the mall area where the cruise shuttle would drop us off. There was absolutely nothing right at the pier except lots of containers and huge oil storage tanks.

Speaking of the refinery, the bunker that pulled up next to our ship to refuel us was the largest we’d ever seen. It was almost half the length of our huge ship. Guess after five days at sea it took that much to fill the tanks.

The mall had lots of shops but our main goal was haircuts for the two of us and getting my nails done. We found a nail salon easily enough and made an appointment to return however when I did, I asked if they took credit cards and the answer was no, cash only. Disappointed, I walked away. I wasn’t going to get Mauritius currency just for that.

The hair salon we found was great and took credit cards. Bob got one of the best haircuts ever and by the time I was done with my appointment, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. It was going on one o’clock and the temperature was rising. I might have soldiered on but I was fighting a head cold and running out of energy. We found our way to the shuttle pick up and returned to the ship. After hearing of the delays later in the day for people returning, we were glad we came back earlier.

We went back to the ship and watched the afternoon cultural show a local group performed for us before dinner. Dinner was at the sushi bar on board and was delicious. It was ala carte and we had to meet a minimum which we did with no problem.

I awoke the next day and was feeling much better. I’d slept well and was up early enough to catch the sunrise which turned out to be spectacular. After attending the port talk on Cape Town where we would be in another week, I took a little walk around the promenade deck and decided I was feeling good enough for some pickleball.

The weather was perfect, warm but not hot, little wind. I enjoyed a couple of games and then went back to our room. It was there that my phone vibrated with a message. As long as the phone is connected to the ship’s WiFi I can receive text messages.

My morning crashed. The message was from my sister-in-law, Carol. My brother had passed away suddenly several hours ago, probably as I was watching that glorious sunrise. And so after many tears shed with a video call from the ship to Carol, we sail on. Too many sea days and not a good way home from here. There will be time for more tears later but once home, there can be some real hugs and sharing in person. 

Life happens no matter where in the world you are.