13 days at sea… that’s how long it took us to sail from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India. Which in the grand scheme of things doesn’t seem too bad, but when you live on a ship for an entire semester you start to crave days where you see land.

The two weeks spent at sea were luckily split up by a single day in Mauritius; a tiny island off the coast of Africa. While I was excited to get off the ship on October 19, I hadn’t really expected much from a single day in a port. Little did I know, Mauritius would turn out to be one of my favorite stops during the semester-long experience.

Before leaving for SAS, I browsed the field program portal to ensure that I would get the best experience. I ended up choosing a program called ‘South East Island Exploration’ for $130. Per the rules of Semester at Sea, when we have a single day in a country for a fuel stop (Mauritius/Hawaii), we must sign up for a field program in order to get off the ship. 

I remember stepping off of the MV World Odyssey and being in complete awe of Mauritius; I felt like I was in paradise. Not only were we greeted by the kindest people I have met, everyone seemed genuinely excited and proud to show us their country. Mauritius is the most diverse place that I have been thus far: the different foods, religions, cultures, people all merge together to create an atmosphere that is so incredibly beautiful… I really don’t have words to describe it.

My group for the Southeast Island Exploration started the day by boarding a bus that took us to a small beach where we boarded several speed boats. Our tour guide Rodger boated us around all day blasting the most amazing playlist- somewhere between reggae, US top hits, and catchy island remixes. I got lost in the clearness of the water and how the colors would change from a deep blue to turquoise in a matter of seconds. 

Our first stop was a famous island called Fouquet Island which had a lighthouse located on it. The lighthouse itself is a historical monument and is said to date back to the Napoleonic period, where it served as a major point of maritime surveillance. 

Next we parked the boat and swam around- it was so much fun because both the students and professors were laughing and jumping off of the boats. I really didn’t know most of the students before going, but I found the cool thing about doing the program was I met a bunch of new people and later in the voyage saw familiar faces passing in the halls.

I was able to cross off yet another experience on my bucket list when we made our way over to the coral reefs… snorkeling. In my head I pictured myself gracefully swimming through the water… There were only two problems with this vision: 1. I’m a terrible swimmer 2. I choked on water about 50 times because I would see a fish, get super excited, and then proceed to fill my snorkel with water.

During my time on SAS I kept a very personal and detailed journal of all of my experiences, I wrote, “It was one of the most amazing experiences that I have had in my life. I couldn’t stop staring at schools of fish and all of the beauty the ocean has to offer.” I have since been snorkeling in Hawaii and Key West and nothing has even been comparable to my experience in Mauritius. 

Overall the day was pretty jam-packed, but I was grateful for everything that I was able to experience. We eventually made our way to an area of freshwater. It was so cool getting to see the bright blue water turn to brown where the saltwater met the freshwater. We observed the Grand River South East Waterfall and all of its surrounding beauty; including monkeys that were swinging from rock to rock keeping a close eye on all of the tourists.

Once we all dried off and made our way to an island, a literal feast was being prepared for us. Everyone gathered around the tables to discuss how lucky we are and how much we enjoyed our day. We were quickly surprised by live music by a local guitar player, he had the most angelic voice. At that moment, 30 of us students surrounded each other singing and dancing to the song “what a wonderful world”. I don’t think much more needs to be said, except, that it’s magical how much one day can make such a large impact on your life.

PRO TIP FOR FUTURE SASERS: I can’t stress enough how important it is to research your field programs and really decide which one is the best. They’re often pretty pricey and if you’re on a budget like I was, every little amount matters. Upon arriving back to the ship, my field program group was beyond happy, but not everyone shared the same attitude. A lot of people seemed disappointed by their program or had higher expectations- this seemed to be a common theme in other countries as well (I had phenomenal experiences in each of my field programs in every country- I believe I owe this to the research I did and looking into what other SASers recommended from the past). Up until this point every organized experience I had was a field class (1 mandatory for each academic class). Honestly my only complaint that day was the amount of sunburn I got… and well, that was my own fault.