As we entered the harbor we were greeted with another volcanic island. This one was older than the last. The volcanoes long dormant. The mountains and ridges, though weathered, still remain. It is not possible to hike into the beautiful foliage covered hills in the short time we have here. We chose, instead to visit town.
Usually when we go ashore, we go down to the A deck of the ship. There we show our room key, they scan it and we either go on to the dock, or board a tender (the life boats that are used to bring us to shore when the ship cannot dock). Depending on which side of the ship the dock or tender is, that is the side that we are directed to. Either starboard (right as you face the front of the ship) or port (obviously the other side).
This time when we got to A deck, both sides of the ship were open for us to use to disembark. On one side was the dock. We chose to go that way. We found nothing but a couple of taxis that didn’t look inviting. So, we reentered the ship. They scanned our room key again (as they always do to show we returned to the ship). Then we tried the other door.
There we found a “water taxi”.
This is the parking lot for water taxis.
We boarded the taxi and away we went. We paid our $2 each and expected to go right to the port area, which looked kind of interesting. But, unlike a tenders we use, these are local taxis. They stop wherever passengers need to get off and wherever there are passengers to pick up.
We, on the Amsterdam, are lucky. They picked us up right at the ship. These people in the next pictures were on a cruise ship called Discovery. They had to board the taxi from the dock.
This is someone getting off another taxi.
Here is how they had to board the taxi. There is a metal ladder that they needed to climb down.
As you can see, the passengers on the Discovery are no spring chickens, either.
She made it on OK.
Then we continued on toward the port area. We made another stop at this fishing vessel.
They did not have a ladder to climb down. They had to somehow climb down the bolsters the ship uses to keep from hitting a pier.
They also successfully made the transfer.
When we got to the port area, we took a walk around. In order to cross the very busy street outside the port area we found an underpass. Very clean with shops.
Walking around the area we found tons of outdoor markets. They were selling things for locals, not tourists. Many things, including food, were laid out on cloths on the street.
This is what the streets near the port of Port Louis look like.
This is a composite picture of a very old mosque. We were not able to enter it.
In the port area there are many craft shops and even a separate crafts market.
Not sure if you will be able to see these panoramic view. (see we learned something new in computer class)
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