Ile aux Cerfs

Today I went to Ile aux Cerfs again after a very long time and things have changed a lot since I last went there some 15 years ago.

We started our trip in Trou d’eau Douce at around 10:00. A boat swiftly took us to Ile aux Cerfs where a guy there explained how our day was going to unfold: a short visit of the island for now, at 11:00 a trip to the Waterfall of Grande Riviere Sud Est and then lunch on a nearby island and finally back to ile aux cerfs at around 2:30 to 4:30 where we can relax.

 

Ile aux Cerfs
It’s like a small town – lots of people everywhere. However, there a nice, but shallow, lagoon with crystal clear water near the jetty. It’s nice to walk around and be like a “tourist” strolling in its warm water – we even saw a starfish there! For a swim, it’s better to go round the island and look for a better spot. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to visit more of the island … spending just 1 hour there, like I did, you won’t be able to see much!

Waterfall of Grande Riviere Sud Est
We took a speed boat from Ile aux Cerfs to the waterfall and that was nice! You travel hair in the wind to see the waterfall. The latter is nice and you get to come real close to it.

After lunch on an island nearby, we went back to ile aux Cerfs for a while before hurriedly going on a glass bottom boat…

 

Glass Bottom Boat
If you want to know honestly what I feel about that: It’s a rip-off!!!

When we first landed on Ile aux Cerfs, we inquired with a guy about possibilities of snorkelling and the latter proposed us a trip on a glass-bottom boat for Rs 300 per person (never ever accept that; it’s a bloody rip off). After some haggling, the price was brought down to Rs 200 per person (it’s a rip-off but we didn’t know at that time) and we agreed as the guy would take us back to the mainland as well.

But guess what, we were squeezed in a small boat whose engine was struggling, and complaining loudly, to ferry us to the … “corals”. The latter are scanty on the east coast and most that we saw were darkish (luckily they showed signs of being alive; their tips were blue) and we were overjoyed, excited, euphoric, thrilled (you bet we were, we paid Rs 200 for that crap) at each rare tiny fish that we saw. In sum, we ended up spending one and a half hour crammed up like sardines in a tiny boat. I got so fed that I even started talking about work on a day off. God, just how low can you get??? 

It might have been fun for those who dived to the fish but if you plan to just see the lagoon in the glass bottom boat, well don’t. You want to see fish, go to the Mauritius Aquarium instead! (I won’t even dare comparing it to the Marine Park in Blue Bay)

In sum, ile aux Cerfs is nice but by all means, prefer a speed boat all the time.