The third stop on our Monday adventure was one of the best. I got in the van, fell asleep somewhere between the rolling hills, and woke up on the southern coast of the island. WOW. (When everyone says the south has the most gorgeous beaches, they are not messin' around.) I was looking out at the Indian Ocean in a way I had never seen it before. Instead of the calm lagoon waters I've experienced in the North, I saw a raging, powerful ocean throwing strong, spectacular waves against massive boulders that stretched along the coast. The wind was blowing fiercely and the air was swirling with all the good smells of the seaside--salt, fish, and and an almost-stinging freshness. Yes!

Karen, Berton, and Sonnu went to a small gazebo to eat lunch. I went with Gina and a few others to the edge of the rocky ledge from which we were watching the ocean below. BJ and Sabrina walked down a giant concrete staircase to the beach and I enjoyed watching them as little dots on the white sand, moving together and eventually getting hit by a few waves. (It was hilarious, actually. The waves were unexpectedly aggressive and soaked Sabrina, who was walking peacefully along the water's edge.) Lexy was wearing a sundress that was blowing up wildly … it was like the Marilyn wind/dress photo. Super funny. I soon walked down onto the beach. It was amazing how fast the tide would come in … definitely the most aggressive beach I've ever visited. Karen says it's because we were right on the Southern coast where the beaches aren't protected by coral reefs or lagoons. Instead, it's like legit ocean. (Allegedly sharks and dolphins swim pretty nearby.) My walk on the beach was lovely … so many shells and little creatures hiding in the sand. I walked back with Ben, who was collecting shells. I was content to just let my feet sink into the sand, and to become hyper aware of the magnificent wind blowing off the ocean onto my face. It seems there was something there for everyone. :)

Our final stop was a popular tourist destination called Blue Bay. It was much smaller than the previous beach and entirely different (Blue Bay is a calm lagoon featuring one of Mauritius's most famous coral reefs.) It was most populated beach I've visited here so far… countless European tourists dotted the beach in their funny European swimsuits. By now the sun was beginning to set, and everything was glowing. I watched one man go snorkeling. He almost tripped into the water, and I laughed out loud. We all laid out on the beach watching everything and eating spicy pineapple. Austin and BJ got in the water. The whole experience was topped off, however, when Karen convinced us to take a ride on the "Glass Bottom Boats."

After each paying about 60 rupees (two dollars), we boarded a boat from a dock stretching into the bay. The boat was small with three windows on the floor, allowing us to sit on the side benches and see into the ocean below us. (REALLY REALLY COOL.) I thought it would just be a pretty traditional boat ride around the bay, with the additional bonus of seeing the blue water beneath us. I was so, so wrong. Instead, we got to see in vivid color the extensive and utterly STUNNING coral reef that stretched far out into the bay's waters. We could literally look down and see Nemo's world … gigantic, glorious coral structures and brilliant, exotic fish swimming all around. The coral was unlike anything I'd ever seen (I've never even been snorkeling before, though I've always wanted to.) They are literally just massive and crazy structures that cover the entire ocean floor. Fish of all sorts would swim by--blowfish, catfish, lion fish, orange fish, yellow fish, black fish, a sword fish! And it was all so natural… like an episode of Planet Earth, not the sort of artificial display found in aquariums. We saw crazy coral that looked like scaled down mountain ranges. We saw coral that looked like giant gobs of slimy tentacles. We even saw something called the "Brain Coral," a gigantic white igloo-shaped structure with the surface texture of a human brain. The water was a super-saturated turquoise+aqua-blue. I was totally blown away … an entire WORLD was beneath me. And without those silly windows, I never would have known. I could look up and out of the boat and see just a normal ocean. But below… below was something far more extraordinary. Obviously I got all analytical … how many things in life are just like this coral reef? How many people do I know who have an entire world within them that I've never seen? How many places do I visit that have cultural elements of which I am completely oblivious? How many human relationships have only actualized the bare surface of the colorful worlds they could be? I think one of my goals in life, in all situations, is to always seek out the coral reef.

We eventually left just as the sun was setting. We headed toward Mauritius's single freeway back up to the North (and hour and a half drive.) I rolled the window down to stick my head out and watch the golden sun setting against the waving fields of cane. As things got dark, I turned on Regina Spektor's album "Far." It's been entirely too long since I've listened to it, and its songs encapsulated perfectly the state in which I was floating. As the sky got dark, I drifted to sleep. Full.

In all of the best ways, I felt full.