We went out to a friend’s housewarming party last night. The cats are obviously not happy about our absence. We arrived home to find two very angry-looking cats waiting for us at the top of the stairs.

It’s bizarre. I’ve never seen them do anything like it. Normally they can’t be bothered coming to greet me at all. Occasionally, one might be just curious enough to pop her head around the door when I come in. But this was like being met by the Spanish inquisition.

I drew the line when they tried to ground me for being out too late.

Today’s Anne-Laure’s birthday, so at the last minute we expanded our dinner-for-two to a dinner-for-three. I even managed to put together a cake…

One of my favourite parts about having a large circle of French friends is the endless opportunities for taking the mickey… Seriously, making fun of the French is like shooting fish in a barrel. French military victories, anyone?

If you look carefully, you’ll notice the Frogs on the cake. They’re especially for Anne-Laure.

Call it a guess, but I think she’s wishing for a tall, dark, handsome Gemini. Oh, who are we kidding. Everyone’s tall to Anne-Laure. She’d settle for dark & handsome!

Today was diving day. Some of it intentional. Some of it unintentional.

It took some doing, but after enough persistence I finally managed to convince Aude that she should give diving another go. We were up and in the pool at 8am for her briefing session. We did two dives, the first to about 20m for 40 minutes, the second to about 17m for 35 minutes.

There isn’t nearly as much aquatic life here as there was in Thailand, but it was still a good experience. Aude managed to ‘tickle’ a 4′ ray, and we played underwater volleyball with a puffer fish!

It was pouring with rain when we surfaced between dives, and the water was definitely on the cold side, even with a full wetsuit. I’ve been spoiled by diving in Thailand, where the water is as warm as bathwater.

After lunch, we stayed on the beach for a while. You’ll notice in the photograph below that I’m sailing a boat alone…

We started out sailing together, but after I managed to flip the boat and dump us both in the water, Aude suggested that I might be better off sailing alone!

The flight was long but not too painful. We arrived in Mauritius around 5:30am to a completely deserted airport, and to an overcast sky with occasional rainshowers. Not quite the tropical paradise I was hoping for.

Immigration was quick and easy, and we grabbed a cab to our hotel, about an hour away.

They’re obviously used to the airline timetables, because they were able to put us straight into our rooms despite arriving at 6:30. We went to bed and grabbed a few hours of shut-eye before starting our day. The skies had cleared and we woke to pure blue skies, bright sunshine, and azure waters. It turned out that this would be the pattern for our trip — the weather in the region is very changeable, but seldom rainy for very long.

We stayed at the Voile D’Or hotel, a new resort built about a year ago.

Our room at the Voile D’Or hotel

I was a little worried by the half-board basis offered by most of the hotels in Mauritius. My first thoughts were of budget holidays and the ‘Holidays from Hell’ shows on TV, with cheap, uninteresting food designed for the rather uninspired British palate. I was very pleasantly surprised by the very high-quality, imaginative food at the resort — and those of you who know me well know that I take my food seriously.

Tomorrow morning – diving!

Well, it’s finally time for a well-earned vacation. We’re off to Mauritius and the Reunion Islands for ten days, flying Air France via Paris. I’ve finally got an excuse to use all of those frequent flyer miles I’ve been saving up.

We travelled to London on Thursday evening, and stayed at an airport hotel since our flight left early on Friday morning. London was grey, cloudy, and cold when we left. Some people might complain, but I secretly love to leave London when it’s grey, cloudy, and cold — it reminds me of the good weather that awaits me on vacation. There doesn’t seem much point in leaving someplace warm and sunny.

Our flight to CDG was uneventful. CDG itself is a bit of a confusing mess, and once there, there’s not really much to do. So I passed the time taking a few photos…

Our AF 747 waiting at CDG Airport, Paris

More important than where we were, though, is where we were headed.

The French could learn a thing or two about forming an orderly queue from the British. None of this ‘boarding by zone’ that you get in the UK or US. No, it was an ‘every-man-for-himself’ fight for the door. How civilised.

Nevermind, we found our way onboard and had a glass of champagne. The holiday has officially started!

Sitting comfortably!

I’ve set up a whereabouts board HERE for anyone displaced who wants to input temporary contact details.