Chilling in Mauritius, the Last True Paradise

This article is part of our VICE Weekends summer series, presented by Weis

Around the mountainous island of Mauritius, there's water that has this impossible shade of blue. On the island of Mauritius, there are 15,000 more women than there are men. In 1896, Mark Twain quoted a local as saying "Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and heaven was copied after Mauritius." Until I'd witnessed its paradise, I mocked the Lonely Planet writers who brought that up. But this little peak of earth, hanging out between Australia and Madagascar, is heaven, paradise, something less cliché.

Through a happily-received stroke of luck, I found myself hanging out at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport waiting for someone else's ride to take me to a bed on the south end of the island. Top to bottom it's only 65km, but it takes ages to get from point A to point B. Little roads are all you've got, you'll want to ride a scooter on them if you're adventurous, and they wind through villages whose people have an unparalleled gift for painting their buildings in unimaginable colour schemes. But when you hit that coastline, blue is all you're going to see.

Most everything you do here should be in the water, or within inches. Go snorkeling every day and make friends with these idiot trumpet fish who look uncomfortably stiff as they line up next to each other, bobbing with the current. Take a sailing lesson and unleash that inner Seth Cohen. Sink tins on a Katamaran. Take sly photos of other people's holiday looks. Pick up a coconut and drink its magic. Bare witness to tourists engaging in a foam party.

For food, sample their rare combination of cuisine that comes from their impressive multiculturalism. And seafood, obviously, because you can just casually eat a lobster someone's grilling on the beach. I was recommended smoked mackerel and palm hearts, it definitely wasn't a bum steer. Also really enjoyed putting ice in rosé.

After that, all you're really required to do is chill.

This article is presented by Weis