Sand, Surf and SCUBA

Germans who go topless on a non-nudist beach, a Hindu elder selling pineapples for photos and a lanky Brit with wild frizzy white hair. His name - "Capt. Cock". I'm not kidding! Rainbow diversity welcomes me to the creole/french Isle de Mauritius today. First up, a 30 minute dive 80 feet under to an abandoned shipwreck. Capt. Cock doesn't seem to care that I forgot my certification card or that our taxi driver is 30 minutes late. His boys fit me with a BCD, regulator, snorkel and fins. We're off to dive to a submerged hull that attracts tropical fish by the throngs. I'm so distracted by the powder-soft coral beaches, I don my wetsuit backward and forget my weight belt. This lagoon is ideal for windsurfing, sailing, or diving and the visibility is ideal for photographing the lush barrier reef. We're suppose to stay with our scuba buddy but giant pools of purple fish hypnotize me into following them. I can't help it. I'm boldly swimming alongside hundreds of multi-colored marine life and feeling at one with them. The signal is given for me to surface but I can't leave just yet... though it's really not up to me. Soon my oxygen tank reads empty and I bounce to the top for air. Sand, surf and scuba - does life get any better?