We headed out for our first ocean paddle today, a relatively easy-paced 17km along the South-SouthWest coastline of Mauritius. You can review the paddle’s GPS track here on Endomondo. You might notice the sharp right turn as we approached Le Morne. Yes, about that sharp right turn.
I was catching the swell and getting carried away with (by?) the ocean and only much later realised that I was on a much tighter line. Needless to say, had I continued on that bearing I probably would ended up dragged across the reef in what looked like a bone-crushing hospital-visiting Fiji break, rather than an idyllic laid back “no waves here” coastline. Thankfully, Dawid was regrouping paddlers outside the reef and waved his paddle to head out to sea.
So we rounded the safety boat and I asked Anton “Is this the conservative line?” Apparently it was. Now, from the outside it doesn’t look conservative by any stretch. But, it turned out ok. There was only one rogue wave crashing in the channel which managed to eat only one paddler (who remounted safely).
The water was super warm and oh-my-goodness-blue! As I was paddling over the reef and corals I got so mesmerized I decided to involuntarily swim. Well, it WAS hot 
Paddle #1 done and the nerves settled, looking forward to paddles #2, #3 and the big one on Saturday.
And yes: wish you were here!
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