The Mauritian Sunday starts on Saturday night: chicken is marinated, pickles prepared, the car loaded with gazebos, cool boxes and speakers. From 7 am on Sunday, families « reserve » their patch of beach in the filao shade — Mont Choisy, Flic en Flac, Blue Bay and La Preneuse are the high places of the ritual. By 11 am, barbecues are smoking, briani simmers in giant pots and the kids have already been in the water for three hours.
As a visitor, two strategies are open to you. The first: flee the crowds and enjoy the deserted weekday beaches... bad idea, you'd miss the essential. The second, the right one: dive in. Buy something to grill at the supermarket the day before, or spot the beach vendors — pineapple, kebabs, rolling ice-cream carts — and set up at a polite distance from a family. There's a strong chance a plate of briani will be handed to you before 1 pm: accept, that's how the island works.
Sunday also has its codes off the beach: the morning markets (Flacq and Quatre Bornes in full swing until noon), the family Chinese lunch in Port Louis, and shops closed from 12 – 1 pm almost everywhere — do your shopping beforehand. Tourist restaurants stay open but fill up at lunch: book, or do as the locals do and eat on the beach. Buses run, but less often; the last one heads home early.
In the late afternoon, the ritual peaks: someone brings out a ravanne, the aunties strike up a sega, and the whole beach keeps the beat until sunset. Then, within half an hour, everything folds away — gazebos, pots, sand-covered children — and the island returns to calm for the week. Local tip: on Monday morning, the beaches are spotless and deserted. The secret behind the magazines' « empty lagoon » photos? They're taken on a Monday.