User talk:Divedream

Family diving: Buddies in Mauritius Clive Aslet tells how he and his son took a PADI scuba diving course in Mauritius.

Of all the sacrifices I have made for the children, going on a family holiday to Mauritius was never going to be among the most onerous.

It is a beautiful volcanic island, where lush fields of sugar cane have not entirely given way to golf courses, and grilled lobsters keep finding their way on to your plate. Not that I can pretend to have seen much of it.

Once we had reached our hotel, Le Telfair on the southern coast, there was little reason to move. Shuffling between the pool, beaches of black sand, boat house, children's club, spa, tennis court and four contrasting restaurants distributed around the colonial-style buildings - one of the restaurants occupies a genuine plantation house, circa 1820, overlooking the inevitable golf course - was enough to keep the circulation going.

Besides, we had a mission. Did I mention sacrifice?

My eldest son, William, has developed a thing about diving. It began in the Maldives, which we visited last year. Being at that time 11, he was ecstatic to find that the age below which children cannot begin diving is 10.

This was bad luck on his then nine-year-old brother, Johnny, but - well, William didn't have much time to think about that: he was already mentally swimming among tiger fish and (in imagination) harpooning sharks.

We were shown the ropes by the dive master, waded with him into the sea and were off. You notice the use of the personal pronoun. You should do everything once.

Twice may be another matter. But as soon as I mentioned "tropical paradise" as a possible half-term destination, the association of ideas was strong. To visit Neysen Pillay website: http://www.dive-dream.org/

To read more http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africaandindianocean/mauritius/748526/Family-diving-Buddies-in-Mauritius.html