Opinions from people with more experience

Hello and welcome on board Bill !

Please note that I have created this new thread from your post on the Mauritius forum so that members can shed the light on the few questions you have.

all the best

Bhavna

Hello Bill,

You'll be fine with English in the vast majority of situations, but it would be good to pick up some basic French phrases and, with time, some Creole.

To explore the island fully, I would say you need a car, but you can rent for short and long-term as an alternative to owning.  For every-day living you can manage without one if close to enough amenities.

The internet is reliable and with different packages available for speed. Very occasional power cuts happen, but usually for a very short time e.g. minutes.

Good luck!

What is the level of English comprehension? Would it be a good idea for me to learn some French before arriving?

In everyday life English is enough if you doesn't encounter any issues with the facilities. Cashiers, merchants, doctors, policemen and government workers speak English (although I had difficulties to understand the pronounce, but I'm not a native speaker, so it's mostly irrelevant). On the other hand, if there will be issues with water, sewer or electricity there could be a problem since most plumbers and electricians speak only Creole or French. My friends, when they had an issue with water tank, got a water lorry only after they found French speaking person. Just for information: 8 out of 10 of my friends had issues with the facilities during the year. I had 4 incidents in 2 years (broken solar heater, leaking roof, clogged sewage and leaked kitchen sink).

How necessary is it to own a car? Can I explore the island fully just using public transport?

Well, I'd say the public transport exists. And no more. No mobile app for getting routes and schedule, most buses are not air conditioned, you never know which bus stop you need (I've never seen a bus stop with the name on the plate, just "Bus stop"), most routes become unavailable after 18:00, you may change up to 2 buses before reach your destination, so I advise using private transport. If you're planning to stay more than 1 year, then it's cheaper to buy a car than to rent.

What is the reliability of the internet? Should I assume that I will need to work from a shared office if I need to be online, or will residential internet be fast/reliable enough?

I have 100Mbps package from MyT on fiber and sometimes I even get 200 Mbits . Unless some terrorists, drunk sailors or angry sharks damage the submarine cable the internet is quite stable. Cell boxes, however, may give you another experience, I've heard sometimes that they have issues (especially during cyclones). So, the optics is the most reliable. BTW, they have data transfer limit here (probably due to limited bandwidth). For my package it's 2 TB which is enough.