East or eastern. Piece of advice from English native speakers!

Short answer:

I agree with your use of "northern coast", but I think it's acceptable to use either, and it's probably more common to use "north coast".

Long answer:

From my understanding, "eastern" is an adjective, whereas "east" will generally be part of a defined area.  So in Australia, you have "West Australia" (a state), and "western Australia" which is not defined but probably means the western third of the country.  "East Germany" used to define a country, but now I'd use the term "eastern Germany" to describe the eastern half of the country.  Eastern/western Europe define parts of Europe, but I'm fairly sure the boundary is fuzzy, I don't think I've heard "West Europe".

But for every rule there are many exceptions.  "Northern Ireland" is a country, "Northern Territory" is a state (kind of) in Australia.  In England the northern parts of the country are referred to as any of: "Northern England", "North of England" and "the North".

So, given that there is (as far as I know) no clear definition of the "north coast" of Mauritius, I think the correct term is the "northern coast".  But since native English speakers can't make up their minds, you are free to do whatever you like ;-)

Thank you, thedandan. It helped a lot

hello
this post is old but very interesting as there are many people from different countries speaking in various ways...
west coast and western coast both seem right but west coast sounds appropriate....
hope to keep in touch,
regards
suresh