Report # 85 La Possession, Reunion March 24, 2014 Monday Part One Chance of rain, 81 degrees

Coming into Reunion

Le Port, Reunion

The small island of Reunion is decidedly French, even though it was taken over by the British in 1810. And the history follows the same route that made the Seychelles and Mauritius Creole in nature. Slaves were imported from Africa to cultivate the sugarcane and vanilla plantations, and the cinnamon, clove, and pepper orchards. Since little information has been provided by our room booklets, more details of the island's history escapes us at the moment. What we can tell you is Reunion offers an island of beaches, still active volcanoes, collapsed calderas called cirques for mountain climbing, waterfalls, and national parks. The making of the base of perfume is also a big industry here. On our first visit back in 2005, we took a tour that brought us up high in the mountains to see these sites. We do know that St. Denis is the economic capital of the island, with old French colonial homes, outdoor marketplaces, and chic French stores.

Road at the dock

We were here 9 years ago

Cranes in the harbor

Gangway in Le Port

Boarding the ship

Tented stalls near the dock

Local dock workers

So today, the local port authority was offering a shuttle ride to the Mall de Rodriques at the St. Gilles Les Bains beach area. And it was free. Normally, we would have been bused to the town of La Possession, but with today being a Monday, we learned that not much is opened. Mondays are treated like Sunday in this part of the world. At least at the beach area, some shops were opened with the promise of more opening up after noontime.

Flags of Reunion

Bare hillsides

Sugarcane fields

The bus ride took over 30 minutes, taking the freeway most of the way. There were black clouds floating by, so we did pack the umbrellas. Of course, we never did use them, but leaving them on the ship meant rain for sure. It was obvious to us that it rains a lot here, because everything is so green. 

Might e fruit trees

We were dropped off by a souvenir shop on a promenade lane that led to the beach. 

Looking for treasures

Most everything was expensive

Had to use Euros

The gecko of Reunion

Mall de Rodriques

Most shops were shut up tight

One restaurant was open

It wasn't just a beach on the Indian Ocean, but a coral park that encompasses 3500 hectares on the west coastline. It is called the Natural Marine Reserve created in 2007 to protect and preserve the coral reef. Since there were only two tiny shops open in this outdoor mall, we spent most of the day walking the surf on the beach and through the pines that lined it.

The surf at St. Gilles les Bains

A live sea cucumber

Coral-filled sands

Surf boarding

Special pines are planted here

Part of the coral gardens

The winds were picking up

A vine of morning glory

Oops, seen better days

Surf's up

This entire stretch of beach is separated from the villas and hotels by a road. One can have the use of the public beach or use the swimming pools of the private villas. Being a French island, the beaches are topless too. 

Sunbathing

 Or bottomless, if you are four years old and under. The only drawback here was the excessive coral either in the water's edge or broken up in the sands. We would not walk without shoes or go in the water without aqua shoes. It was best just to take a million photos, because it was drop dead gorgeous. 

Looks nice, but full of sharp coral and rocks

Swimmers included one reluctant dog

Coral gardens

He did not like the water or the coral

Getting into the water carefully

Walking slowly

Dangerous rocks

Lots of sunbathers, few swimmers

The tide was going out, exposing the coral

An old pine tree

Dense forest of pines

Pines help to avoid erosion

Seaside villas, hotels, and restaurants

Look at those clouds

It's a miracle that it did not rain

Sugarcane will grow anywhere

Walking through the special pines was a treat, because the trees were full of birds. Some of them were yellow seed-eaters and a few were the orange ones we saw while in the Seychelles.

The orange bird

Yellow birds

Bird eating bread

Pretty little things

A pair

Why are the males so colorful?

Very yellow

Small local yellow bird

Little sparrow

Island bird eating a large bug

Struggling bug had no chance

Shore bird

Small dove

Little train costs $14. US to see some historical sites

Old pine stumps make great seats

Anyway, everything to do with the water is here. Surfing, scuba diving, deep-sea fishing, and even whale and dolphin watching are the biggest activities here. What we found interesting was that the shoreline had little wave action. But if you looked beyond the coral and the reef, the waves were huge. At times, it appeared there were small sailboats bobbing in the swells, but it turned out to be the tops of the waves we were seeing. Something tells us that when we leave tonight, we will be heading into rougher waters.

Since it was hot and balmy, we were in need of some cold refreshments. Remembering that we had passed a few cafes at the mall, we went back to check on them. We knew we were out of luck for pizza, since all of those restaurants were back in town, and too far from here. The mall cafes were offering only fish and crepes, and nothing else had opened up for lunch there. So we went back to the beach, and went to an outdoor cafe by the name of Rondavelle Cobis. 

Rondavelle Cobis Cafe on the beach

Also known as Chez Cobis

Bourbon Beer

The local beer was Dodo, made by Bourbon, and was really good. No, we are not making that up. The funny thing was that the young owner/waitress did not speak much English, and we spoke very little French. Between pointing at the menu and hand language, we ordered two paninis with a tray of French fries. The paninis were cheese and ham slices in over footlong baguettes. 

Made by Bourbon

Ice cold dodo beers

Footlong panini with French fries

Patio of diners

Most from the ship

We could have shared one, but the price was right, and we assumed they were half the size. They were so good, hot and crunchy on the outside like good French bread should be. Obviously, we enjoyed every bite. Did we mention that they only take Euros here in Reunion? Sounds expensive, but our lunch was no more than we paid in Mauritius yesterday. It's all relative.

Bouganvilla

Stately palms

It was getting late, and we did not want to wait until the last bus at 4pm. So we searched for t-shirts at the one corner shop that was opened, and found two suitable ones. The bus was waiting right around the corner, which was perfect. We only had a 10 minute wait for the driver, and we were off towards the pier. The ride went quickly, about 30 minutes or so, as we took more photos of the volcanic mountains in the distance. The peaks never came out of the black clouds, although we heard that it rained very little up there today.

Volcanic mountains in the distance

Seaside villas

Had a hard day

Sailaway was a piece of cake, since the pilot only had to take us a matter of yards to get outside the little harbor. 

Sailaway party

Waiting to drop the lines

Mostly dry creek bed

Comes from the nearby mountains

Very volcanic

A school of fish feeding near the ship

Buildings near the pier

Very small harbor

Most of the housing is down below the mountainsides

Cliffs on the northwestern coast of Reunion

Storage tanks

Rain must be coming

Ravines

The local tugboat

Commercial pier

The pilote (French)

Leaving the harbor

Straight out.....we're gone

Concrete blocks are great spot for fishing

They are used like a breakwater

Does not look comfortable

One red, one green

Lighthouse

Looks like a hotel?

A very modern island

Leaving the harbor

The start of the villas

Shoreline

Starting to get rough

Clouds never left all day

Remember we mentioned the turbulent waters off the beach? Well, we hit some good, deep swells, and a violent wind that swept chairs and lounges skittering across the aft deck. The water in the pool cascaded over the edges, and the deck kids had to stack the lounges and chairs to keep them from crashing into people. Think we are in for a rough evening.

Winds picking up

Pool started to overflow

Time to leave

We heard there was a folkloric show held in the Queens Lounge at 3pm. It was a local performance troop by the name of Mascareignes performing the dance and rhythm of Reunion. This should be on TV later in the day, so we really did not miss it.

Dinner was good as always. All of us were there, later to be joined by Maureen, our newly assigned permanent tablemate, when she chooses to eat late. One of us ordered the prime rib,and the other ordered the alternate steak, not trusting the prime rib to be tasty and tender. It was a toss-up as to which one was better. As the dinner progressed, we were rumbling in our chairs with excessive vibration from the rough waters. We all walked out by 10pm like drunken sailors, although not a drop of liquor had been consumed by us. This will be a test of our sea legs for sure.

Well, we have three wonderful days at sea as we sail towards the continent of Africa and the city of Durban in South Africa. Time to begin packing for the safari......