Sailing around the World ( presently in Reunion Island ) " ILE DE LA REUNION "
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Thu 28 Oct 2010 04:20
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TUESDAY 26th OCTOBER
2010
The Island is Very Mountainous. It had a volcano
eruption around 1640 and the lastest one was just a few years ago in 1992,
Its highest mountain
is 3,069m ( 10,069 ft )
The sheer scale of the mountains is dramatic, Very
very steep and mostly covered with srubs and trees, The top of
the mountains are mostly covered in clouds, so there are lots of
waterfalls, streams and rivers. but the roads inland through these
mountains are narrow and winding. however the surface is excellent and the main
roads and highways are as good as any in Europe.
The Island is totally French owned and well
subsadised, the food here is naturally very french and very good, but with a lot
of etnic stuff added for extra taste. The villages and towns are very pretty and
most of the residential buildings are well spread up the hill sides, so everyone
seems to have good views of the sea, ie , they can see
the tornado's and cyclone's comming a long way off.
Back on board the boat,
04.00hrs We heard a noise on the quay wall, not
very loud, Aileen was up checking the deck, when she met the harbour Master who
informed her that there was a Tsunami or big wave as he put it , outside the
harbour,
He almost caused panic on the boats, but the yanks
were quick to get on the net and find out the real storey from the U.S. It
turned out that there had been an earthquake in Indonesia and a Tsunami warning,
which was cancelled shortly afterwards, however, it seems there was some damage
to yachts in other harbours around the Island. But whatever was there, we
escaped.
However , for the next hour or so, we had plenty of
men in uniforms on overtime on the dock. " Top up the account with a
little false alarm practice "
Paul from " rally control " had a coffee on board
and we discussed arrangments for Cape Town and S.A. as we leave
for Richards Bay in south Africa next Saturday.
11.00hrs We took off in the rent a car, It is so
small that it would hardly be strong enough to pull a straw out of cow
dung.
but we managed to keep her going and headed north
to St Denis, the capitol and about 15 miles away.
St denis, ( the old town ) was beautifull and most
of the buildings had very steep french type roofs , ( Mauritius had simular ones
whice I mentioned before. ) However the collection of restaurants was
great, and the buildings were in great condition.
First thing on the agenda , was a look at the
Cathedral and as luck would have it , Mass was being celebrated at the time, so
we all went along .
Following Mass, we had a walk around and then went
back down towards the waterfront to " Paul's " restaurant where we had a great
lunch,
Skipper had a typical french dish of " Confi Duck "
while Collette had Lamb and Aileen and Terry had Fish. It was all just
excellent.
15.00hrs we left St Denis and headed across the NE
of the Island and over to St Andre and on up the mountains to " Salazie " a
Creole village.
The journey was spectacular through the mountains,
They were more dramatic then the Alps in Europe and thats saying
something.
We stopped at The "Wedding Veil " which was a
magnificant collection of waterfalls , cascading down the sides of the cliffs
towards the rivers below.
we had to spend some time here admiring the sheer
beauty of this scene. and of course taking photo's ..........
From there we wandered up, up and up untill we
reached Heaven. well thats what it felt like. " Hell-Bourg" above
Salazie was a very pretty little village,
gowd, you would have to ask yourself , how
did the people get up and down from here when there were no cars, it must have
taken days just to go one way down and ohhhh the journey back .
frightning.
We met Sandro, Lisa , and Bernard while up there,
they were staying in a small hotel for the night, and going mountain walking
next day.
On our return journey down the hill, we passed a
4x4 lying over on its side, having slipped into the deep road side gullys , at
least 1m deep and 1m wide to take the monsoon rains. We carried on as there
were enough onlookers and gawlkers there already.
We arrived back at the boat at 20.00hrs, , driving
in the dark in such a little car was tough going.and we were all
exhausted
and still stuffed to the gills from the lunch, so
no cooking dinner. and we had a small night cap before hitting the
scratchers xxxxxxxxx
Thats it for today.
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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