On the 20^th of October around midday we set off from Port Louis destined for Reunion Island the next day. As we left we were showered by sugar cane ash that was being burnt in the hills nearby. As we had just finished a last minute wash down you can imagine we were not very happy.

We started off in light variable winds and had expected to motor most of the way but in no time they filled in and we were shooting along in flat seas. We were all sat in the cockpit and mentioned how we hadn’t seen any dolphins or whales in the Indian Ocean which we have now been in for quite some time. With that a whale’s water spout was spotted a few hundred meters out in front of the boat. We sailed past him 50m or so away and shortly after he disappeared but not without a quick wave of the tail to show us on our way. No one wanted to miss the special encounter by running below and grabbing a camera. Some moments are just for us! 

Having realised that we saw the whale after mentioning that we hadn’t seen any for a while I thought I would give it another go. “We haven’t had any yellow fin Tuna in a while!” and almost on cue we sailed through a flock of birds and BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ both the rods went screaming off. Ted and I had them on deck, filleted and ready for the plate in no time. Soon after Fish and chips was on the menu!

We approached Reunion Island first thing in the morning and Roger spotted a few dolphins off the bow on our way in. By mid morning we had moored up, cleaned off all the soot from the sugar cane and had all the necessary paperwork completed. The marina is very industrial, dusty and had no facilities whatsoever and to make things worse there are no taxi services in the area! First impressions not so great.

22^nd October The jacarandas and bougainvilleas were blooming as we started our tour of Ile de la reunion at 7am with local tour guide and VW minibus owner Jean Marc. Last night he had taken us to St Gilles on the west coast south of  Le Port Ouest where we have moored the boat. We tried two locations and the decided to sample cari the local Creole dish. Essentially rice, lentils, a type of cabbage, squash, achar salad and spicy salsa the dish is then topped with a protein of fish, prawns or slow cooked duck, lamb, goat or chicken. Its all help yourself and delicious.

The morning was bright and sunny as we headed for Le Maido a series of three circular shaped mountains not unlike volcanoes. There is also an active volcano on Reunion but that was not part of our tour today. As we made our way up the steep winding road to the view point at 2300m the houses made way for indigenous forestation and higher, a bush scrub that looked remarkably like Fynbos. The whole area is protected as a world heritage site. The temperature was cooler and the scenery spectacular. We could also see Piton des Neiges at just over 3000m the highest peak in the Indian Ocean Islands. But for a bit of haze, well worth the effort as we took in the vistas.

Then we were back down the mountain and headed for St Andre via the biggest town on the island St Denis. The traffic was busy until we turned off onto the Salazie road and made our way up the gorge. The vegetation was quite different to the much drier west coast. On the north east side the mountains are covered with lush greenery like ferns, creepers and trees much more suited to a wetter clime. So much so that even before the rainy season has started the number of waterfalls on the steep hills was amazing. Our destination was Hell-Bourg for lunch. This settlement set high in the mountains resembled a cross between a Caribbean town and an alpine village. We had lunch at a local restaurant but the meal was not quite as good as the night before.

We were then back on the highway to the harbour to refuel the yacht and move onto the next phase, sailing south of Madagascar to the KZN north coast.

Reunion is attractive and looks like a small France in another location. It is French territory and well run with very good infrastructure. The economy runs mainly on sugar and surprisingly little tourism. The 850,000 people (about half that of Mauritius) use the Euro, speak almost exclusively French and love the enclave for its weather and relaxed, friendly people.

As we sailed into the big blue the lights were on in the distance as Reunion bade us Au-Revoir