Day 82, Tuesday, March 27, 2018 La Possession, Reunion

Today is the second of three sea days, between Reunion Island and Mapoto, so I guess I better catch y’all up on the going’s on and what we did on Reunion, which was wonderful, by the way. 

We found that everything that was missing on the Seychelles was here on Reunion, the beauty of the island, and the care the people have for their island. You can tell the influences of the EU. Not a big tourist island, but there working on it,,,, working, is the optimum word here, everyone was working and it was evident by all the work on the infrastructure, and we had one of the best meals we have had on the whole cruise.  Do you think we liked it? 

The tour we took, took us all the way around the island. We started in La Possession a tiny port on the north side of Reunion, was originally settled in the 1600s, the British used it as an entry point when they took over the island in 1810. Today it is known as the gateway to the Cirque de Mafate, the  ‘caldera’ ( collapse cone of a volcano) that was once a refuage for runaway slaves, and is now a mecca for hikers. One of the worlds most active volcanos, it last erupted in 2006. Lucky we didn’t see an eruption, but we did see a lot of the island. 

We went to a beautiful botanical garden, and this time I loved it, it was like what one migh have imagined the garden of Eaden might have been like, so serene and beautiful, not groomed and manicured, like the one on the Seychelles. 

 

Our guide, we had two, the one from the bus, who spoke English and the one from the garden who only spoke French, showed us what uncut looked like a small peach, but when you cut it, you have a nutmeg. We also saw the orchid that you get vanilla beans from, but they are not in season right

  

This was the most groomed path, the orchid that grows vanilla is way up in this tree

 

This was called a black widow orchid, not sure why, we never, heard the reason, I guess I will look it up when I have WiFi. 

Anyway then it was on to the volcano. 

 
It is hard to show the scope of the lava flow, it was a lot! 

Then on to lunch, and a beautiful place by the sea to eat. 

 

This was the back yard of the restaurant Etoile De Mer where we ate

  

This was our afternoon rest stop. 

 We arrived back at the ship in time for the sail away party, that the CEO of Holland America through for the whole ship, nothing like free drinks and live music to bring out the best in people, we all had a great time, reminded Ed and I of the New Years Cruise we took. 

Quote:  “ The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.”  - Sir Richard Francis Burton

(Backup) Day 79, Saturday, March 24, 2018 Victoria, Mahe Seychelles 🇸🇨

We arrived a bit ahead of schedule this morning, but that was still much later then our normal port arrivals, it was 9:30 AM when they cleared the ship. We met the others that had signed up for the tour, in the Queens lounge at 10, and by 10:30 we were meeting the bus. We were on bus #4, there were eight buses for this tour all carrying about 17 people each. It was air conditioned and we were all very happy about that, as the temp was already getting very warm, 86* and would get hotter, and the humidity was about 80%. 

The Seychelles is composed of 115 islands and Victoria on the island of Mahe’ is there capital: among the smallest national capitals in the world. France colonized the islands in the 1700s, then Great Britain controlled them until their independence in 1976. There is a very strong Creole influence this is because of the,  Africans, Indians, and Chinese that were brought in to work on the, spice, sugar, and cotton plantations, and their language and music, and foods are still very much of today. 

So first stop was the botanical gardens, which was beautiful, but a lot of walking up hill!  Now if it was cooler, it wouldn’t have been bad, but in this heat, it was a killer for most of us. 

First stop was to see the coconut this island is famous for. More then just a novelty, the oil is supposed to be very good for your skin and hair, himm we’ll see. It is the Coco de Mer, it is the only native coconut to the Seychelles, and very provocative to say the least. 

If you look at the right on the shelf and you can see the long flower stem that hangs between the crease in the coconut, didn’t I say it was provocative? 

There were also huge tortoises in this garden, well protected, so we couldn’t get very close. 

   

 

Some of the flowers in the garden. 

 

After leaving the gardens, totally exhausted, the picture doesn’t show it well, but it was all uphill, we head into town, to see the market. 

 

 

 

These shells were so pretty, we bought one. 

Now we traveled over to the other side of the island, and it reminded me of Tahiti. 

 

 

Then there was the lunch and beach stop at a Hilton double tree, that was fun, but after walking in the Indean Ocean, it was very clear, and warm.  I have now put my feet in all the oceans on the globe, how about that!

We returned to the ship a bit late, but since we weren’t sailing until 10:30 PM it didn’t matter.  We were both so hot and tired, we showered, and Ed went up to the Lido and brought it back to the room. They were having a shellfish extravaganza. 

In the upper left is the chocolates they gave us in the apology for the water in the room, and a bottle of wine. We had them in the fridge, and after the 10,573steps, in the oppressive heat we could indulge a bit. 

Quote:  “ To travel is to take a JOURNY into yourself.”  - Danny Kay