March 30, 2023
Another spectacular sunrise and we were docked in Port Reunion.
Reunion Island, a French department in the Indian Ocean, is known for it’s volcanic rain forested interior, coral reefs and beaches. The island has been inhabited since the 17th century when people from France, Madagascar and Africa settled here. The island became an overseas department of France in 1946. The official language is French but the majority of the population speaks Reunion Creole.
My planned full day excursion had been modified to a half-day excursion leaving in the afternoon so I headed out on the shuttle bus to explore the little town of St. Gilles les Baines. The town was tiny with only a couple of blocks of shops and a beautiful marina and beach. It was really humid and my clothes were soaked in just a few minutes! After exploring for a few hours it was time to head back to the ship for my excursion.
The coach drove on the north coast via the seashore road that provided views of the blue waters and white sands. The waters of the Indian Ocean are a beautiful shade of blue that is so different from any other ocean I have experienced.
Winding though the steep cliffs of the volcanic formed island we arrived in St. Andre to visit vanilla cooperative. On this island vanilla is hand pollinated because the bees that are required cannot survive on the island. This means that they have less than 12 hours from the time the flower blooms to pollinate it. The pollination process takes less than 7 seconds per flower and each person does 2000 flowers per day. It then takes 9 months for the vanilla bean to mature. It is then hand picked, then dried in the sun for up to two months taking in each night and out during the day. They are then hand measured and sorted and placed in wooden crates and stored. All of this manual labor is why vanilla is so expensive!!
We headed out to the heart of the island though the lush countryside of sugar cane fields, vanilla and lychee plantations to the spectacular waterfall of Voile de la Mariée. Better known as the Bride’s Veil, it is the most prominent of around 100 waterfalls in this amazing and striking area.
On the way back to the ship we stopped at a small town nestled in the mountains with the clouds hovering over the cliffs.
Back on ship and headed to Durbin, South Africa!
