Altair Cruising Log

The landscape on Reunion Island is spectacular! Mountains rise from the sea to over 8,000 feet. In the north there are the remains of three volcanoes that have eroded into sharp pointed peaks and jagged ridges. The high lush valleys are dotted with villages and have many waterfalls and hiking trails. In the south there is an active Volcano! The volcano erupted just last August and sent rivers of lava to the sea adding a bit more land to the island. While we were there the road had just been reopened and we were able to walk out on to the spectacular lava flows, and it was still hot! We got some great photos of the ropey Pahoehoe lava and the sharp pointed a’ai lava. Reunion reminds us of Maui with the twin volcanoes, high elevations yet tropical coastlines. It is a popular tourist destination and we met many Europeans enjoying the hiking in the tropical mountains.

Reunion is literally part of France as it is a French Overseas Department and not an Overseas Territory like Tahiti so you feel as though you are in Europe. As members of the European Union, our friends from Britain and Sweden did not have to clear in with immigration. The local population votes for their representatives for the French Senate and National Assembly as part of France and mainland France is referred to as “la metropole”. We enjoyed the French elegance, the baguettes and French pastries and for the first time got to spend Euros. We also enjoyed the French tradition of cheek-to-cheek kiss to greet each other and to say good-bye.

The French were very laid back and we had one of our easiest check-ins, much different than the myriad of forms we had to complete in both Rodrigues and Mauritius. We cleared at the Port Captains office and a very stylishly dressed young woman in high heels handled everything. Paul said she was the best-looking Port Captain he has cleared in with. We did find Reunion a bit expensive after Mauritius but that must be the price to pay for being in France. However, we found it difficult to understand why it is only US$0.30 to mail a post card from Mauritius but US$1.15 from Reunion. The islands are only 130 miles apart!

While Mauritius has a large number of overseas tourists, primarily Europeans escaping the cold of winter for the white sand beaches and warm water on the Indian Ocean, Reunion receives only a fraction of the visitors and most come from France. There are more ‘Europeans’ (as Caucasians are referred to) on Reunion than either Rodrigues or Mauritius, and we did find more racial mixing on Reunion as well. In fact we saw numerous mixed race couples, which seemed unheard of in Mauritius. While watching the parade for Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light, we were surprised at the number of Europeans and Creoles marching along among the Indians.

Reunion has a population of 717,800 giving it the lowest population density of the three islands. But the traffic was horrific at rush hour. One day we took the bus to the main city of St. Denis, a two-hour ride up in the morning but a three-hour ride back to St. Pierre in rush hour traffic! This main road runs right along the coast with part at the base of a steep cliff that is constantly under attack from falling rocks on one side and crashing waves on the other so it receives a great deal of damage. A similar situation to Highway 1 on the coast south of San Francisco. They had elaborate, heavy-duty chain link specially designed to keep the falling rocks off the highway. We were told that the repairs make this one of the most expensive roads in all of Europe.

Back in Rodrigues we had met a French couple, Thierry and Claire, who live in Reunion and had sailed their boat to Rodrigues for a vacation. Always nice to meet other ‘cruisers’ who live on one of the next islands you are headed to. They convinced us to come to the small port of St. Pierre instead of the main, industrial harbor further up the coast. They gave us a hand drawn chart of the shoals at the harbor entrance, which helped as we had heard the channel was too shallow for our 6 foot 8 inch draft. Knowing the lay of the land proved very helpful as the wind was blowing 30 and gusting to 40 knots when we entered the narrow, twisty entrance. We enjoyed being right at the heart of this nice city with easy accessibility to shops and most importantly a bakery only a short walk for our fresh morning baguettes.

While in Rodrigues Thierry and Claire showed us a magazine with profiles of the three islands that illustrated the dramatic nature of the topography on Mauritius and Reunion and how small Rodrigues is in comparison. When we arrived in St. Pierre Thierry and Claire had us over for dinner and took us on several trips to show us their beautiful island. It was enlightening to see Reunion with the help of ‘local eyes’ and we learned more inside information about the island and had experiences many visitors do not get. We were very glad we stopped there and cherish their friendship.

One morning we awoke very early and drove up twisty back roads through small farms to the active volcano - Piton de la Fournaise. It was important to start out at 6:00 a.m. as clouds frequently develop, sometimes as early as 10:00 a.m., obscuring the view. The landscape is all agricultural leading up towards the volcano but turns arid when you reach the top. You then drive across the oldest crater that looks like Mars to the lip of the main crater. After parking the car, you descend a steep staircase to the crater floor and walk across the old lava and up to the rim of a far crater. The most recent eruption is Cinder Cone inside yet another crater! The whole area is huge and very spectacular.

The Altairians, as some know us, had an anniversary coming up and we knew we would be at sea on that date and that’s not very romantic. So we booked a room at a small guesthouse in the mountain village of Cilaos. It was a very spectacular bus ride up a narrow, twisting road that was only one lane in many places. One tunnel was so narrow that the bus just fit in with only six inches on either side. Cilaos feels like a bit like a small town in the French Alps and we had to remind ourselves we were in the Indian Ocean and not Europe. The people were friendly and we had a wonderful time. We sampled some of the local wines but found them a bit sweet for our tastes and did several hikes to take in the stunning views. We splurged for a nice dinner in a cozy restaurant and selected a set multi-course menu; it was nice to have the courses come out without having to make further decisions. We sampled the lentils the area is famous for along with a goat curry and dish of smoked bacon with hearts of palm, sounds a bit strange but it was wonderfully delicious. Although we enjoyed the local lentils we decided to pass on the chance to buy some when we found out the price was US$7 per pound!

We delayed our departure by two days as Paul had a bad cold and our reward was a truly unique Reunion experience on our last evening. Thierry and Claire took us and two other cruisers plus friends visiting from France to a local BBQ place – only pork is served. Claire called ahead so our food would be ready when we arrived and we would not have to decide what to eat. She ordered a variety of items including straight meat, blood sausages and pig liver; we brought salad, French bread, cheese, wine and an excellent chocolate cake she had made. The place was filled with local Creoles and you sat outside at rickety wooden tables among the smoke from the BBQ and laughter from the many Creoles. A fantastic experience to complete our stay in Reunion.

And now we are in Africa! We arrived in South Africa the evening of December 1st after a passage of ten and a half days. The passage was great with light to moderate conditions all the way and none of the dreaded southwesterly gales the South African coast is famous for. Two other boats left Reunion at the same time we did and one, Pakele, sailed side by side with Altair almost all the way. This worked well for Gary on Pakele as he sails single-handed; since one of us on Altair is always awake and on deck he was able to sleep whenever he liked since we were always watching for shipping traffic. We saw about ten ships on this passage which was a bit less than we expected for these heavily traveled shipping lanes. The last day, with the Dark Continent in sight, we had a dolphin escort and whales breeching and tail slapping a short way off. Quite a spectacular welcome to Africa!

We are currently at Richard’s Bay on the east coast, about 100 miles up the coast from Durban. It is a major container port and coal loading facility and the local ‘town’ is a large collection of shopping malls a taxi ride away. Although the area is somewhat industrial we get one-month free moorage on the large concrete international jetty and it is only a short drive to many game parks so it’s a convenient location. We have joined a group of other yachties from the neighboring marina for a walk at 6:30 each morning and see monkeys, some carrying babies on there backs along the way. We also see hawks, ibis and storks, all of which reaffirms we are in a very different place than any we have visited before. It is also fascinating to watch the local black women walking along with boxes or bags of rice balanced on their heads and hands full of other parcels.

Many people have been asking about our plans. The current ‘plan’ is to be back home around October 2006, but then cruisers always say their plans are written in the sand at low tide. We will leave South Africa the end of February / beginning of March and head up the Atlantic towards the Caribbean with stops at the island of St. Helena and in Brazil before making landfall in Tobago. A few friends have asked if we will be going to The Med, and although we would like to it will probably not be until the next trip.

Tomorrow we are off on a three-day – two-night adventure to two local game parks. We are really looking forward to experiencing the rich and unique wild life Africa has to offer. We have greatly enjoyed our time in the Indian Ocean and have ended up among a more international group of boats than in the past. Currently on our international jetty there are only three American boats along with boats from England, Brazil, France, Sweden, New Zealand, Switzerland and Martinique. This is actually the largest number of American boats we have been with since Darwin and we are enjoying our new international friends and the richer experience it brings. We have also had the opportunity to meet some South Africans and attended our first ‘braii’ (Afrikaans for BBQ) just four days after arriving.

Yesterday was a typical day for Altair. We got up at 2:30 a.m. to help friends on Tranquillity move their boat to a slipway to be able to work under the boat at low tide without having to haul the boat out of the water on a travel lift. Then came back to Altair for a nap. Paul returned at 8:30 to help Rick pull the prop and replace the cutlass bearing while Suzette worked on the boat writing this log and emails. In the afternoon Suzette continued to write while Paul worked on a broken water pump. At 4:00 p.m. we helped Tranquillity back to their place on the jetty once they re-floated on the afternoon high tide. Then it was showers, dinner and early to bed. Not the glamorous life that every one might think, but a wonderful, rewarding way to see the world.

We would like to wish everyone a joyous holiday season along with peace and happiness in the coming year.

Cheers – Suzette, Paul and Altair Plus the Four Bears
Richard’s Bay, South Africa