REUNION ISLAND

DAY 29


It was another beautiful sunrise on the Indian Ocean. We docked in Pointe des Galets on the island of Reunion. This island is owned by France and is east of Madagascar. It is part of the European Union and uses euros only. We couldn’t seem to find an ATM that worked and everyone speaks French so we just used our credit card for a few purchases. Absolutely no US currency was accepted. The island is famous

for its volcanoes and the beautiful formation of the mountains. They are lush and homes (white stucco) are built on the hills. It reminded us of La Jolla or other towns along the California coast. We went to a beach town for our excursion.  We watched the surfers and walked around the marina. An added plus was going to the Reunion Aquarium; it was so enjoyable. It was fun to see the fish I had seen while snorkeling.

PORT LOUIS MAURITIUS

DAY 28


Our tour today took us to a very well maintained Botanical Gardens. The trees were massive. Our German (she married a Mauritius man) guide was sweet but too wordy. John and I snuck away to St. Francis Church across the road to take pictures. Then when I rejoined the tour John stayed back and talked to the local people. We felt the people were more fun than the plants. Our bus climbed a mountain for a nice photo-op. Mauritius has the second oldest racetrack in the southern Hemisphere. Next we traveled the narrow streets to a handicraft market but we weren’t tempted because the prices were too high.   P.S.  Kelly,  I am wearing the necklace and earrings you gave me!

AT SEA DAYS

DAY 26


HAPPY EASTER!

We had a beautiful Easter Mass. Father Kelly managed to find some hymnals and the late night piano player was kind enough to get up early to accompany our singing. John gave one of the readings. The theatre was quite full.

We have had a change to our itinerary and as John said, “The pirates won.” Captain Dag announced that it is not safe to go to Mombasa and Zanzibar so we are heading south to Port Louis, Mauritius, on April 6th and Reunion Island on April 7th. The rest of our schedule remains the same and we will hope to add another day safari as the one we had scheduled in Mombasa is no longer possible. The “shooters” we have on board don’t have a job anymore.

We enjoyed an Easter brunch and read our books on comfy furniture on the back of Deck 5.

Our Easter dinner was in the Compass Rose restaurant with Father Kelly and four other Catholic couples from our Mass group.

DAY 27

The seas are a bit rougher on this sea day but nothing too bad. We have been wearing a sea patch(or half of one)and it seems to work. A couple renewed their vows on the ship. The woman was in a bridal gown and had a sparkling tiara and glittery bracelets. She is the same girl we see walking for an hour every day with ankle weights and carrying weights. She then cleans up, dresses up and drinks champagne on the pool deck all afternoon.

MORE HEAVENLY SEYCHELLES!

Day 25

Our ship went to Praslin, another of the Seychelles, in the early morning hours. The Seychelles have 115 islands with only 15 inhabited. Some islands are just resorts. The population is 95% Catholic. Every small village has a church, a school, a medical facility and a police station. The water,the skies and the rock formations are too beautiful to describe adequately.

John went to a world renown beach this morning while I went to CoCo Island , 45 minutes by catamaran, for the best snorkeling I have ever experienced. Every exotic fish you have seen in books I think I saw among the rocks and corral.. A huge sea turtle also swam by me. It was amazing.
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset and a "Truckstop Party."

SENSATIONAL SEYCHELLES!

DAY 24


Our tour today was Spices and Coral. We took a catamaran out to a coral reef. The snorkeling was fantastic. I saw big blue fish, yellow fish and various striped fish. The water was clear, so blue and very warm. Then we sailed on the catamaran around the island and took a Zodiak(rubber boat) into shore where we swam some more. Next was a bus trip straight up the mountain, another precarious bus ride, to a spice farm. We saw and smelled all the spices, looked at the giant tortoises and took many pictures of the sea and tropical foliage. Back at the ship John did a reading for the Good Friday services. Then we went with our San Antonio friends to a pool barbeque that the ship put on. It was unbelievable. Food, decorations, ice sculptures, music--all was first class and so much fun. The pool deck was totally transformed into a restaurant. The night was warm, balmy and full of stars. John and I danced the night away!

DAY 23


Today at sunrise the sky was the same color as the water--turquoise blue! We watched the ship dock from the top deck. Captain Dag was at the controls as he always is for the comings and goings. Just when we were about to dock, the ship backed up and we went from the port side to the starboard side. Captain Dag apologized for the delay but it seems that the loading of supplies and the unloading of garbage was reversed! The mountains(granite rock), the vegetation and the gorgeous water make the Seychelles a paradise. There are hundreds of islands nearby, all with fabulous beaches. Everywhere one looks is a “photo-op.” We left the ship with friends from New York and bought a few things at the market outside. Every port we enter has an automatic market set up for Regent cruisers! We ate at a local restaurant which was good but very hot--no air conditioning. We saw on TV that the US Navy just captured some pirates near the Seychelles. Please do not worry about us as we have “visitors” aboard ship; in fact one is next door to us!

DAY 17

DAY 17


We saw the most beautiful sunrise and then we followed the Malacca Straits up to the northern tip of Indonesia where we turned left and entered the Indian Ocean. We exercised, went to a lecture on the Maldives and then spent the day at the pool reading our books. We met a nice young man of 22 who is on the 119 day World Cruise with his grandmother.! Hey, grandchildren, would you ever want to do a world cruise with us? At 1 PM we went to the bridge and saw how the ship is run. Besides the driver there is a person who looks out with binoculars at all times. We went to 5PM Mass, did our laundry and had room service for dinner.  P.S.  This is a delayed post of Day 17