Here in the early afternoon the Picton Castle is paddling pretty hard to get into port at Reunion tomorrow, Tuesday January 23, with Reunion 207 nautical miles ahead. Need to say all that due to confusing time zones and what not. We have some winds and weather brewing behind us and I would like to be snugly moored and not hove-to when the time comes. Nothing really scary but uncomfortable no doubt. Engine at best speed and plenty of sail have us making 8.5 knots. Not bad. Conditions are good here just now. Force 5 on the port quarter, seas modest enough. Expect increased winds overnight. Awnings taken in. Work on deck continues. Sailmaking, rigging, not a varnishing day, but still sun enough for the perceptive sextant navigator. All hands keen to get alongside in Reunion. It would be so much nicer to finish the passage under sail, but we take what we get.
While at Reunion we have some ship’s work planned (always!). Of course start with painting up the topsides which will be rust-streaked from the freeing port hinges after a month at sea. The Bosun wants to make the waterline nicer. Need a calm harbour for that. I intend to set up the rig, “tune” or “tension” the rig in modern parlance. We want the rig as good as it can be for the passage coming up around the Cape of Good Hope. Oil the decks again – so good for them! Of course, fuel up again and some food shopping to get us to Cape Town. At the big markets we can find some lovely baskets for our shop in Lunenburg. Made in Madagascar. Some more rigging, varnishing and painting naturally. And launch the monomoy for pulling around the harbour as a training exercise. And that’s all onboard.
What to do ashore at Reunion Island? Plenty. First, it’s French, a department of France like Hawaii is a state of the USA, with all that this implies. Not super cheap like Bali, on the Euro, but OK. Great coffee, wine and food in all the cafes. Pretty good industrial ship shopping as needed.
The island itself is quite amazing. All along the western shore are stunning beaches, some for swimming if they have shark nets, others maybe not. Lots of shark activity at Reunion. The surf should be well up. The locals do not hang out on the beach that much but prefer the shaded cascading rivers filled with big boulders for weekend picnics and the like. The interior of this 37 mile wide mountain island has landscapes we have seen nowhere else. Dormant (only recently gone dormant!) volcanos and lava flows with few green plants poking up. It even snows once every ten years high up. A half inch and everone gets excited and takes picture to make postcards before it melts. Small communities of ancient creole families high up in the mountains, tropical architecture but looks a bit Swiss as well. They love making their homemade wine from grapes and berries in the mountains and selling it. It tastes like homemade wine. And oh, so stunning mountains. Never seen the like. If Steven Spielberg ever sees this place there will be at least one more Jurassic Park film. At most of the beaches there are also public pools and water-park affairs with no shortage of cafes nearby – great for the whole family – and great seafood. Eleven year-old Dawson is keen to see the excellent aquarium at Reunion too. And we must do laundry and so on. St Denis, the big city nearby is a treat. I am sure many of the crew will get over there. A bit of a walk into the port town, quiet and peaceful – all to the good with Chinese and Indian shops as well as plenty of fine watering holes. In the shade. It will be hot here.
We have a Marshall Islands flagged, 1,100 foot long tanker headed parallel to us, a few miles away, bound for Cape Town I think. Big ship. We have seen some Tawainese longliners now and then. And thier longlines and buoys stretched across the ocean. Today we saw some birds for the first time since we were near Cocos Keeling. Looked like land birds but I could not tell. Must be from Mauritius only 60 miles away. Plenty dolphin of late but no catching of fish from Picton Castle for a while, much to chief cook Donald’s dismay.
