Yesterday was boat chores and provisioning. Today we were up at dawn to go with Luc’s friend to the volcano. We went from sea level to 7500 feet. Wonderfully crisp clean cool air. Awesome views. At times you have a spectacular look down into the valley on one side, and 100 meters on is a spectacular view into the valley on the other side. Very hard to convey with photos, but of course I’ll post some anyway.

The volcano last erupted earlier this year. No sign of activity currently, but you can clearly see the recent lava trails. We hiked down into the caldera that surrounds the peak. Hard on the knees going down; hard on the muscles coming back up.

We had lunch at a local restaurant, where the other patrons wanted to know who we were, and one of them said to us, “This is not my house, but I welcome you to Reunion.” On our return we went to St Pierre to the “other” marina, in hopes of finding Chris on Tom Tom, to say Hello and Goodbye. In fact we happened to see him walking along the street, which was a fun surprise. He has work he needs to complete over the next three days or so, so he can’t sail in company with us, but hopefully we will see him again in Durban.

We returned the rental car, took advantage of the (cold) shower at the marina, and then went out to a farewell dinner with Luc. This is the last that we expect to see of Luc, which saddens me. He has in many ways been the heart and soul of the BPO for more than a year. Three local Frenchmen also joined us for dinner, which added to the interest and fun of the evening.

Now it is “last call” for wifi. We leave early in the morning. The 1400 mile passage to Durban can be challenging. The BPO has arranged for a weather router to advise us about conditions/route/timing. I quote from his email received earlier today: There’s no extreme weather at this point that would be cause for concern. Conditions are ideal at this moment for the passage.

Africa, here we come!