We are woken up at 4 am by a furious banging on the hull of the boat. I manage to get out of bed before Mike and wrapping a towel around me, go out to see who has woken us up and why.
It turns out to be a guy from the navy who is alerting all the boats to the fact that there is a tsunami alert due to the earthquake in Indonesia which has literally just happened. As everyone gradually appears, yawning and rubbing their eyes, we all think “here we go again – the Galapagos re-visited”. If we need to get out quickly, we will be hindered by the two boats rafted alongside us. However, the advice is to stay put for the moment, so we wait. We all try to get internet connection but there is none available as it would seem that the guy who owns the cafe turns it off at night. Ann on Wild Tigris phones a friend in the US to get us some information. As the earthquake has literally just happened, it would take about four or five hours for a tsunami, if there was one, to reach us where we are, and deep water is close by.
In the event, nothing happens and most people return to bed when the all clear is eventually received. Phew!
Mike has booked a car on-line with Avis but when Moe takes him and Dick into town to pick it up, he tells them about the car hire place he went to which is half the price and they go there to get a car instead, cancelling the Avis one when they get back.
First stop is to La Possession to find tourist office. We park in the bus land (there’s no where else) and Dick goes in to get some local information. While we are parked, a huge bus comes along and before Mike can move the car, he just pulls into the lane alongside us blocking the whole road and the passengers just cross in front to get on. No one shouts. No police come. How considerate!
The interior of La Reunion is lush and mountainous and we head out to the nearest mountain range first but at Cap Noir we discover that all the viewing points are at the end of long walking trails. None of us feels like it in the heat so we settle for the view offered to us at the end of the car park and continue on.
Photo: View from Cap Noir
There are some restaurants that have been recommended by the tourist office but driving around Cap Noir, we find each one closed even the one that was supposed to be full today. How strange.
We go back to La Possession to a restaurant called Chez Jacky. From the outside it looks like a little traditional building but when you get inside there is a cavernous dining area complete with a swimming pool. Everyone has a good meal except me but that’s my own fault for choosing the buffet – I should known better than to go for food where the best stuff has already gone (we’re late) and the rest of it has been sitting around for ages.
We decide to make a short day of it as Mike is feeling pretty rough and after swapping the car for a slightly larger one with 5 doors instead of the stupid 3, we get back to Jeannius and are so knackered we both to straight to sleep.
Mike wakes me up what seems like a few minutes later and tells me that we have to get up quickly as the rally quiz is about to start. Now Mike is usually a good guy to have on your team as he abounds with loads of what I would normally consider to be useless information. However, tonight he is obviously not firing on all cylinders with the result that our team comes last.
Photo: Quiz night at the Dodo Bar
Immediately the quiz is over, we head straight back to bed. We don’t bother with any tea as we are still full from lunch. I sit up in bed and attempt to catch up with the blog but can’t post anything as the internet is too bad.
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