March 31, 2024 Happy Easter, Le Port, Reunion Island, 35 days left of 138

 Happy Birthday Christy! I do believe it is the anniversary of her 30th birthday a couple of times.

Happy Easter! Our Lord has risen! What a beautiful start to our Easter morning.

The Easter bunny visited our room last night. Viking is treating us pretty good. They are doing a good job of assisting us to celebrate this holiday. They planned a Easter Buffet in the World Cafe at noon today. They also tried to offer televised Easter services, but they were not available when I looked.

My health update is improving. My cough is breaking up, and I felt good enough to join our excursion today wearing a mask. I still saw people reacting to my occasional coughs, even though I was taking every precaution. There were multiple people coughing on the bus, but I was the only one masked up.

Today we are in Le Port, Reunion, and we are going to see a Turtle observatory and the old town of Saint-Leu.

See the lone fisherman out on the breakwater as we enter the port?

We are on the dry side of the island, they get 300 ml rainfall per year. On the other side of the island it is the rainy side and they get 7,000 ml rainfall per year. That is a big difference. On this side you can see the protected lagoon. This area is great for swimming due the the shallow depth, and safer since sharks are less likely to come in to shallow water. On the other side of the island the depth goes straight down right off the beach.

Welcome to the Turtle observatory. We were told they have 60 different turtle varieties here. Most of the videos and written information was in French, so we were lost for most of the information, but what an interesting place to explore. They do research here for the protection of sea turtles and their habitats in Reunion Island and the Indian Ocean. They have a rehabilitation center that takes in injured or sick turtles, releasing them back into the sea once they have been healed.

Above is the biggest turtle they had, and to the right was the smallest we saw.

Mike had one picture of a turtle with only one front flipper. We were able to view from above, below, and way above. It was a beautiful spot.

They also tried to make art of trash found on the beaches and water. Trust me no one wants to look at trash anywhere. Take pride in where you live and the earth we occupy. Everyone must do their part.

We left the first stop, with the next stop to be Saint-Leu. We learned that the Catholic's named most of the towns along the coast, hence the towns are named after Saints. Further up the mountain is where the African slaves escaped to, and the names reflect their background. The slaves were brought here to help with the coffee that was being grown here.

This was a memorial to the slaves who lead a rebellion. They all lost their lives, but it lead to the end of slavery. The first time a slave ran away, when caught they had tendons cut behind their knees, if they ran away a second time they either had an ear cut off or they were killed. It seems the same story everywhere we have been.

Below was my last picture from the Turtle rescue. Again I have some technical problems with placing my pictures.

This is me standing along the canal. It really shows what a beautiful day we had, but it was warm. 

These two buildings were built as coffee warehouses. The Hotel to the left was the Town Hall at one time.

My favorite part was being able to go into a Catholic Church on Easter. We missed the morning service, but it was a peaceful simple house of God. I was able to sit and pray for a short time.

Our guide found a place for us all to sit in the shade enjoying the ocean breeze, while he explained about the town, and his island. We were a small group today.

Below was some art work in a round about. You will see the French flag flown. Our guide says they have their own flag, but it is not officially recognized. There are people elected to serve on the French parliament. They fly out every Wednesday to attend and vote, and return to the island weekly. Wow that takes commitment.

This beach is known for its left hand waves. They host a large surfing contest yearly in September.

Below shows you how everyone is out enjoying the Easter Holiday. The beaches and parking lots were full.

Funny story from our adventure in the old town of Saint-Leu. On of the passengers went into a bakery to purchase a piece of cake. She found out her French wasn't as good as she thought as she came out with the whole cake. She was enjoying a good laugh.

On our drive back I caught some of the Ravines we passed. They have them all named, and you can see at some time lots of water has passed down to the ocean.

When we arrived back to the ship, a delicious buffet for Easter had been prepared.

We lose another hour tonight, so we are getting closer to the time at home. I think tonight we figured out there will be a 10 hour difference between us and the West Coast. We were able to see a little of our granddaughter Harper. She is getting so cute, pictures of her with her Easter basket full of new books. You just have to love that smile.

We wish you all the peace and blessings of this Easter Day.