Reunion

Just as we were about to leave the Seychelles, we received a PA from Captain Dag telling us that we will be changing or ships course because of the high chatter and recent pirate activities in the area. With the monsoons over, pirates are active once again. These smart guys tried to capture a US Naval ship and were blown out of the water. As we were leaving the Seychelles, they boldly captured another tanker in Seychelles waters. These kinds of activities continue in these waterways and the pirates are getting bolder and attacking further from shore. The Captain was told in no uncertain terms that he would be crazy to continue to Mombassa or Zanzibar.
 He has never had such strong opposition to sail an area in his career. We have hired Israeli security teams and have special sound systems at ready but who knows and who wants to take that chance. I do not want to be a hostage, that's for sure. I hear they only feed you fish. Instead we have added Mauritius and Reunion to our schedule. We miss a day safari to Maasai Mari but now we are able to visit places Meghan has lived . Very exciting for me.

Here we are in Reunion. No new coins for my sister as they use Euros here. They speak French and are similar in their culture to the Seychelles and Mauritius. It appears a bit more upscale here then the last two ports which made it more familiar to me. Exports include sugar, rum, vanilla, cloves and perfume. 60% of this population receive welfare benefits. The area has forests and volcanos and beaches. During our short time here we visited Saint Gilles les Bains beach. The next town over from our beach, la Saline-les-Bains, is where Meghan lived for a bit. The beach seemed better suited to surfers then to swimmers. David liked that it was a French beach. Lots of rocks here as well as sharp drops in the ocean. No shade just sun. We stayed a few hours, shared a pizza with friends and had a very good local beer, Bourbon, bottled in Reunion.

Tonight we have cocktails with the Regent Seven Seas President, Mark Conroy, who just got on the ship and then a special dinner/theater night with singers/dancers from New York, Tony Award winning, Forbidden Broadway. Three sea days until our next port, Richards Bay, South Africa.