October 26th

Today we move on. First we went for a walk around Cilaos' pond area, and main part of “downtown.” Nice morning the clouds just started hanging on the mountains. Back at our place, we readied, packed, had breakfast (eggs with leftover smoked duck, yogurt and fruit filled muffin), and out by 1030. We leave Cilaos area. It has been a beautiful place here on Reunion! We could see staying here a long while.

We drove down to Le Tampon and further south to catch the road, Route de Grand Galet, that leads up along the River Langevin. Pretty much at the end of this road is an awesome cascade of waterfalls, Grand Galet. We did stop along the river (before we arrived at the major waterfall area) for a picnic lunch: apple, pear, small cucumber, last of blue cheese, peanuts, and a chocolate muffin. Some people were jumping 20 feet into a pool from a minor waterfall area here. It was great entertainment. When we arrived at the major waterfall area there were people zip lining here. Again, great entertainment, not my bag of tea! There were multiple waterfalls emptying into a large pool here. These cascades of waterfalls were beautiful.

We loaded up and headed back down the route (south), that leads eventually to Saint Joseph. We will be staying here at a Booking.com place. But first Jeff saw a black sand beach on the map. We had to stop – we have liked black sand beaches since we first saw one in Jamaica!!! As we arrived, we decided we will come back tomorrow and dip our toes in here in the morning. We did hang out here a bit looking and hoping for whales… and we SAW some. It is always so cool to see the blow of air and then the breach of a whale! Facinating!! We think it is our first sighting of whales since 2009(??). What a sight to behold!

Anyway, we went to our place and were met by 3 big, playful puppies (the mom was chained she was not as exuberant at our showing up – protective). We got checked in. Again, we are in a couple's home. He, Xavier, showed us around. His wife, Marie, does not speak English. Xavier is French, Normandy, but has lived here since 2006. He and Marie were married in 2010. He said he is 76. Her grandmother came from India to here to work in the sugar cane fields (not as a slave – he pointed out), so Marie is 3rd generation from Reunion. I found this bit fascinating. He told us to relax and shower if we wanted but to come back down for a welcome drink. We did shower then went down – I had a mango orange juice, Jeff a beer. We talked with Xavier for about 40 minutes. Then Jeff went to get us a pizza, which we ate on our balcony. Then caught up our website. Bed by nine-thirtyish.

Great day, especially seeing the whales!