Ironically enough, Reunion island has been full of….Reunions (LOL)! We were reconnected with our:
- Spanish friends on SV Miriari (Noemi and Iker),
- UK friends SV Star Charger IV (Alasadir, Gill and crew),
- French friends on SV Frankiz we met on the Sail 2 Indonesia rally,
- and of course our US friends on SV Spill The Wine (Chris and crew).
We of course met new friends, both locally and foreign, …let’s just say there has been a lot of gatherings and get together…. A few need special acknowledgement!
Again, some of these photos don’t need explanations…you get the point (LOL)!
Happy hour(s)….
SV Star Charger IV and new UK/Russian solo sailor, Andrey on SV Elliptic 
Ukelala lessons with Laura on SV Neptune’s Highway 
Impromto happy hour on C. Coquin with new cheese for Kimi to try….yeah…I am sold! 
HH on Slow Flight, one of many : ) 
It was a good night! 
Ok…we had to document our last Malasia bought beer. We had purchased duty free, 20 cases back in Langkawi, Malaysia back in January…..6 months later….done…now we need more!
The “bunny dinner”
Side story: Louise on SV C. Coquin mentioned they found “rabbit” meat here in Reunion. I had never tried rabbit before…partially because I had pet rabbit once. She offered to cook all of us a “bunny” dinner…Trevor asked if the dinner would include carrots! Claude and Louise cooked all day for us and then served it aboard Slow Flight…what an extravagant evening!
Appetizers to get the pallet ready… 
Laura knitted Louise a “rasta” bag…. 
…we made Claude put it on his head just for fun… 
She told us that it’s better to cook the rabbit the night before then finish it off just before serving. A white wine, mustard sauce…goes perfect with a Rose wine from Cote de Provenance! 
Louise dishing up “Buggs Bunny” 
Colorful…..and smells so good!!! 
Tastes even better when you share t with good friends!
Karaoke?!
One night, after a happy hour…we heard karaoke just across the marina. Trevor and I decided to crash the party…seriously, we had no idea who was over there but we thought if we brought some rum and beer…what could go wrong?!
It turns out a local liveaboard, Nana, and her freinds and family were hosting….she recognized us from the docks and when we walked up and signaled us to cover over…thank goodness….we avoided total humiliation! 
The kids were a little pooped…. 
But if Trevor and I could anything like this couple who sang together like they had just met…it was the sweetest thing to witness!
SV Miriari….Iker, Noemi, and dad….
We just fell in love with this Spanish couple way back form Rodriguez Island. When we first met them, Iker’s father was on board and ironically enough, when we saw them again, Noemi’s father was visiting them in Reunion island from Spain!
As soon as we got internet, we contacted Iker and Noemi to see how they were doing: Jobs, boat work, etc… To our delight, they invited us to the place they rented out while Noemi’s dad was visiting them in Reunion. Iker had a job working from 6 pm- 6am, the night shift so lunch it was. We rented a car so that they didn’t have to come pick up/drop us off and met them at a near by beach restaurant. At their little “abode” they served us a magnificent lunch….including seriously good belly laughs!
Trevor driving…do you notice the drivers seat is on the left? France also drives on the right side of the road….now it took us a while to get use to driving this way! So confusing (hahaha) 
Driving towards Le Salina 
THe roads even “share the road” with bicycles?! My dad would be so happy! 
Meeting at the beach resuarant…I even took a dip in the ocean! 
Ahhhh… 
NOTE: Reunion actually has shark nets to keep the sharks out of the waters where people swim…at least that is what we are told. So the beaches are crowed since there are only a few where it’s “safe to swim at. 
At thier rented place, a seriously cute patio with lots of entertaining space…. 
….and the view was spectacular! 
Course #1 – Smoked salmon with butter on a fresh baguette 
Course #2 – Gazpacho soup with fresh tomatoes, pepers, and onion…fresh baked croutons too! 
Course #3 – Spanish omelette with eggplant 
Course #4 – French pastries 
Course #5 – Rum Arrange. 
If you have to ask…yes…that is Iker wearing his underwear on his head…. 
As a sailor, you have to be creative and a good problem solver….here’s how to rig a group photo (bwhahaha) 
The crew….it was so awesome to meet Noemi’s dad who owns a newspaper stand back home. His father owed it before him…though it doesn’t sound like Noemi will be taking over the family business : ) 
Iker works on this ship at night while it is docked. He is a licensed captain and wants to get involved more with ocean going ships….we have no doubt he will, he just needs more time to acquire his contacts…and off he will go! 
We followed Iker back to Le Port where the ship he works on is located…perfect for us it was minutes away from our home.
Thank you Noemi, Iker and dad for such a glorious day with you all….We are still mixing Spanish with our broken French : ) We will miss you terribly…we hope the wind will blow our paths together sooner than later. In the mean time, we wish you both great success in Reunion and look forward to your next adventure!
Potluck # 1
Technically not my idea…Thanks to Bruce and Laura on SV Neptune’s Highway, they thought it would be a great idea to get all the cruisers, foreign and local alike, together as the marina was filling up. I agreed to do a flyer and Louise on SV C. Coquin offered to translate it into French (LOL)! it was a HIT!
Silly I know but because of the language barrier, we thought it would easier to just put it in writing. I swung by the marina office to distribute there in hopes others from the ‘old marina’ would show. Sure enough, some of the staff at the office decided to come! 
Everyone contributed…we had more food, wine, and beer than we thought people could consume…..or not! 
Angelique’s kids playing with the dock dogs 
Nana and Angelique…. 
Other cruisers from Reunion showed..thank goodness…it was great to finally met everyone! 
Noemi and Louise…beautiful women! 
Sharing stories…. 
…though I am not quite sure what these guys are pointing at (LOL) 
A liveaboard family made a showing….giving high-5’s! 
Love this bluetooth speaker….as you can see the party went well past the original 7pm time frame : )
SV Mirniy Okean…Linda’s brother (Eddy) and family
WOW…and it just keeps on getting better. It’s been a long time since we have seen our friends on SV Mirniy Okean, Carlos and Linda…almost 6 months ago. However, Linda has a brother and his family living in Reunion. She kindly connected us and we got in touch with them when we made land fall. Language was going to be a bit tricky but I think we all had a great time. Eddy, Isabelle, and their daughter, Lea met us at the marina, we walked to have lunch in Le Port, then we had them over to Slow Flight to see the boat. We of course did not know where they lived and they drove an hour 1/2 to see us…complete strangers! We were honored to say the least.
Lunch at a wonderful cafe…I just asked for the server to chose her favorite dish…I am never dissapointed when I try this strategy when ordering food in a different language and cuisine. Raw tuna with avocado and onions served with a salad….yummy! 
Meet Linda’s niece, Lea…is she the most adorable kid..that smile! 
Eddy introduced me to a few new Reunion/French artists that I instantly downladed from iTunes…thanks Eddy! 
Eddy, Isabelle,Lea, and us…
SV Spill the Wine…it’s been too long!
If you have ever heard Trevor and I speak about our Pacific Puddle Jump fleet back in 2017, you will know how special these relationships are to us. SV Spill the Wine left with us from Mexico to French Polynesia and we had the pleasure to catch back up with them in Fiji and during our season off in New Zealand. But since we left New Zealand, we have only seen 1 other boat from our 2017 PPJ fleet, Thom on SV Fathom, until now…..!!!! It was so great to catch their lines here in Reunion…I literally teared up…Sorry Chris ; )
They had just come from Rodriguez and the seas outside the harbor were 3-4 meter swells when they came in….Chris said to me…”that was nothing” after they had crossed from Darwin to Cocos Keeling, then to Rodriguez….4 meters is no big deal to them! 
Claire, crew from France, Trevor, and Captain Chris…..it was only right that we brought them a bottle of Bordeaux and a fresh baguette with a few pastries…welcome to Reunion! 
And the shenanigans begin! 
Don’t ask….. 
Snacks at the little restaurant near the marina…. 
Claire speak perfect French and Chris never needs help making friends….as a result…making quick friends is what they did…seriously…we were only there for about 1 hour. Later we find out they had the owner and staff over to STW and finished a bottle of rum off…good on ya!!!
Potluck # 2
So the last cruisers potluck was such a hit…people were asking when the next one was….so it began….again!
So much food!!!! 
Still having a great time… 
Our new local cruisers decided to endure us one more time (LOL) 
That afternoon, our friends from SV Frankiz made it to port. We hadn;t seem then since Thailand back in January? 
Susanne made it from SV Nehaj…it was so good to see her enjoying herself and getting away from teh boat is sometimes a good thing! 
Our boat neighbor was a fantastic family of 4….they even made it! 
Pizza was the unintentional theme of the potluck….lucky me! 
…more pizza….. 
Perfect salad…. 
George’s pinapple 
STW’s meat platter… 
…went perfect with Susanne’s cheese platter…. 
More wine and beer…. 
Again…way past 7 pm…. 
This time we had entertainment…. Laura on the ukulele and Chris with his traveling guitar.. 
Angelique’s son even got a few notes in from Chris’s harmonica he gave him…. 
It was a great night!!!
The night before we left port…
Trevor and I desperately wanted to see Iker and Noemi from SV Mirari before we left but since Iker sleep during the day and works in the evenings, we decided that a really early dinner would be appropriate. We knew that Neptune’s Highway and C. Coquin would love to see them as well since we all were anchored in Rodriguez together…so the guest list began…and then grew….Chris from Spill the Wine, Audrey from Elliptic, James and Lina from Aventry, and even Angelique from the marina office came….a few other local cruisers stopped by….it was another Slow Flight adventure!
Trevor and I prepared dinner of Moroccan rubbed chicken, ribs, tomato and broccoli salad, with lemon couscous for about 10 people 
And it begins….cockpit view starboard… 
…view port side. 
Angelique showed up with gifts for us?! My goodness…what an honor! 
The boys chatting it up aft… 
James and Lina with Noemi center 
Laura with Noemi. Noemi and Iker was adopted by this adorable fellow from the boat yard…he now goes where they go : ) 
Took Iker to work with Noemi….it’s so sad to leave them but I know we will keep in touch! 
After dinner more people started to show up so Host Trevor would go through our aft hatch to get beer for everyone…LOL 
Even the Dock Dogs came to hang out….
My liver needs a rest…..what better way do to that is getting underway once more….
Up next: Passage from Reunion, round the northern Cape D’Ambre , and day hopping down to Nosy Be, Madagascar.