Relax days on St. Marie

After spending the first night on St. Marie south of the main town, we are now moving to the north of the island. This means an hour's drive: the island is bigger than we thought. The hotel where we will spend the next 4 days is built in a beautiful garden and consists of 4 bungalows. It doesn't have a sandy beach but that's not a problem, the view of the wide sea from the cliffs and the viewpoint more than makes up for it.

Since there are some rocks in the water in front of the hotel, I'll go snorkeling for a short while to see what's swimming around. And even though many of the corals have died due to this year's El Niño, there are still surprisingly many fish. I see parrotfish, a large lobster, Nemos, a big barracuda, an octopus, a large school of bigeye trevallies, and much more. That makes me want to do more and I decide to go diving the next day. However, the dive center is located in the main town and the meeting point is at 7:30. That means breakfast at 6:00 and then an hour's drive with the tuk-tuk...

Once there, we continue on the boat and off to the dive site. Unfortunately, it is far from exciting. It hardly has any corals, the visibility is terrible, and we only see two crocodile fish, a lionfish, and a school of fusiliers. On top of that, I start to feel cold after just 20 minutes. As if that weren't enough, the first person runs out of air after only 30 minutes and we have to ascend. Since I'm still feeling cold on land, I decide not to do the second dive. It's a pity, but I saw more while snorkeling...

The next day, we rent a scooter and explore the island in search of a beach and an attraction. We ride all the way to the northern tip of the island. The attraction 'Piscine Naturelle' turns out to be a small, protected water basin behind rocks, where the waves of the Indian Ocean break. Every now and then, a truly spectacular wave comes in and the spray shoots up meters high. However, it doesn't invite us to go swimming, so we ride back and arrive at another place just as the rain starts, where we can have a drink and eat. It clears up again quickly and I go snorkeling for another hour. There used to be a beautiful coral garden here, but a lot has died off.

On the third day, we relax in the hotel complex, enjoy a massage, and the dolce far niente. André actually saw a big snake while taking a walk, which I had been hoping to see for weeks. Unfortunately, it didn't stay long enough for a proof photo.

The evenings here are really romantic. Every evening after sunset, hundreds of fishermen go out to sea with their pirogues (dugout canoes). They have a lamp with them to attract the small fish, which then attract the bigger ones... This is a real spectacle for us. It looks as if a city with its lights is in the sea, but it's just the many fishermen with their lamps. They sometimes stay on the water until 3 a.m. As if that weren't romantic enough, fireflies are buzzing around us and the stars are sparkling...