Local time: January 29, 2014
Wednesday was the biggest highlight of the trip. The amount of photos in the diary is also more.
The first stop of the day was « Helilagon », yes the helicopter tour that was postponed two days ago, they had changed the tour to 8am, an hour earlier than two days ago.
We woke up at 6am and left the hotel at 6:30am.
Apparently, there is a traffic jam here and there in the city on this day. Moreover, there is a situation where there are many places that do not go at all quite badly. It was a hardship just to go out to the main road from the hotel.
Somehow we managed to reach the main road, and we planned to have breakfast at a gas station on the main road as we did two days ago, but for some reason, there was a huge queue at all the gas stations and no sign of being able to get in. Why on earth?
We had no choice but to give up breakfast and head for Helllagon helipad without eating anything.
However, the road to the helipad was also jammed with traffic, probably due to the huge queue at the gas station, and there was no sign of progress.
We were going to be late, but we took a tactful detour and arrived at the heliport just in time for the reception at 7:45.
It was a beautiful sunny day, but unfortunately, we could not see the volcano and the valley of Sarajee because of the bad weather. It became.
Nevertheless, we were fortunate to be able to see Siraus, which we had visited the day before, from above.
The helicopter we are going to board is No.15. This kind of plate will be your boarding pass.
Wait in the lobby where the reception desk is until 8:00. You are not allowed to bring your bag when you board the helicopter, but of course you can bring your camera.
After 8 o’clock, we boarded the plane with three other tourists. We were guided into the heliport.
Then we go inside the helicopter.
In the front right of the helicopter is the cockpit, and of course the pilot and guide will be sitting here. He will guide you in French and English. We were the only 3 tourists from mainland France, so the English guide was there for us.
In addition, there were two seats in the front, where two women sat, and four seats in the back, where the remaining three men sat.
Take your seat and put on your seatbelt. The seat belt is exactly the same type as in an airplane.
Then put on the headphones. This is to listen to the guide on the microphone.
Now that you’re ready, it’s time to go!
Here’s the video (after editing) from my iPhone attached to the top of my DSLR!
This device was so good!
Below are some photos to highlight.
Before you know it, you’re already this high!
First we went to the « Valley of Mahato » near the helipad, then over the ridge to the « Valley of Silaos » which we visited the day before.
The highest point of the island, Piton des Neiges, which we couldn’t see the day before because of the weather, was also clearly visible on this day.
We could also see Siraus from the sky.
Normally, we would have gone to the « Valley of Salazie » where El Bourg, the most beautiful village in France, is located, and then to the « Volcano: Piton de la Fournaise », which we visited on the first day, but due to bad weather, we had to turn back immediately after seeing Siraus.
We went over the edge of the sharp ridge again to the western coastal area where the helipad is located.
By the way, a rainbow was formed around the shadow of the helicopter, I wonder what the principle is…
I wonder if it is because the rotation of the helicopter propeller acted as a diffraction grating. It was a very interesting photo.
At the end, you can see the coastline of Saint-Gilles-les-Bains from above and
Then it was back to the helipad again.
The flight time was about 25 minutes, and it was a very quick flight.
The helicopter is more stable than I thought, I think the ride was good. However, because it seems to get drunk in the G when a sudden descent and a sharp turn on the way, I think that people who are weak in the vehicle need anti-sickness. Also, I think it’s tough for people who are afraid of heights. If you like high places, you will not be disappointed.
After the helipad, we headed to the town of Saint-Gilles-les-Bains, which we had seen from the sky earlier, and it was only 9 o’clock at this point. It was only 9 o’clock at this point, still a long day. We hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we decided to have breakfast in this town, but there was still a big traffic jam here. It was very difficult to enter the town.
Apparently, there is a huge traffic jam of cars going to the gas station here as well. Why on earth? Is there a big discount on gasoline on this day? The mystery only deepens.
Fortunately, I found a loophole and was able to reach the city safely avoiding the stand traffic.
There was a market near where we parked the car, and we could buy some bread, samosas and other small snacks there, so we had this for breakfast.
After having breakfast, we went to this market to buy some souvenirs.
The specialty of this area is « Vanilla » and « Spice ».
After breakfast, we headed to the aquarium in the city of lakes, which was closed two days ago. This day it was open.
It was very small, but a great spot to cool off.
After exploring the everlasting summer of Saint-Gilles-les-Bains.
The next stop was Saint-Denis, the capital city. We went to a museum called XX here.
To be honest, there wasn’t much of a collection.
I hadn’t been to Saint-Denis since my first day, but that was on a Sunday when I arrived, so most of the shops were closed and the atmosphere wasn’t very lively, but on this day many of the shops were open and the atmosphere was much livelier than it had been on my first visit.
However, in this city, there are many places where you can have a snack such as fast food and snacks, but not many restaurants.
We had no choice but to have lunch at a café-restaurant « Roland-Garros » in the Harachois area, where we knew there were several restaurants along the coastline that we had explored a bit on the first day.
Nice weather, it’s always summer. Beer is so good again!
Here we had curry, the so-called local « Creole cuisine », and banana boat for dessert.
Although the picture doesn’t show it, the vanilla ice cream underneath had a rich and wonderful flavor. The banana itself was also delicious, as you would expect from a tropical country.
Then we took an hour to go back home to St. Pierre. I took a quick swim in the hotel pool to work up a sweat, and then took a nap.
Dinner was the same as two days ago, but I had a light dinner at the hotel and had some snacks.
You are able to travel without spending too much on food this time.
Tomorrow is the last day of our trip, and we’re praying for the weather to improve so we can visit the volcanoes we haven’t visited yet. Of course we will wake up early in the morning to take into account the climate of this island.
すぐチェックアウトできるように、荷物の整理をした後、早めの就寝をしました。（続く）
