May 20th

At 8:00 AM, the "shuttle service" from the Bleu Marine dive center in Saint-Gilles-les-Bains picks us up.

Olivier, the driver, will also be our guide for the first dive.

A very friendly team welcomes us and promptly kits us out with all the necessary equipment. Our English skills serve us well here too. Apart from the owner Yves Reignier, almost everyone speaks some English. The center makes an excellent impression and we're looking forward to the first dive.

Once our gear is stowed on the boat, we head out to sea. Just before 10:00 AM, we jump into the water at the dive spot known as the Canyon. Over the course of nearly 60 minutes, we encounter a sea turtle, a large octopus, countless clownfish, moray eels, cuttlefish, starfish, and the volcanic lava flows that formed a canyon-like underwater landscape as they cooled. All in all, a wonderful and impressive dive.

We have almost 2 hours to spare and use the time for a stroll around the harbor area. Everywhere you look, people are fishing and the odd deep-sea fisherman has landed a hefty catch. The fierce storm raging today will unfortunately make diving impossible for the rest of our holiday.

Our second dive spot is equally exciting. We spend nearly 50 minutes at a maximum depth of 19.5 meters. We come across groupers, masses of clownfish, moray eels, lionfish and — last but not least — a stonefish.

To round off the day, we sit at the dive center, enjoying a customary Dodo beer while watching the sunset and browsing photos from last July. For a while, whales were spotted off the coast — whales that normally head for Madagascar. The divers managed to get within centimeters of the animals and took the most incredible photos — jealousy-inducing and a good reason to come back.

For your planning: whales can mainly be seen between July and October.

Today we brave the bus to Saint-Gilles-les-Bains. Once you've figured out the timetables and know which line to take, it works out quite well. Wave when the bus comes — otherwise it's gone in a flash. When you want to get off, just clap your hands loudly. Unusual, but it works. We hop off right on the main street and spend a while browsing the many small, well-stocked boutiques. Most of the shop owners we chat with are mainland Europeans who ended up staying here to enjoy the good life.

Saint-Gilles-les-Bains has become the most popular seaside resort on Réunion. Along the main street, you'll find plenty of restaurants, bars, supermarkets and cafés. A bit further along, we discover a casino and nightclubs. Via the Rue Général-de-Gaulle, you walk straight to the yacht harbor. Here you'll also find the Port Miniature with its fun mini paddle boats.

The saltwater Aquarium de la Réunion can also be found here at the Port de Pêche.

We spend a long time sitting between the town center and the harbor, enjoying the towering waves crashing ashore today — much to the surfers' delight. Not everyone, however, is up to the challenge. Normally, this is also the beach of Saint-Gilles, but today it's largely underwater and the waves frequently break against the restaurant's sea wall.