It's not that scary once you get used to it

Days 43 to 45 - Saint Pierre

Day 43

We had to be at the airport for our helicopter flight by 7:30am, while driving there we could see a lot of the mountains in cloud but it appeared to be clearing. There were only two flights scheduled that day, we were on the second one. The first one was delayed about 45 minutes and by the time it was our turn we couldn't fly over the Piton de La Fournaise volcano (one of the most active volcanoes in the world, last erupting in August 2023) because of cloud. We did however manage to see the amazing landscape of the island, with views that could only be seen from the air, into areas that can only be reached on foot after a long hike. 

The helicopter was going close to the mountains and cliffs, manoeuvring through crevices and hovering near waterfalls, in the beginning it was a bit scary, by the time we relaxed and started to really enjoy it our 45 minutes was over. Everyone had a great time and it was well worth it, even if we couldn't see the volcano.

It was only a 15 minute drive back to our apartment and by the time we arrived it was raining very heavily, we were so lucky to get the helicopter ride in. We went across the road to a nice bakery, bought some baguettes and cakes and ordered a cappuccino, no idea what went wrong but we ended up with what seemed to be a hot chocolate! 

  

Day 44

As we'd missed flying over the volcano we decided to take a drive up there. We drove for about an hour and a half, up some very windy roads, though they were surprisingly good quality (except when Google maps got lost and took us onto some goat tracks). The landscape changed from green pasture and cattle to desolate lava fields at the Plain des Sables.  

We drove across to the crater viewpoints when the clouds descended and the rain started. In between showers we managed to peer over the rim and see a vague outline of the crater in the mist, it is possible to do the 5 hour return hike to see it close up, but we had decided not to do it.

On the way back our navigation played up again, taking us back to Saint Pierre via a rough, narrow, winding road in the fog and rain.

Day 45

Our last full day so we headed east to visit the town of Saint Phillippe for lunch, however we discovered it wasn't quite what we'd expected, there wasn't much in the way of cafes or restaurants on the water, rather it was more like holiday houses and rentals with all the shops on the main road some distance from the coast. 

We drove back towards Saint Phillipe, stopping at Cap Machant along the way, where there are some interesting rock formations on the water caused by lava flows. There was a nice (and quite busy) restaurant here so we had lunch, then walked along the coast to see the lava cliffs, smoothed over time by the crashing waves.

Back in Saint Pierre M explored the town, finding that there were lots of small beaches and informal bars heading north from where we were.