Blog 12 Seychelles

Blog 12 – Seychelles

Tuesday 23^rd February

We arrive in Victoria, capital of Mahe, Seychelles in the early morning. We arranged our own tour for the day along with a couple of fellow guests, so after breakfast we walk down the gangway (a blast of heat and humidity hitting us immediately!) and find Alrick  our guide for the day from discoveragritours waiting for us on the quayside.  He escorts us to a spotless and more to the point air conditioned people carrier and off we set full of excitement and expectation to explore the island for the day. Firstly, he shows us a bit of Victoria, one of the smallest capitals in the world. We visit a Hindu temple and then the colourful daily market – a lot cleaner than the one on Zanzibar! Our next stop is at a restaurant where Alrick produces a coco de mer nut from behind the building. It is the heaviest and largest nut in the world, endemic to the Seychelles and I think you will agree quite an amazing shape!!

 

We then ascend up a winding road called Sans Souci Road, through incredibly lush tropical vegetation and with spectacular views until we come to Mission Lodge in the Morne Seychellois National Park. There is an excellent vantage point here, also the site of an old school for freed slave children. As well as enjoying the sea and mountain views we are lucky enough to spot tropic birds flying in the valley. We descend to the west side of the island where we stop at several beautiful (underlined) tropical bays in idyllic settings Alrick tells us that the beaches are narrower than they used to be due to climate change/effect of the tsunami. As we drive along he stops suddenly as he spots a Blue Pigeon at close quarters in a tree. A brilliant sighting of an endemic Seychellois bird.

 

We stop for a late lunch at a beachside restaurant. Have to wait quite a while for the food to appear, but it doesn’t really matter as the setting is more than agreeable and there is shade.

 After lunch we stop at a quiet, beach and have a swim. Perfect end to a great tour in which we not only got a really good overview of Mahe but also learnt a lot about the way of life here, and the flora and fauna.

Having said our farewells to Alrick, we embark Boudicca. In the early evening there is a local Creole song and dance group. We get inveigled into dancing with them – only briefly thank goodness.

Boudicca stays overnight in port here, just astern of Costa Romantika. We think Boudicca looks much more the business than Costa!

Wednesday 24^th February

Boudicca leaves Mahe early in the morning and by 0800 we are anchored off Praslin Island, close by. Another HOT and HUMID day! We are on a Fred Olsen tour today – the Trail of Franz Ferdinand. We go ashore on the first tender and from the quayside there is a very short bus ride to the start of the trail through this Coco de Mer forest.  Our guide leads us up the trail – and up it certainly is! We did not realize that it was going to a 1100 ft ascent with MANY steps! 

The path is good and Gemma our guide takes us slowly, both to explain and show us things en route, but also because of the humidity.  We see many indigenous palms over and above the coco de mer palms, also ghekkos, skinks, birds including the Black Parrot. By the time we reach the summit we are dripping in sweat, but we are rewarded by a stupendous view of the entire island archipelago and the wonderful, turquoise colour of the water. We are so lucky to see this view as just as we start to descend it starts to rain heavily. Actually that is quite refreshing! Down at the bottom we have to wait a while for the bus to take us back to the ship. Another memorable day out. The anchor is raised at 1700 and we sail away and later pass lots of neighbouring islands in the beautiful twilight. The stuff of dreams!

Thurday 25^th February

We are now en route to Salalah, Oman. We cross the Equator this morning so that is us back in the Northern Hemisphere. Can’t say we notice any change in the temperature! An extremely hot day with humidity too.

It being a sea day we return to life on board – interesting lectures by port lecturer, naturalists, historians etc. Walks round the deck to keep a modicum of fitness, swim in the pool, piano recitals and choir.