Idyllic Seychelles

So here begins the part of our journey that we didn't anticipate when we left home in December.  At this point we were supposed to be heading to Aqaba, Jordan and a visit to Petra, instead we are still in the Indian Ocean and sailing to the island of Mauritius as we make our way around Africa due to safety concerns in the Red Sea.  We'll visit 14 ports in Africa, it was 16 but we've already lost a second stop in the Seychelles and one in Madagascar due to a approaching tropical cyclone.  The first port on this part of the trip is Mahe Island, most populous of the Seychelle Islands.  I hope you'll enjoy this unexpected but exciting journey with us as we make our way to Corfu, Greece where we will pick up our previous itinerary.  We are thrilled to be able to see places we would probably have never seen otherwise.

I took this photo just outside the Victoria, Mahe airport as we waited for our guide and transport to our hotel in Beau Vallon on the other side of the island.

Here's a map to give you an idea of where we were.  The Seychelles Archipelago is made up of 115 islands, the largest is Mahe, where the capital, Victoria, is located.  Nearby are Praslin & La Digue which are the other two main islands.  Only eight of the islands are permanently inhabited and 90% of the population of about 108,00 live on Mahe.  It's a pretty small place and a far cry from what it was like in Dubai.

The islands themselves are made up of granite and coral, quite mountainous, with absolutely gorgeous beaches.  We were off on a tour of some of the best of them before getting settled in at our hotel after our 2:15 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. flight from Dubai.

I'm going to give you a head's up right now that this post will be loaded with beach pictures and not much else, except some gorgeous sunset photos from one night at the hotel.  So if you're not into beaches you may not enjoy this one.

We were glad we did the beach tour the day we got there because Karl was too busy diving to go anywhere else and I was too happy vegetating to go explore.

This lovely spot is Anse Royale Beach..

I do have to mention here as well that the calm waters we experienced at the beaches on our tour were different from the wind and waves near the Coral Strand Hotel where we stayed.  It was abnormally windy there making it dangerous to swim in the ocean.

The sun worked to come out but sometimes there was the blanket of cloud like you see in this photo.

We all enjoyed dipping our feet in the warm water and soft sand here.

Another warning for this post is that there are a lot of selfies, I tried to take one at each beach we stopped at.

A little of the greenery from the sea and some that was on the shore.

It was fun to see this spear fisherman balanced out on the end of the boat.  Just moments after I took this picture he had speared a good sized fish and threw it into the boat.

A couple of cautionary signs greeted us at our next stop,

Grand Anse Beach.

You can see the little island from the previous photos as shifted position here, letting you know that these two lovely spots are not far from one another.

Grand Anse had long stretches of sand and relatively gentle waves, 

along with greenery beyond that soft sand.

We stopped for long views of Port Launay Beach

before heading down to it.

The color of the water was unbelievable!  While not quite as clear as Mo'orea it was absolute eye candy.

My one and only flower photo for this post.

I loved this beautiful old tree near the beach.

Now we were down on Port Launay Beach.  Lots of boats anchored here and each of the roofs that you can see was a hotel bungalow.  What views!

Look at that water!

The cross here is to commemorate a shipwreck on the rocks and the people who lost their lives there.

It's a bit hard to see him but Karl finally succumbed to the lure of the sea and had to get completely in, just his toes wasn't enough.  

Oh those blues!

Next stop was Port Claud Beach.  This structure was the first hotel on Mahe.  Looking closely you can see that it's no longer in use.

Beach settings don't get much more beautiful than this.

Clear, warm waters and sunshine, this guy was one happy camper.

How would you like to take swim lessons here?  That's just what these little girls were doing.  Their swim teacher chatted with us a bit, as did their mom, or at least it was one of them's mom, who was sitting in the shade nearby.

Color for contrast.

Climbing the nearby rocks gave me a view of this beach across the way.

Coral imprints in the rocks.

Check out the breaking wave here.

An artsy shot that wasn't as good as I had hoped.

Lots of bits of broken coral here along the rocks.

One more picture with all the lovely colors.

I just had to stop and talk to these cuties for a moment or two, and then asked them and their supervising adults, if I could take a picture.  Aren't they adorable?

One more beach before we stopped for lunch.  I think this one was called Carana.  My phone tells me that I was taking the photos from Morne Seychellois National Park.  It was certainly tropical enough to be a park.

Sun was getting warmer so it was time to make sure I had a hat on!

If this doesn't look like a tropical paradise to you I can't imagine what would.

When we told our guide we'd like a lunch stop where we could get some local dishes she said she had just the place for us and made a reservation at Marie Antoinette, a local favorite for over 50 years.

The colonial style house you find it in is over 100 years old and as this sign says, it was declared a national monument of the Seychelles in 2011.

You can see that it sits in the hills above the capital of Victoria, has a lovely courtyard and a pretty red roof.

What we didn't expect to see there were giant tortoises! 

Apparently the Seychelles are famous for them, a species called the Aldabra-Seychelles Giant Tortoise.  They actually had a few more of them out behind our hotel.  They were almost hunted to extinction by European sailors in the 19th century.

Thankfully they have rebounded and you can find them throughout the Seychelles,  Fun fact, did you know that a group of tortoises is called a creep?

Here are the dishes that are a part of the "Signature Board" that Marie Antoinette is famous for, a part of their menu that hasn't changed since the Kathleen Fonseka created it and opened the doors in 1972.  It includes Chicken Coconut curry (the best I've ever eaten!), Grilled Fish, Tuna Steak with Creole Salsa, Parrotfish Fritters, Eggplant Fritters, Mango Salad, Green Salad, Fruit Chutney, Coconut Chutney (super good!), Rice and Fresh Crushed Chillies (didn't try these!).  It was so much food and sooooo delicious!  Thankfully Karl and I shared all the dishes otherwise we'd never have been able to eat a whole set meal on our own.  He did eat all the Parrotfish so I didn't get to try those.  It was all a most memorable meal!

Even though we barely had room left we had ordered dessert.  I wanted to try the Coconut Nougat, there on the left, which was shredded coconut that had been cooked in brown sugar and bananas, topped with the creamiest vanilla ice cream I'd had in a long time.  Scrumptious!  Karl had wanted to try the local favorite, Ladob, which was either breadruit or sweet potato cooked in coconut milk and vanilla), but when it came time for dessert we found out they were out of it that day.  He opted instead for the Caramalised Bananas with ice cream.  These were bananas cooked in orange juice with a dash of rum, good, but I liked mine better.  We never did find any Ladob to try.

This is Jessica Fonseka who now owns and runs the restaurant her granny, Kathleen, pictured behind her, opened after the tourist industry began in the Seychelles and there were no restaurants serving the local Creole foods.  Jessica was our waitress that day and is justifiably proud of this establishment started by her grandmother, run by her father, and now in her capable hands.  Marie Antoinette is definitely a gem in the Seychelles. 

Having revived with some food in our stomachs we had one more beach stop on our way to the Coral Strand Hotel, a beautiful photo op.

And just like all the other beaches, either empty of tourists or just one or two people there.

We were looking forward to our next couple of days here in the Seychelles!

Just being artsy with these photos.

Hot and sweaty, we got checked in to the hotel.  This was the view from our balcony window.  The room wasn't fancy, wasn't very modern, but it had air conditioning and at that point that was all we needed!

I was glad for the pool since the wind had the waves coming in pretty strong.  You could stand out there in the water and get a nice body massage with the waves hitting you from either side, but you really couldn't do any swimming and floating like I had hoped to do.  The water in the pool was the same temp as the ocean and both were just about perfect.  I have the sunburn to prove I spent time by the pool, but let it be said that I did apply sunscreen and tried to stay in the shade.  Unfortunately I think the sweat pouring off of me dissolved the sunscreen and that near equatorial sun is brutal!

On Mother's Day, the 12th, we went in search of a restaurant Karl had heard about from the dive shop owner.  Turns out that they only did a buffet, were expensive (as was the food at the hotel), and didn't open until 7:00.  We bagged that idea and headed back to the hotel for their fish and chips.  There was this exercise park on the walkway along the beach so Karl had me take a photo of him lifting weights.  One rep was enough!

The sun was beginning to go down there along the beach,

and while we ate the sky turned a fiery red.

This was my favorite photo of all the ones I took.

After my chicken and chips I had a piece of Coconut Key Lime Pie.  Happy Mother's Day to me!  It was quite yummy and while I ate

the sky continued to transform from one glorious

scene to another, such a visual treat.

Finally it was farewell to the sun and time to head inside.

The next morning I noticed this little fellow crawling the wood trim along the ceiling.  At first I thought we needed to catch hi to get him out of there, (what if he crawled in my suitcase!), then decided he wasn't hurting anything and was maybe keeping some bugs away.  Besides, I knew it would make Kara happy to know we had a lizard in our room with us.

Tuesday afternoon it was time to say goodbye to the relaxing Coral Strand and head back home to Serenade.  One last photo of the area before our taxi drove us the 20 minutes to port.  Karl was off on a final dive so I managed his big suitcase, my suitcase and a bag I was taking to the ship for LeaAnn and Chuck. They had been there with us on Mahe but were heading off to Kenya on a safari for a couple weeks.  They'll catch up in Cape Town.  I wouldn't mention all the luggage but dragging it along had me perspiring, and Victoria so far wins the prize for the smelliest port we've been in.  The odor was almost enough to rival the Mumbai fish market and we had to walk a long way to get to the ship!  There was a tuna processing plant next door that was causing the stench.  Even on the ship you couldn't be outside or it would overwhelm you.  Nasty, just nasty!  Karl finally got back on board around 4:45, about 15 minutes after I'd gotten a call asking if Mr. Karl was going to be getting back on the ship today.  I had to assure Customer Relations that he'd be there any minute!  He did get back 45 minutes before all onboard but it felt like he was cutting it close.  

Wednesday morning, the 15th, we looked forward to one more day in the Seychelles at La Digue Island, with a plan to dive and snorkel, but it just wasn't to be.  Those darn tender ports! It was lovely to take a break from sightseeing and moving and just stay put for a few days in the Seychelles.  Now it's off to Mauritius to see what kinds of adventures we can have as we spend two days there!