Beau Vallon By Bus


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Africa » Seychelles » Mahé
January 28th 2007
Published: January 28th 2007
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Hey Everyone,

Hope all is well in the States. I have been in the Seychelles for two and a half weeks now and am quite accustomed to island life. I arrived on Jan. 9th in Victoria and spent a day on the beach at Beau Vallon before i was picked up and taken to the GVI base which is a 45 min bus ride from the capital and largest city of Victoria, and a 30 min walk from Port Launay and the nearest store and bus stop. Our base is located on Cap Ternay between two idyllic beaches, grand anse and baie ternay. Baie Ternay is directly north of base and is where almost all of our diving has been so far. We have been diving every day except for Wednesdays and weekends and i have logged 17 dives and several hours of snorkeling. The members and staff of the expedition come from all over, there are 2 girls from the US, one from Australia, one Kiwi, 2 canadians, one girl from mexico and the rest are scattered about the UK. So i am taking in more than just Seychellois culture.

Life on the base is no resort. We are fairly self sustained and have plenty of chores such as: cooking and baking our own bread, refilling oxygen tanks on the compressor for diving, re-fueling, cleaning, and repairing out boat "manta", cleaning and drying the kit, weekly trips into Victoria to buy our food ( our main staples are rice, lentils, pasta, semi-fresh veggies, and porridge), radio duty, and the cleaning of everything else on the base. All of this work begins at 6am and with daily lectures on corals, turtles, and the various marine invertebrates we are currently studying and a few hours of diving, our days are plenty busy. Last week's diving consisted of power point and underwater Coral ID tests with plenty of fun latin names like Siderastreidae, psammacora and Poritidae, goniopora and many many more. Me and four others were the first to pass both tests friday (passing being a 95% or higher on the power point tests and a 100% on underwater tests). We will begin our coral surveys tommorow which consist of laying out quadrants and transects underwater and recording the frequency, size and distribution of all of the 50+ coral species we have learned and are native to the Seychelles. All the information we gather, and that has been gathered from GVI Seychelles since 1999 is handed over to SCMRT-MPA (Seychelles Center for Marine Research and Technology - Marine Parks Authority. which also operates from our base) for further analysis.

On the weekends there is time to relax and a much deserved BBQ. The local beer, SeyBrew is very expensive at 15 rupees or about 3 dollars a bottle, but the rum is cheap and tastes like petrol with sugar added. On the weekends i keep myself busy exploring miles of untouched beaches and climbing on the huge granitic boulders that cover the island. The first group of four left for Silhouette island this saturday for a week of sea turtle nesting surveys ( I saw my first turtle hatchling last friday in BT centre reef... it looked lost) Silhouette is a nearly uninhabited island 25 miles north of Cap Ternay and we take turns monitoring the beaches for Nesting Hawksbill and green turtles and hatchlings.

Thats all i've got for now.. I hope school is going well for everyone, I can't say that i miss it yet.


Cheers,

~Paul


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28th January 2007

WOW
Paul this all sounds AMAZING! This is a wonderful and perfect experience for you! I am happy to hear from you! Keep those pictures coming...everything looks so beautiful and pristine I wish I was there. I miss you and have fun and stay safe!
28th January 2007

Good to hear from you Paul. The Seychelles look sick man, I am sure it was not to hard to become accustomed to island life, I am totally jealous. I certainly have not had any problem getting used to mountain life in Tahoe, besides the fact that there is less snow then there has been in years, still have got a few sick days. Enjoy your time out of the country, you won't want to come back to the states, trust me. I am already planning my next trip to South America. Take it easy man and hope to see you out here in March when it is dumping! Peace
28th January 2007

yo
Paul - sounds frickin' awesome...i can't wait to go to Africa. Keep in touch, when do you get back? You're sorely missed, I cry nightly :-(
29th January 2007

Lean mean, diving machine
It sounds like you will shed a few pounds on this 1/2 way around the world adventure....between costly beer, a veggie diet ( the horror of lentils), and all of the physical exercise. You may return to Colorado and be at a physical peak to do your technical rock climbing. All the best. Keep those photos coming. A picture is worth a 1000 words
29th January 2007

we miss you
whats up paul, great to hear from you. That island sounds really fun I wish I was there. I couldn't get your pictures to work, I might just be retarded. Any ways I have to go to class not go diving in the ocean you ass. well keep us informed and I wanrt some pics Watch out for sharks and such. SLOTH
30th January 2007

Hey Paul!
Paul, Too cool! It looks like you're in paradise...very nice. I know you and your crew have your work cut out for you and lots of duties, but what a neat experience....not to mention that place looks gorgeous. I'm officially jealous! I just spent my last week in the hospital for some sort of intestinal infection...it was about as unpleasant as it sounds. Fortunately, I felt better in time for my birthday party/dinner held at Chewey's(spelling?) with about 35 of my close friends and family. Your mom joined us for the dinner and it was nice having her there....she got to visit a little with a few of my friends and play with one of their babies....it was nice and everyone had a good time. Although, the way your mom was hogging(she would hardly share) and playing with that baby got me thinking that she wants to be a grandmother sometime soon...haha....I don't know if anyone is really ready for that. Anyway, I have a lot to catch up on from the last week that I missed.....and not really looking forward to it but it is one of those things that has to be done. I'm real behind at work especially...you wouldn't think it with coaching tumbling, but where I'm a director of the tumbling program, there is so much paper work/organizing and phone calls and making up private lessons that I missed....I work one of those jobs that really stinks to miss. Well, I'm excited for you and am glad that you get this experience. I look forward to your future travelblog updates. Be thankful, you are one in few that get to experience Seychelle-like adventures. So, take care and I will chat with you later, David
30th January 2007

miss borrowing your stuff
Maybe you'll be able to martyr yoself like the crocodile hunter and try to hump one of those eagle rays.
31st January 2007

you rule
paul you are the most awesome person ever, and i love you. You lucky bastard

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