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Sunset over Praslin
On our hike to the top of La Digue we ended up stopping to watch the sunset from a restaurant called Snack Bellevue - a beautiful place to end the day. Seychelles has always been on my list of places to go since I did a report on the smallest member of the United Nations in 10th grade. These amazing islands were uninhabited until British ships began blockading slave ships from Eastern Africa and dropping the freed slaves on the islands that they call the Garden of Eden. There are also stories (truth and legend) that pirates left numerous buried treasures on the island...
Though we didn't find any gold these islands did not disappoint.
We arrived with no hotel plans - we found out that is a HUGE no, no in the Seychelles. Wasn't that big of a problem really, but they looked at us like we were from another planet. They have an immigration officer sitting at a table that they send you to who is the offical travel agent for the independent traveler with no reservations (we were the only ones on our whole plane). It worked out fine as she assigned us to a nice guesthouse in the Northern part of Mahe called Daniellas's Bungalows.
(For Travelers: You need to know that Seychelles is not really that affordable at the "official" exhange rate of 7.9
The beaches were picture perfect...
the gal in the picture isn't bad either huh? :-) rupee per dollar or 12.4 rupees per Euro. The blackmarket exchange rate as of April 2008 is around 10 or 11-1 for the dollar and 16-17 to one for the Euro -- better in Victoria than elsewhere -- although we heard rumors of higher for the Euro, even as high as 19, but we never actually confirmed that with anyone. It cuts down on your cost by over 20%, but it is illegal so make up your own mind. Carry Euros cash at a minimum and offer to pay in cash, you WILL get a discount).
Mahe is the biggest island and is the home of the international airport, the capital Victoria, and about 90% of the population of the Seychelles. Our plan was to go to the small island of La Digue for two days, then return to Mahe to a little hotel on the West Coast of Mahe to relax and enjoy the beach. Our first day in Mahe was spent sleeping and recovering from the long travels, seeing Beau Vallon Beach, and doing some work on the internet.
On day #2 we rented a car and drove around this beautiful island (in search of the
hotel we would return to after La Digue)...but we found that many places were less than welcoming. They had an influx of travelers and didn't feel like they need to provide any service. So we decided to just go to La Digue and make our way from there.
We had a cool experience...we caught a small cargo boat that allows travelers to tag along for $15 Euro per person -- a steal! And a three and half hour trip we arrived on the perfect little island of La Digue (the boat leaves everyday for the same port as the CocoCat ferry at around 12:00-12:30 pm, returns the next morning leaving La Digue at 5:00 am). Although if you get seasick it is a little dodgy being on the open sea in a little overloaded cargo boat -- but hey, to save $30 Euro per person it is worth it.
La Digue has a small population, so you can walk or ride a bike all over, and there are only a few cars. The road is a concreate path that just makes the island so quaint. Within a day we had decided that we had found a piece of
paradise and that this is where we would stay for all but three of our days in the Seychelle Islands.
On day one we walked around the northern tip to the east side of the island. Great walk, and the beaches were good at high tide...not so pleaseant at low tide. The NE side was really the part of the island good for snorkeling but, the beaches were only nice at high tide.
The next day we visted the southwest corner of the island with 4 beaches that you have to see to believe. They are the beaches out of every beach brochure you have ever seen. The sand was white powder and the ocean was almost too warm of all things. We enjoyed the beach, the sun, the water, our hotel, the food, can we say more? We LOVED the Seychelle Islands!!!
All the next few days run together but we did get to do one dive. On one dive we saw a white tip shark, a turtle up really close, and an eagle ray...all in one dive...and the guide was apologetic because the overcast sky didn't get us a good view and we didn't see
that many of the big fish. But we were both we very impressed!
We spent the next day on the very hyped beach of Anse de Source Agent. They do have huge turtles in a big pen...which was cool. But there was a ton of people and the beach wasn't that nice, it was the granite rocks that made it beautiful. Besides that its 4 Euro or 5 dollars per person just to get onto the beach. I guess you would discribe the beach as picturesque, but not a great 'laying on the sand' day at the beach. We took a ton of pictures and then found a nice private little spot for ourselves. Again the beach is nice, but just take your pictures and plan on heading to the other side of the island for sun and breathing room.
Another day we took a boat out to the well known Coco Island for snorkeling and pictures...then we went to the next island of Felicity and did some more snokeling. Jess spotted a little black tip reef shark..it was really cute. We followed the little shark and then came across two green turtles just making their way through
Our transport to La Digue on a local cargo ship
Not exactly the picture of comfort, but it got us there and at a fraction of the price as the ferry would have. the shallow coral. Great day on the boat and in the water.
A few days we enjoyed the use of bikes, but really we just liked to walk everywhere.
We were back to the beaches in the southwest corner of the island for most days. Talk about relaxing!!!
We enjoyed the fresh fish at all the restaurants and tried just about all of them over the next week.
We stayed in the Zerof Guesthouse...which we loved the room and the hostess. The price was fair in comparison to the guide books and Madeline the owner/manager fixes everything for you, she is wonderful. We recommmend the guesthouse for the rooms and the hostess...but be prepared to be a little disappointed if you ask questions of anyone else in the guesthouse. The hotel is between the town and the best beaches, which we found convenient. It is about 1 km away from town and inland from the beach. We liked the distance - it was a great way to have a nice walk after dinner and back to our room. But bikes are always around and an easy way to fly around the island.
BTW: We didn't
Grand 'Anse Beach
This beach had the perfect sand and water deep enough to swim in any time of day. We rode bikes two days and walked another to get here - it was our favorite beach on La Digue by far. find a hotel or guesthouse on the island of LaDigue that had a great "beach front setting" as the best beaches have no hotels, and the beaches that do are really shallow at low-tide and have the strong odor of decomposing kelp.
Ask Madeline about day trips to other islands or going fishing. Her brother Kevin is a tour guide, we had a great afternoon with him.
(Travelers: The guesthouse used to be just a restaurant but they have added four new rooms. We had a great breakfast each morning and a new comfortable room for 70 euros a night. They gave us the new website of:
but that wasn't working when I checked. Try the two phone numbers at +00248-234067 and +00248-234439 -- but e-mail us if you are thinking about staying there and want some advice on the pricing. We learned alot after we made our deal...so we could really help you out by cutting your cost by alot.
You cannot miss making the hike up to to the restaurant Snack Bellevue about 275 meters up the hill (La Digue is around 333 meters tall and you can hike to the top from Ox-cart to the beach
Life moves a little slower in La Digue. There are almost no cars on the entire island. Everyone gets around by bike, walking or the occasional ox-cart. the restaurant in about 20-25 minutes). The sunsets over the island of Praslin to the west just make you stare in awe (see the first picture).
Really we had 11 days of hanging out on some of the most gorgeous islands in the world, playing on beaches, having fun in the water, and eating great seafood and fresh fruits. It was just wonderful!!! We LOVED the Seychelle Islands!
We were sad to leave such a beautiful and relaxing place, but we are excited for our two weeks of safari in the plains of East Africa -- so Kenya and Tanzania here we come.
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cheryl
non-member comment
beautiful!
You both look great! It's so wonderful to have this blog site going and see a little of what you're seeing! Love ya both and miss you tons! Love, Cher