Finally, a full day off. I decided to take advantage of it by heading up into the mountains. Mahe Island is a granite formation, unlike most oceanic islands which are coral formations. As a result, there are mountains which rise up over 900 metres above sea level. Mostly they are covered by a thick mountain forest, but some places reveal steep granite cliff faces. I caught a bus up the Sans Soucis road which goes across the highest part of the island. The road consists of steep narrow switchbacks, and I tried to avoid thinking about what would happen if [View Full Entry]

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[url='/Videos/3440.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3440.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'] Revival It’s been almost two weeks since I arrived in the Seychelles, and I’m sure some of you are wondering to yourselves, “is Mark actually doing anything while he’s there?” So to reassure you that I’m keeping busy, here are few days in my life in the Seychelles. On Friday, which normally is supposed to be my day off, Christine and I went to the airport to celebrate a service with the firefighters to kick off their celebration of International Fir [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone, Sorry its been a while, i have been keeping busy out here leading dives and hanging out with megafauna. We work 14 hour days here and don't get much of a weekend, but the diving and the people make it worthwhile. last week on the safety stop of a LIT dive i was leading, we spotted a 13 ft. manta ray cruising by. Other than diving me and karen the other intern have been busy preparing lesson plans for community work with the international school kids. I will be off to Curieuse island next week to lead my [View Full Entry]

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One of the remarkable things about the Seychelles is the diversity and uniqueness of the flora and fauna. There are a huge number of plant and animal species that are found only in these islands. It is in this way a lot like the Galapagos Islands, those remote islands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru which were the inspiration for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. It could easily have been the Seychelles that served as the catalyst for Darwin’s theories. On these 100 plus islands are found flightless birds, bug eating plants, the mythical Coco de Mer [View Full Entry]

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Yes that’s me in the picture with Vice-President Belmont of the Seychelles. We were two of the guests at the inauguration of the new high speed boat, the Cat Cocos II, which will run twice daily between Mahe and Praslin Islands. As part of the festivities, a selection of Seychellois high society was taken for a sunset cruise this evening around the north end of the island. How, you might ask, have I managed so quickly to infiltrate myself into the upper strata of Seychellois society a mere five days since my arrival? The answer is my not so secret [View Full Entry]

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Jonathan, my 13 year old son, chose the Seychelles for his recent school project. Here's his introduction to this amazing country: The Indian Ocean dominates the Seychelles whether we are talking about the immense drops in depth off the coast of the islands or merely the size of what seem to be little specks of islands compared to the big blue bed of water extending for thousands of miles. Very few people know about the Seychelles islands. I was among those people who had no particular idea where or even what was the Seychelles until a couple months ago when [View Full Entry]

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I like this place already! The people I’ve met so far have been very warm and welcoming. When I met Tiana at the airport, it was like being greeted by an old friend, finally meeting after two months of exchanging emails. Along with Tiana were Canon John and Rev. Christine. Christine will be my supervisor for the summer, and I can tell already that she’s well organized. One of the first things she did was give me a schedule of what I’ll be doing and when I’m preaching for the first two weeks of my stay. Already I can say [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone, Hope all is well back in the states, sorry i havn't written in a while, but i have been quite busy with this intern position. I have been leading about 8 dives a week with the new volunteers teaching them their fish and coral and they are nearly ready to be surveying. Last week on Anzac day, after a coral spot dive, we got to swim with and 8 foot manta ray that wandered into the bay, which is the highlight of this phase so far. Lately we have been busy fixing our other boat, Dexter Crabtree, which [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone, i managed to return from kenya without being mauled or mugged. The safari was amazing and we saw everything i had hoped to. my favorite was maasai mara national reserve and seeing mt. kenya and kilimanjaro. comming home to the seychelles was refreshing but there has been a lot of work to do to get ready for the next phase. There are 24 new volunteers arriving tommorow, most of which have little diving experience so the first couple of weeks should be quite hectic. since i don't have much time here on the internet i will spend the [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone, Hope everyone is well and enjoying the spring weather. its hot as hell here, but i'm loving it. i havn't been in to town lately because i despise civilization and it is becoming a chore, but hearing from all of you makes it worth while. Silhoutte was just as beautiful as the first time. we saw 3 groups of turtle hatchlings which ranks pretty high on the most amazing things i've ever seen list. also the weather was beautiful and i got to climb every day. we are now in the interphase part where all the expedition members [View Full Entry]

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