What a perfect day and what a perfect way to spend a birthday - in The Seychelles. I was spoiled from dawn till dusk, by Barry, and by friends on the ship, as well as dear friends and family at home, who sent me emails and posted wonderful greetings on FaceBook. It was only the second time of the entire voyage that I dared to venture onto FaceBook. Thank you sincerely to everyone for remembering me, and for all the warm wishes. It really cheered me up, as I have been quite homesick for the last few days.
The Seychelles consist of some 80 islands wildly scattered off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. They have their independence, but are members of the Commonwealth, and once were ruled by France. 70,000 people inhabit the main island where we landed in the city of Victoria. It is a lush and what seems to be unspoiled island, that is mountainous in the middle, with a single main road that runs around the outside. A rainforest nestles between the road and the high ridge. Jonathan and Karen had arranged a day for us, including Leslie, with Karen's good friend Doreen, who was born in The Seychelles, but now has a business in the U.S.
We were slightly delayed in arriving at our pier because a NATO warship (a stealth Danish frigate) was late in departing.
It was 90F, but a nice breeze wafted over us most of the day, until a late afternoon rainstorm, was about to burst, and it became still and extremely humid. Our van picked us up and off we went to see the highlights of the west and east coasts. The scenery is lush and exotic and every turn reveals yet another gorgeous beach and turquoise water and surf vision. We climbed up to 1300 feet, and crossed over the ridge. At this height we stopped at The Mission - which was a historic spot that had originally housed a school for slave boys. This island was one of the centres for slavery, which had been abolished by England in 1830, but the Arabs prevented the total freeing of slaves here for another 30 years. The boys refused to go to school on the shore, because they so feared being snatched up again. Then we went to a gorgeous beach, where we got out and took pictures of small children on a day trip from the local Montissori school.
We drove another 40 minutes to Le Jardin du Roi - a spice garden, privately owned, overlooking another sight for sore eyes bay, where they grow 50 spices, and then turn them into delicious meals in a small open dining room overlooking that bay. They also have 2 enclosed pens of about 12 huge land tortoises which are so camouflaged that at first you think they are large boulders. Then a head looks up, munching grass. They bite, so we didn't go too near. Rabbits, chickens and a parrot rounded out the menagerie. We also saw the largest nuts in the world, Coco de Mer, which can weigh over 70 pounds, sort of a double coconut.
We spent a very pleasant hour sipping wine, and eating fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables cooked in the local Creole fashion. There wasn't a scrap left. Then it was off for a swim. The first place didn't have anywhere for us to change, so our guide took us to a restaurant area, where there were passengers from the ship, eating, but we changed in the washroom, and Jonathan who has perfected changing under a towel, showed his prowess doing it on the beach.
The waters here are absolutely divine and we paddled around for a swim, while Leslie lounged under a tree with two stray dogs. We all dreamt about returning here for a month's stay, wondering how to get here cheaply.
The sheik's water helipad.
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