The Seychelles Diaries - Day 1 - Tour of Mahe

pic clicked from the cab we were travelling in

the first thing we did after we got out from the airport was to convert Euros to Seychellois Rupees. Euros, Dollars, British Pounds are all accepted in Seychelles, but its always better to carry the local currency so u get back the exact change. at that time, 1 SR = 5 INR approx. and 1 Euro = 16 SR approx.

we managed to get a cab just outside the airport and the lodge we were booked at "Diver's Lodge" was situated at Beau Vallon beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. it was a 20 minute drive, covering a distance of about 15 kms.

topographically the island of Mahe and rest of the islands that comprise Seychelles is pristine beaches and granitic mountains. thats it. buying houses is very expensive coz u either get the beach front or the mountain range. in both cases, beautiful , ridiculously gorgeous landscapes.

Few things u need to know about Seychelles

• its comprises of 155 islands and only a handful of them are inhabited. 
• the largest island is Mahe, and Victoria is the capital
• Victoria is also the worlds smallest capital city
• the population of Mahe is about 70,000
• the other major islands are Praslin, La Digue and Silhouette islands
• languages spoken are French, English and Seychellois Creole. 
• the local cuisine or Creole food has chicken curry (non spicy), fish baked or steamed, and lots of vegetables, with the occasional fruit bat and octopus. 
• Cable and wireless is the primary telecommunications firm based in Seychelles, the other is Airtel
• a bus ride to any point costs SR 5/-
• Seybrew beer is the local beer and its delicious!
• the people live in complete religious harmony and ethnically Africans, Indians and Chinese are the local inhabitants.
• they dont have any manufacturing units in Seychelles except Tuna , which is exported throughout the world , making them the biggest exporters. 
• everything is Seychelles is super expensive! thats because everything comes into Seychelles by boat/ship 

Honeymoon tip #1 : NEVER plan a tour on the very first day on arrival!

we learnt that the hard way! we were dead tired and hungry from the gruelling 4 hour flight, which was preceded by a 5 hour transit in dubai, so the first thing we wanted on our faces was the bedroom pillow. we reached the lodge at about 8:30 local time and our rooms weren't ready yet! the land lady at Divers Lodge was extremely kind enough to give us a makeshift room, which was essentially their storage room/maids room with attached toilet so we could use the facilities and take a bath. it was a nightmare! using the loo without the health faucet (also called bum washer here in India) and the broken flush! and we had to get ready, coz our local tour operator Sultanne, was waiting for us at the Mess, with the days itinerary. 

Sultanne, our tour operator

View from the mess at divers lodge

Divers Lodge

beau valon beach facing the divers lodge

my breakfast every morning for the next 6 days, double ham, sausage, bacon, cheese omelette. 

fortunately for us, we had a wonderful driver/cabbie assigned to us, Paul who took us around Victoria the capital city, where we were given 1 and half hours to explore by ourselves, then we managed to get a new SIM card with a local Seychelles number, visited a estate where we got to taste Creole food for the first time and finally take a swim at Anse Royale beach! 

view of victoria from the car

Hindu temple is Mahe

one of the several Churches in Mahe

Nicole my wifey

replica of London's Big Ben, called Little Ben

St Paul's Cathedral

Victoria is the worlds smallest capital city. its really really tiny! i think there are more people on busy M.G. road in Bangalore than in the Victoria. the streets were impeccably clean with people maintaining civic sense of the highest order. there was a huge Hindu temple in the middle of the city street and not far away stood few Churches and even a mosque. we were given some time to explore the city and so we went to the local market. we forgot to carry towels and beach shorts so we went and bought them, for 5 times the price!

dry fish

sir selwyn selwyn clarke market

colourful veggies and fruits

local masala powder, flavour of creole food

bank of baroda in mahe

little ben

natural culture centre , which we never managed to see

Eden Island : is a man made island, which basically is a 7 star resort for the uber rich. our cabbie Paul took us over there and i managed to get a few close up shots of the boats, yachts and blue/green waters before we headed towards Anse Royale for a swim. 

Tragedy at Anse Royale : i decided to carry just 1 camera body with 2 lenses, the 5d mark iii with ultra wide 17-40 for landscapes and the 50 mm 1.2 L for portraits of me and nicole. but fate had something else in store for us. 

anse royale

anse royale

tourists at anse royale

we both jumped in the waters and while i was clicking portraits of nicole, i lost my balance for 3 seconds and fell in the water with my camera and 50 mm lens attached. the camera is weather sealed but the lens was not and whatever tall claims canon make about their bodies, they were still no match for 3 seconds of salt water. 

from that moment onwards, for the entire duration of our trip, there was no camera and all the photos i clicked after this was from my iphone. that saved the day and the week! it would have been horrible if the only memories we had from this trip was in our minds and not in pictures. thank u iphone!

me and niki

bye bye anse royale

its greener in seychelles

the last place to visit was an estate on the itinerary which had prepared Creole food for us. Creole food is really tasty and very similar to what we eat back in India minus the spiciness.

seybrew beer

chicken curry, banana and coconut caramel, cucumber salad, mango salad, lentils

typical creole food

dont remember the name, but the fish was delicious! Parrot fish, thanks niki

 chicken curry

steamed rice

fruit salad with mint ice cream

fruit bat

giant tortoises are common sight in seychelles. they grow really big and live for over 100 years

birds of seychelles

zoomed pic of the windmills donated by the king of UAE

view of Eden island

view of Victoria

view of Victoria

back at the room

the last pit stop we did before heading back to the room was a small grocery store called Ram's Grocery. we picked up some food, snacks , wine and Beers which would last us for the night. 

Next blog post  - The Seychelles Diaries - Day 2 - Beau valon and Marie Antoinette Restaurant