Travel: Seychelles

My cousin reached out to me about going to the Seychelles when she saw a flight deal from Scott’s Cheap flights*. Within two hours of her text message, we were booked!

Truly, I didn’t know much about the Seychelles so we picked a day to sit down together and plan. We researched where to stay and some daily activities and soon enough we were flying 19 hours into the middle of the Indian ocean!

After a very long plane ride, layover, second plane ride and ferry boat, we arrived to our hotel, “The Old School” which was in Baie Sainte Anne on Praslin Island. The Seychelles are an archipelago made up of 115 tropical islands. The little dots stretch 177 square miles across the sea and each island is a piece of granite rock that juts out of the water. These look very different compared to my last volcanic island exploration in the Azores.

At the hotel we got some fresh juice and took a power nap before setting out of the house. We wanted to grab some dinner but the busses proved a little bit difficult to navigate. We knew we had to have 7 RUP in change to take the bus (around 50 cents) but the one listed on the schedule to take us to our destination told us he wasn’t going there. After a few attempts, we walked to a supermarket close by and bought some groceries. This was the view of our hotel while walking back after grabbing food:

Our hotel had a lovely kitchen where we cooked and enjoyed some local cider. We tried to stay up but quickly fell back asleep. The next morning we woke up and FIGURED OUT THE BUSSES (it seems like not a big deal, but it was).

We hopped up the coast to Cote d’Or beach (literally “golden coast”) where we were planned on meeting a company with a boat. Since we were awake so early, the beach and hotels there were quiet and empty. We took a ton of photos playing on swings and enjoying the clay like sand. I collect sand from around the world, and hands down this was the best texture I have ever come across. It was ultra fine.

It felt like every little strip of beach here had a photo opportunity. And even though we were there and it was early, the beaches almost always looked this empty.

The company we booked was called Sagittarius & was a little hard to find since we had no address for them. Then we realized it was a tiny shack we had passed several times. Woops. They offered trips to different islands from Praslin as well as snorkeling gear and daily taxi shuttles. It was exactly what we needed.

The first day we went out snorkeling to Coco Island and Félicité. The water was a little choppy by Félicité so we detoured to the Sister Islands. We passed Ave Maria (a single strip of rocks with one tree one it!) along the way.

The water was comfortable, clear and inviting. We swam up to Coco Island and took some pictures looking back towards Praslin. I also struggled hard to get back into the water with my fins on!

Sister Islands were the best for snorkeling. I saw some NEON fish nothing like anything I’ve seen before (and a dori too!). We saw our second sea turtle of the day but he was sky and stayed underneath us the whole time.

Back at Cote d’Or we grabbed sandwiches for lunch/dinner. Then we rested on some very empty hotel chairs. I think a lot of people had cancelled travel plans AND this hotel had some damage from recent storms, so guest numbers were low. We parked on some beach chairs with cushions under an umbrella and waded in the shady water under the trees. Our bus never came so after an hour of waiting and watching giant bats fly overhead, a hotel worker kindly drove us home!

The next day, I got us and had a latte and a peri peri chicken pot pie from the cafe under our hotel. We took a taxi boat to Curieuse Island. Only after we were wading up to the island did we learn we had to hike through a mangrove swamp to get to a pick up spot. The island is one of two (in the entire world) that is blessed with Coco de Mer trees. These trees not only produce the largest seed in the plant kingdom, but hold five other botanical records. The nut has an unusual shape - kinda like a butt. In fact, the greek botanical name for the plant means ‘beautiful buttocks.’ For hundreds of years (before the Seychelles was discovered) sailors called the nuts “sea coconuts” and thought that the trees magically grew under the water. The Seychelles uses this nut shape as their passport stamp.

The island is also home to native giant Aldabra tortoises. These are some of the largest in the world and are similar to those found in the Galapagos. The island now has a conservancy for the tortoises. Right when we landed on the beach we found them wandering and eating.

The hike through the Mangrove swamp was not difficult but it was very hot. We headed “left” according to all the signs, away from the tortoises to what used to be a doctors house of a leper colony. Remains from the colony can be found throughout the island. The doctor’s home at the beach Anse St. Jose is now a museum. The shot below is looking across “old turtle pond.”

Curieuse was very quiet. There were a few beach BBQs near the turtles, but once we got to Anse St. Jose, we were quite alone. We did see a yacht send a wooden boat to an inflatable boat to set up a private picnic on the beach. Man I wish I had been friends with those people!

When our taxi boat arrived, they took us over to St. Pierre Island. I LOVED it here. Getting off the boat DRY was not an option. We got onto the granite rocks to be greeted by hundreds of little lizards.

We swam in the water a bit and took a short skip through the trees to the most beautiful shaded pool of water. Here, we hid from the sun in crystal clear water letting our burns cool in the ocean. The lizards stayed away and we rested for an hour or two before finding a taxi back home.

St. Pierre was defiantly my favorite stop of the day. I could have laid in the shade forever. The island was also home to some White-tailed tropicbirds who’s pure white color soared in the blue clouds overhead.

I’m also biased because we got to swim with a sea turtle who wasn’t bothered by us at all. He just sat on the surface and kept staring at us and two other folks who stumbled upon him. He was not nearly as anti social as the last one!

When we got back to land, we promised our hotel friend we’d stay for a drink at a restaurant. It turned into a full BBQ with a DJ and dancing. It was very restful end to a day hiking and swimming.

The following morning, we took a larger boat over to La Digue - the third most populated island in the Seychelles. While there are SOME cars on the island now (there never used to be) it operates mostly by bicycle. The island is just over 6 square miles in total. Sagittarius had secured us a bike rental and we took off south.

The area was really flat so riding was not difficult, but my bike was a bit broken. The seat adjustment handle was stuck out so I had to ride with one leg bent out to the side. I’m sure I looked like I hadn’t ridden a bike in years. The bike ride south took us through a coconut and vanilla plantation.

The beach we rode to was called Anse Source d'Argent. It is famed for being one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and it did not disappoint.

The main beach area can get a little crowded, but if you walk far down (maybe about 15 minutes) past the drink shacks, you find a pristine empty shaded spot.

This was the view from my towel. All protected in the shade and not a soul around us.

The water here is shallow for a long distance. You can wade out pretty far safely. This whole trip I was thankful for my water shoes so i could step on rocks and avoid any sea cucumbers that I didn’t notice. We explored the rocks and ate PB&Js in the shade. We also met a stray dog friend and watched what we titled “crab wars.” Little crabs entertained us while they battled out digging holes and reclaiming them from each other.

Walking back towards the bikes, I picked up a souvenir purse from India. Lots of products come from there since it is so close. Earlier in the week, I popped in a tiny shop to get a small necklace made of coral.

We biked back to our boat and headed back to Praslin where we got some delicious gelato. A PACKED bus took us back to our hotel for the evening where we finished cooking up all the groceries we bought.

The next day we went back on a ferry to Mahé, the main island. We got a cab to our AirBnB called Koyola. We met our amazing host, Jimmy who drove us to Anse Royale Beach. Here, we found another shady spot and avoided falling coconuts.

In the afternoon, I swam out about a half mile or so to a little island all to myself. When I came back, I got a chicken leg from a beach BBQ set up around the corner. We took the bus back to our airbnb where we sat on the porch with wine and beers. We watched local birds and more giant bats come out into the evening.

I taught our host, Jimmy how to make guacamole using the islands giant avocados! Then he cooked us a fish meal that was perfect for our final night. In the morning, he took us to the airport and we had to say goodbye to island life.

I loved visiting the Seychelles. It reminded me a lot of the Islands in the Caribbean. If I were to go back, I’d stay on a boat the entire time and sail around from island to island.

Here is a video I made of highlights from my trip! It was my first time trying something like this but I am really happy with how it came out. Shoutout to my cousin for the under water footage. That GoPro snapped some great turtle shots that my phone just couldn’t grab!

*If you are unfamiliar with Scott’s Cheap Flights, it’s my secret weapon in travel. You sign up for email alerts that leave from your local airports. There are both free & paid plans. My link here will save you 10% off a premium membership. I used it to score this trip for $1,800 off the same flight!