SEYCHELLES QUE J’AIME
The title is a wordplay on the French sentence “C’est celle que j’aime” (She is the one I love).
After a 48-hour trip, we made it back from the Seychelles to our house in Punta Gorda, where we are still digesting the impressions this Eden on Earth have made on us.
The winds were not that great during the two weeks that we were sailing there but the whole experience was unbelievable. A luxurious nature with endemic species, nowhere else to be found in the world, super friendly people of various ethnic backgrounds living harmoniously together, a sea with every hue of blue imaginable, immense red granite rock formations like rocks thrown on top of each other by giants.
The local cuisine is a fusion of European, African and Indian-Asian influences. I know… fruit bat curry may not be everybody’s favorite dish but it was actually quite tasty.
Most of our ASA Flotilla participants had arrived two days before the start of our cruise and were lodged all over Mahe Island. The “Admiral” and I had chosen the Eden Bleu Hotel, right next to the marina. From our room, we had a great view of the marina and the yachts that we would be our home for the next two weeks
This was supposed to be a one-week flotilla but, as we had a slight snafu in our calendar, we had to schedule two weeks to accommodate all our participants.
The first week, we had five guests with us on board of a Lagoon 450, Bob and Cathy, Dennis and Jennifer, all four from California, and Maria from Belgium.
The second week, we had two yachts, a Lagoon 450, Muzikal, and a Lagoon 440, Mystikal.
Our longtime fellow sailing friend, Kevin, skippered the Muzikal with his crew consisting of his wife Delana, Rick and Barbara, Jerry and Donna and Joe and Michelle.
Our boat was Mystikal. and we had five more crewmembers on board, Maria who had decided to accompany the second week as well, Brent and Theresa, Steve and Kay.
This will be the story of the second week.
As provisioning in the islands is not always easy, we bought lots of food and drink at the local supermarket near the marina and, after a long wait and a short introduction to the boat systems and local charts, we got the green light to start our adventure.
First stop was the anchorage near Ile Ste. Anne. Although the country has been ruled by Britain and is now independent, most of the names of islands and locations are still French and date back to the colonial history before the British arrived here.
We dropped our anchor in five meters of water on a sandy bottom, and had Muzikal raft up to our boat. After a swim in the warm clear water followed by a freshwater shower, we started cocktail hour, while the food was being prepared for our first night aboard. After gazing at the stars, we retired to our berths.
The following morning, Sunday, we left for the island of Praslin, named after French César Gabriel de Choiseul, Duke of Praslin. Before the French arrived there the island was a pirate hideaway and a rest area for Arab traders. It is the second largest island of the Seychelles and home to the Vallee de Mai national park where the famous Cocos de Mer palms grow. These coconuts can weigh up to 40 pounds and have the shape of a woman’s posterior.
We had decided to take a westerly detour via the Mamelles Islands (nipples in French for their particular shape) as, according to the locals, this was the best route to troll for some fish. No luck on our boat but Kevin was able to land a nice size tuna that soon metamorphosed into tasty sashimi and ceviche.
Our first stop on Praslin was the beach of Anse Anzio, reputed to be one of the most beaches on the planet. It was indeed spectacular.
After some swimming and visiting the beach, we headed for Anse Volbert, where we would spend the night. Same ritual as the previous evening; cocktails and dinner on board with more stargazing and some dice game called Greed. I still have not figured out all the rules…
Monday morning, we crossed the narrow channel between the islands of Praslin and Precieuse, home of the giant Aldabra tortoises.
