Welcome to our last post for this trip!
We wanted to see a few different islands in the Seychelles so we left our lovely little hotel on Mahe and caught a boat to Cerf Island. The boat left from a small island of reclaimed land attached to Mahe. This area was so swish! It seemed very out of place to me.
We had ridiculously expensive drinks while we waited for our boat then had a pleasant 10-minute ride to Cerf Island. I hadn't realised how close it was to Mahe when I booked it!
Out of the three islands, this was the one I was looking forward to the most. The place we were staying at had rave reviews and everyone commented on how peaceful it was so we figured we'd be well away from barking dogs and the hustle and bustle of Mahe. We need to be careful what we wish for. Cerf had nothing happening! Out lovely hosts were elderly and we were the only guests. It was all self-catering or we could eat at the larger hotel a bit further down the beach which was ok but nothing special. Oh well. At least we got caught up on things!
The jetty we arrived at was so beautiful.
That's Mahe in the distance. Its so close that it completely blocks any sunsets from our place. Noooooo!!!!!
Enormous old trees stood at the front of the property.
On our first snorkelling outing we discovered a new fish for us. It had a head like a seahorse and a body like a snake or worm. It turned out to be a pipefish, which is a relative of seahorses.
One morning we took a kayak out to a nearby small island and went snorkelling from there. We found three reef sharks, one of which took way too much interest in us. It was a bit scary for a while but John bravely put himself between me and the shark then swam at it like he was the predator, not the prey. It gave up and left.
We went for a short hike early one morning before the worst of the heat. We hiked to the top of the island (which wasn't very far, lol) and had lovely views over other islands.
A local dog joined us for the walk which was lovely. On the way back we saw this young eagle ray just hanging around in the shallow water. We didn't even have to get wet to see it.
We noticed that tour boats were bringing snorkellers in to a part of the reef that we hadn't been to so we headed out that direction for a snorkel. It was great! There was more coral than we'd seen for a while and there were so many fish.
Not long after we got there, a family of those large batfish came quite close. We soon realised they must get fed by the tour boats as they just followed us along for the rest of the snorkel. They were super friendly.
The batfish reminded me of the dog that just tagged along with us on that morning's walk. These were just like little puppies!
Hundreds of burgundy-coloured parrotfish with a few others mixed in descended on an area near us. The sound of all those fish eating was amazing!
Another reef shark cruised by but this one didn't pay any attention to us.
We snorkelled for ages and still our little puppies kept following along with us!
We were still amazed by how much English is spoken here. We thought that Creole and French were the most spoken languages, but apparently English is too. We met one woman who told us that her adult son can't speak French at all as he grew up watching movies in English. We often hear locals talking to each other in English.
Cerf Island was lovely if you wanted to do nothing but swim and read a book but it was a bit quiet for us. We only had three days here and we were happy enough to move on when the time came.
We caught the island boat back to the mainland and caught a taxi to a larger boat to La Digue island. The queues for this boat were incredible. First we had to line up to drop our bags off. The queue was 95% tourists. We then had to line up to enter the boat. It started to pour rain but they are obviously prepared for this as we had a roof over our heads most of the time. Inside, the boat was chock-a-block full and the aircon couldn't keep up. We sweltered for most of the trip.
Part of the appeal of coming to La Digue is that it has few cars. Most people get around by bicycle. It had a lovely laid back atmosphere yet was still full of life.
Old building - and bicycles - in the heart of the town.
Some tourists stopped this local woman and asked for a photo. I would never ask someone like that but she happily obliged so I jumped in too. They all chatted away in French and we soon realised that French is spoken more here than we've seen on other islands.
Our first night here was the last night of the Creole festival and a group were singing and dancing on a beach next to a beach bar. The band weren't slick but we liked that it was a local effort. It was a no-brainer that we settle in for a bit with a cocktail and watch the sun set!
We rented bikes from our accommodation and explored the island. Every bike on the island - and there are thousands of them - had these baskets on the back. The road ran out in both directions though so we couldn't spend hours riding. We passed lovely beaches with beach bars set up under coconut trees. The speed of the bikes meant we had a bit of a breeze but we still got very hot.
Parking our bikes at a beach among so many others!
We had a couple of snorkels here but the visibility wasn't great. It was a bit disappointing to finish our trip without wonderful snorkelling. This stingray was enormous though.
Our accommodation was stunningly beautiful and very swish compared to what we usually book. It was run by staff though, not an owner, and it lacked that personal touch that we had found at our other Seychelles accommodations. We heard thunderstorms on our first night and our remaining two days here would be a mix of storms with some clear patches in between. This daytime storm went on for hours. Listen to the thunder!
There were a few fruit bats around on La Digue, but we didn't expect to find them on the menu!
On our last night We had last cocktails at yet another bar where we could watch our last sunset. The bartender proudly told us that he designs his own cocktails. John tried a rum one that had spices in it. It had cardamon pods, cinnamon sticks and cloves, some of which had been blended into the drink with a blender! John said it was like drinking bark. He then tried a different drink instead. Check out the expression on his face when he tasted it.
My cocktail was lovely though, as was the sunset.
The three islands we stayed on were surprisingly different to each other and there are plenty more islands here to explore. Much to my surprise, Mahe, the main island, was my favourite by far. I found the other two islands had less local life. In fact, I'm struggling to think of a single local person we met on Cerf or La Digue. Most of the staff we met were Indian or Sri Lankan. Someone told us that there are 30,000 Sri Lankans working here. Most of them go a year or two between visits home and some of them have husbands, wives or kids waiting for them at home. It's pretty tough.
We loved the Seychellois people we did meet. They were quick to laugh and had a very laid-back attitude.
As I write this, I'm sitting in the garden of our flash place in La Digue, waiting to catch the ferry to start the long journey home. The sweat is running down my back which is not great as we won't be near a shower until late tonight. We are taking three days to come home to avoid overnight flights.
Looking back on this trip, it has been truly wonderful. It has been a trip of extremes, in both weather and variety of experiences.
Some of the highlights were:
Portugal
- Exploring medieval villages that have barely changed for centuries.
- Seeing the jaw-dropping scenery of the Douro Valley.
Iceland
- The incredible variety of natural features and scenery, all packed into one small island.
- Despite the huge tourist numbers and unpredictable weather, this country spoke to me.
Greenland
- This felt like one of the world's last frontiers.
- We saw incredible icebergs and calving glaciers. We walked inside an ice cave and on the ice cap. We watched whales work together to round up schools of small fish.
- Go now, before this country gets overrun with tourists like Iceland!
Albania
- Seeing spectacular views in the incredible Accursed Mountains.
- Experiencing a vast range of natural beauty and Albanian hospitality.
- Again, go now! Albania has been "discovered" but it's only early days. I can see this country getting swamped by tourists in coming years.
It's been a hell of a ride but we are now looking forward to catching up with family and friends that we haven't seen for six months.
Thanks for following along and hope to see you soon!
Heather and John
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