Sunny Seychelles ... NOT!

My flight from Mauritius to Seychelles ranks among the most enjoyable ever. The aircraft was a 767-200 and was practically empty which meant that I could curl up on two seats and sleep for the duration of the flight. We took off from Mauritius just after sunset and the sky was really beautiful.

The flight was much shorter than originally stated on the ticket and we left Mauritius a little early - this must be the first time I have been on an Air Seychelles flight that was not delayed. Arrival in Seychelles was uneventful which was a relief as it was a very horrifying attempted landing here that resulted in my fear of flying. As usual immigration processing was slow - this is the slowest place to get into a country but thankfully  my lift was waiting for me and he had the key to my accommodation with him so getting settled for the night did not take too long.

I am staying in a guest lodge here and it is a huge relief to not be staying in a hotel. Although I am staying on a bed and breakfast basis, I am actually in a self-catering unit so I have a kitchen, a lounge and a patio along with the standard bedroom and bathroom. It is wonderful to not be cooped up in a single room. It also means that I am able to sort out my own dinner rather than eating restaurant or take-out food.

So yesterday I had the rare luxury of having a complete day of rest and tried to take as much advantage of it as possible. I slept a little late (late is 6:30 for me), had a leisurely breakfast at the guest house and then wandered up to the money exchange to get some Seychelles rupees (yes it is open on a Sunday) and then went on to the supermarket to stock my fridge with some essentials like milk and Seybrew.

With all the admin out of the way it was time to hit the beach. The weather was not really conducive to a day at the beach because it was overcast with a light drizzle but it was still hot and the beach was quiet so really enjoyable. I walked for hours along the beach looking at the shells and generally just enjoyed wading in the water. At one point a lovely trumpet fish swam up to my legs and had a good look at me before it swam off again.

At around lunch time the sun started to come out and I decided that a timely retreat was in order. On the way back I decided that pizza was in order for lunch and while I was waiting for it to be made, clouds moved down off the mountains and the heavens opened. The weathe in the Seychelles is very changeable and it happens really quickly. I ran back to the guest house (fortunately it wasn't far) and sat on my patio munching the pizza, drinking a Seybrew and watching the rain fall.

Finally at 2 pm the rain abated and it was time to head back to the beach for a swim. Like all the tourists I spent a wonderful afternoon wallowing in the calm warm water. Eventually I looked like a prune and had to get out but I will return there after work today for some more wallowing.

So we have started the update workshop at the Seychelles Fishing Authority and so far all is going well. There are 8 participants and they are divided into 4 groups so the work will go quickly but they do have quite a large number of fisheries to work through. I'm sure it will be a productive week though - their level of commitment is always very good.