Greetings from the Seychelles
The flight to the Seychelles was okay after a seemingly endless wait at the hotel to actually get going. There was a bumpy bit about an hour out of Seychelles which was more concerning because the steward was next to my seat row with his trolley of hot tea and coffee rather than because of the bumpiness. I was sitting there wishing he would just move away as I really did not want hot anything landing on me! The landing itself (my worse part) was extremely hard and there were numerous exclamations (polite and not so polite) after which nervous laughter was heard as everyone realised that yes we had made very sound contact with the runway but everything was fine.
Passage through immigration went smoothly and then I had to wait for ages for my suitcase to arrive on the carousel. I was getting a little concerned that my suitcase had made an alternate journey but then saw someone who had checked in at the same time as me also still waiting for her luggage and thought it would be okay. Eventually my suitcase appeared and I was waved through customs and met by the SFA driver, Pravin. It is so good to be met by people who know me and I know them! We had a good chat on the way to my guest house, Villa de Roses, in Beauvalon Bay. Fortunately he had collected my key in the morning because there was no one at the office to meet us but that is normal for this guest house.
Sunday morning I was very rudely woken at 4:30 am by two duelling roosters! I could have quite happily made them into KFC. They carried on for 2 hours the little sods.
My plan for Sunday was to change some money into rupees and then get a bus into Victoria but it didn't work out that way at all. First I went to the bank machine and tried to draw money - the machine wasn't working and there is only one. Then I went to the first foreign exchange place - closed despite the sign saying it should be open. On to the second place - sorry we don't have any rupees as the manager hasn't been in yet (what!!!!!). So I decided to take a walk and went all the way to Bel Ombre and back. It was a good walk but I had to be careful. For some reason pavements were not included when the roads were built so everyone walks on the shoulders of the road. Occasionally I had to jump down into a ditch to avoid a bus or two.
When I started out the sun was out but slowly the clouds started to build and at Bel Ombre the wind started to blow. I decided that I had walked far enough and turned for home. A light drizzle started to fall and it was really nice and cooling. Then the heavens opened! Needless to say I got drenched. Since I was so wet I thought that I could not get any wetter and headed to the beach. Myself and three other people were in the water. At first it was good to be in the water but then the rain got so hard that it was stinging my face and shoulders so I retreated back to the beach and ended up going back to the guest house as the rain continued to pelt down. As soon as the rain eased I went back to the two foreign exchange places. Apparently neither had any rupees - seriously why bother opening!!!! The guy at the second one phoned the two hotels and found out that the Berjaya would change money for me so I walked over to it. They did in fact change my money at a most outrageously bad rate. At least I had some cash in my pocket though.
From the Berjaya I went to the supermarket to stock up on some essentials for my fridge - milk, fruit juice, yoghurt. Then I went to get some late lunch. There is a little take away place near the guest house that has the best burgers in the world. Burger in hand I went and sat on my balcony watching as the last of the clouds dispersed. It was hot again so I took the opportunity to get some laundry done and as I was the only person at the guest house, hung my washing over the bushes to dry in true African style LOL!
Laundry sorted, it was time for another swim! This time there were a lot more than 3 others in the ocean. The water was packed with people and it was so nice wallowing away in the water. All good things come to an end and just before sunset I got out of the water and went back to my room to have some lovely vanilla tea. Another wonderful day spent in the Seychelles!
At 4:30 the roosters started up again - I really want to silence them! I had arranged to have breakfast at 8 am but the staff only arrived at a quarter past eight. I skipped the eggs and just had fruit (star fruit, banana and paw paw LOL!) and toast. Pravin was supposed to collect me at 08:30 but at quarter to nine he still hadn't arrived so I started to walk up to the main road to find a bus or taxi. Along the way, I met up with Pravin. He told me he had been told that he could come and fetch me later - no one had told me about it though! Anyway after a quick look at the beach (we were apparently still early) we went into town. The first person I saw at SFA was Aubrey. Last year I missed seeing Aubs as he caught the aeroplane to Mauritius that took me to the Seychelles and I was very happy to hear that this year he would be here for the WIOFish workshop.
We started off the workshop with a brief introduction to the project. There are four new people here this year which is good and some faces that have been involved for years. It is a good combination because those who are experienced teach the new ones and thereby understand everything better.
After going through everything, three groups were formed and the 38 fisheries divided between the groups. For today and tomorrow they will work in their groups collecting together all the information required and from Wednesday we will work on the online system together.
Today there is another meeting here at SFA so we will be finishing a little earlier. More beach time for me!!!!!!
Sunday morning I was very rudely woken at 4:30 am by two duelling roosters! I could have quite happily made them into KFC. They carried on for 2 hours the little sods.
One of the KFC candidates
The view from my balcony
The view behind the guest house
My plan for Sunday was to change some money into rupees and then get a bus into Victoria but it didn't work out that way at all. First I went to the bank machine and tried to draw money - the machine wasn't working and there is only one. Then I went to the first foreign exchange place - closed despite the sign saying it should be open. On to the second place - sorry we don't have any rupees as the manager hasn't been in yet (what!!!!!). So I decided to take a walk and went all the way to Bel Ombre and back. It was a good walk but I had to be careful. For some reason pavements were not included when the roads were built so everyone walks on the shoulders of the road. Occasionally I had to jump down into a ditch to avoid a bus or two.
The road between Beauvalon Bay and Bel Ombre
A nice little area along the way
At Bel Ombre
The little boat harbour at Bel Ombre
One of the churches
The mountains above Bel Ombre
A close up of the granite outcrops
When I started out the sun was out but slowly the clouds started to build and at Bel Ombre the wind started to blow. I decided that I had walked far enough and turned for home. A light drizzle started to fall and it was really nice and cooling. Then the heavens opened! Needless to say I got drenched. Since I was so wet I thought that I could not get any wetter and headed to the beach. Myself and three other people were in the water. At first it was good to be in the water but then the rain got so hard that it was stinging my face and shoulders so I retreated back to the beach and ended up going back to the guest house as the rain continued to pelt down. As soon as the rain eased I went back to the two foreign exchange places. Apparently neither had any rupees - seriously why bother opening!!!! The guy at the second one phoned the two hotels and found out that the Berjaya would change money for me so I walked over to it. They did in fact change my money at a most outrageously bad rate. At least I had some cash in my pocket though.
From the Berjaya I went to the supermarket to stock up on some essentials for my fridge - milk, fruit juice, yoghurt. Then I went to get some late lunch. There is a little take away place near the guest house that has the best burgers in the world. Burger in hand I went and sat on my balcony watching as the last of the clouds dispersed. It was hot again so I took the opportunity to get some laundry done and as I was the only person at the guest house, hung my washing over the bushes to dry in true African style LOL!
Laundry sorted, it was time for another swim! This time there were a lot more than 3 others in the ocean. The water was packed with people and it was so nice wallowing away in the water. All good things come to an end and just before sunset I got out of the water and went back to my room to have some lovely vanilla tea. Another wonderful day spent in the Seychelles!
At 4:30 the roosters started up again - I really want to silence them! I had arranged to have breakfast at 8 am but the staff only arrived at a quarter past eight. I skipped the eggs and just had fruit (star fruit, banana and paw paw LOL!) and toast. Pravin was supposed to collect me at 08:30 but at quarter to nine he still hadn't arrived so I started to walk up to the main road to find a bus or taxi. Along the way, I met up with Pravin. He told me he had been told that he could come and fetch me later - no one had told me about it though! Anyway after a quick look at the beach (we were apparently still early) we went into town. The first person I saw at SFA was Aubrey. Last year I missed seeing Aubs as he caught the aeroplane to Mauritius that took me to the Seychelles and I was very happy to hear that this year he would be here for the WIOFish workshop.
We started off the workshop with a brief introduction to the project. There are four new people here this year which is good and some faces that have been involved for years. It is a good combination because those who are experienced teach the new ones and thereby understand everything better.
After going through everything, three groups were formed and the 38 fisheries divided between the groups. For today and tomorrow they will work in their groups collecting together all the information required and from Wednesday we will work on the online system together.
Today there is another meeting here at SFA so we will be finishing a little earlier. More beach time for me!!!!!!
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