Seychelles at last!

My final night in Mauritius was very pleasant. I had dinner at the guest house with two British couples and it was an evening of good food, good conversation and lots of laughter. Eventually I had to excuse myself though to pack my suitcase ready for the trip to the airport and on to the Seychelles.

While I was waiting at the airport to board the plane there was an older gentleman sitting near me who was having a long conversation with himself quite loudly. I felt really sorry for him because I think it was not something he could help doing and everyone near him kept on staring at him and whispering about him. I was concerned that he would tear up his boarding pass because he seemed to be going through all his papers and ripping everything up. Thankfully he didn't though and I saw that he got on the plane without any problems.

The flight to the Seychelles was fine until the final 10 minutes. There was a toddler running around the plane and when she was told to sit down for the landing she threw the most incredible tantrum that lasted for the last 10 minutes of the flight and right up until we were allowed off the plane. The actual landing itself was also quite frightening and it looked as if we were going to land a little short. The pilots made some hectic last second adjustments and we did get onto the runway. After we hit the deck really hard the captain congratulated the first officer on his successful training flight to and from Mauritius! This of course was greeted by nervous laughter from the passengers.

 First sight of Mahé Island, Seychelles

Coming in to land

After getting off the plane I managed to get through immigration fairly quickly with one small hiccup. The woman wanted to see my hotel reservation. I didn't have it since the reservation was made by the people here at SFA. I explained this and she decided to let me through. Once again I was glad to not be carrying fish samples as it seems the Seychelles has tightened up drastically on what can be brought into the country. I don't think I have ever seen so many suitcases marked for searching by customs. My suitcase was fine though and I got through customs without having to show anyone my dirty underwear LOL!

When I got outside the driver, Pravin, was not there. I was starting to think that I should get a taxi when he arrived apologising for being late. Pravin has been my driver in the Seychelles for many years now and one of the benefits of him picking me up is that he tells me of everything that is going on at SFA before I get there. This year he had some sad news for me though. One of the guys who has been working on WIOFish right from the start and who should have been with us this week sadly passed away last week Sunday from a heart attack. It was quite a shock.

Pravin had already collected my room keys for the guest house where I am staying. It is so good to just be dropped off and not have to worry about any formalities of checking in etc. Villa des Roses, the guest house, is okay except that there is no internet connection - a strange feeling for me to be cut off from the rest of the world.

Once I had unpacked my clothes I went up to the little supermarket to get some milk and tea and reacquainted myself with the neighbourhood. I had planned on going for a swim but ended up just going down to the beach and watching everyone playing and swimming. There was quite a strong onshore breeze and the water didn't look at all tempting to me. I stayed to watch the sunset and then returned to the guest house for an evening of movies and a hamburger from the little fast food place just down the road.

Beau Vallon beach

Last year when I stayed at this guest house, I had a problem with roosters crowing from 3am every morning and I was really hoping that it would not be the same this time. I was granted the wish of no roosters but this was replaced by five cats yowling outside my window! I was not amused at all.

Sunday was a free day for me so I decided to take the bus into Victoria and try to sort out a couple of things: 1. Buy some batteries for my camera, and 2. Organise a 3g internet connection. My first stop was the big (well it's not really that big) supermarket fro the batteries but they don't sell batteries and they told me to go to the open market. I had no idea where that was so I just wandered around a little looking for somewhere that looked likely to sell batteries. Unfortunately though most places do not open on a Sunday here so at first I was not able to get any batteries. So I moved onto objective number 2. Once again there was no luck as everything was closed. I'm not sure that I will bother with the connection now, it depends on how frustrated/bored I get in the evenings.

 The clock tower in central Victoria

The Supreme Court in Victoria

Nothing else was open either so I decided that I would see if the Botanical Gardens were open and walked there. Luckily it was and I had a nice time walking around looking at the plants, tortoises and the fruit bats hanging high in the trees. It is not a huge garden but big enough and has some lovely old trees and some beautiful flowering plants. At the top of the garden there is a section of forest area that is so lush and dense and representative of the forests around the island. Once I had been everywhere in the garden I walked back to the city centre to continue my hunt for batteries.

 Coco de mer planted by Prince Charles in 1956

Some smelly Aldabra tortoises 

 A beautiful water lily flower

 The grassy park area

 Some aquatic banana plants

 The pathway through the gardens

A time capsule placed in the gardens in 1994 and to be opened in 2044

- I wonder what is in the capsule!

I found a little corner shop near the Hindu Temple that had what I wanted and I was relieved because the battery symbol had been showing on my camera all morning. I decided it would be best to go back to Beau Vallon since all the museums were closed and the only places open were the restaurants. I got the bus again. It is so cheap at only 5 rupees (R2.80 or $0.35) but the state of the buses leaves a lot to be desired. They are really old and worn out and the journey over the mountain from Victoria to Beau Vallon is downright frightening. The road is extremely steep, narrow and winding with crazy hairpin bends and the drivers are, in my opinion, lunatics! These roads are tackled at full speed (or as fast as the bus can go) with no regard for staying on the correct side of the road I was more than happy to get off the bus once it was back in Beau Vallon.

The Hindu temple

The afternoon was too hot to go to the beach so I spent some time reading and waiting for the sun to starting sinking before I went for a swim. The water was wonderful! It was so warm and with some swells coming through to make it interesting. After the swim I went for a long walk along the beach. It was interesting to see so much seaweed on the beach. There were no shells to see but this was possibly because it was so late in the day and the shells had already been picked up by the tourists. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and returned to the guest house after sunset.

 The view from the mountain above Victoria

Another photo of Beau Vallon beach

All that fresh air made me tired. I retired to bed early with the intention of reading but that didn't last long at all and I was soon fast asleep. It seems that the cats took the night off too and I had a really good night's sleep.

Pravin picked me up early to go to work and we have made a good start. Previously we have been 10 people for this workshop but we are down to five this year. One who left this world, one is moving to Australia tomorrow and others are travelling to other parts of the planet for various reasons. I am not concerned though as the group that are here have lots of experience with the database and with the Seychellois fisheries so it should all go well.

Until tomorrow, take care.

Paradise?