Steve and Cathy's Blog

Up until recently, Cathy and Steve probably couldn’t find the Seychelles on a map. We can now, though, because we spent today here and had a great time. Mahe’ is the largest of 115 islands in this archipelago in the Indian Ocean. It was a French colony from 1742 to 1812, when the British took it over.

Independence came in 1976. In true African form, there was a coup shortly after independence, and a one-party socialist government was formed. And of course the economy stagnated, as this newly installed president decided that tourism was bad for the country. By 1991, he was forced to change all of that. Lather. Rinse, Repeat.

Today the economy is diversified. Agriculture, tourism and tuna fishing are the linchpins, with a large tuna canning plant as one of the major employers. This smallest of all African nations now boasts the highest per capita GDP in Africa, although income inequality is also the highest of the continent’s 54 nations. They do have a very stable and open government, and the capital city Victoria is clean, safe and charming.

We arrive on a Sunday morning into the picturesque port of Victoria. There is a band playing calypso music, and a modern lit sign with moving letters welcomes Insignia and its guests in a dozen different languages. Unlike the United States, most retail businesses are closed today, but we are told that a few of the tourist stalls in the city may be open to take advantage of our arrival, as well as some of the restaurants. The skies are dark and cloudy, and the 80% chance of thunderstorms looks to be increasing to 100%.

We are scheduled to take the Coral Cruise excursion, which includes a ride on a gigantic catamaran to tour the greater harbor area as well as snorkel off Moyenne island. It is a short two-minute walk from the ship’s gangway, past the calypso band and on to the Anahita with about a hundred others. We cruise out of the harbor as our guide describes the various islands. The first to be settled was Sainte Anne. Round Island was once a leper colony. Long Island was once a prison. Today they contain five-star hotels.

We are sitting with Karen and Tim from Vancouver with whom we had just had dinner. Tim has his own mask, so he is experienced at this snorkeling. Karen and I wander around taking photographs as the boat moves out into the greater harbor.

Our first activity is a glass bottom boat ride. Actually, it is almost a semi-submarine, where guests go below to sit on benches and look out into the water to view the fish. Cathy and Steve, remembering how quickly they turn green when below decks in a small boat, pass on this, but everyone we talk to that takes it has a great time and see tons of marine life. While half of the guests take that ride, which boards from the catamaran, we continue to tour the islands and hear more about the Seychelles. And chat with Kreg and Judy.

It begins to rain, but we are under cover and our next activity is snorkeling, so the inclement weather is practically irrelevant. It takes a few minutes, but we arrive at our destination, which is a reef about fifty yards off of Moyenne Island. It takes a while to hand out fins, masks and snorkels to the 95% of us who need the equipment. We are almost the last to get in line, so we are also among the last to enter the water.

The water is warm, the equipment works well, and we have a fine time looking at all the fish. We paddle around for around maybe 25-30 minutes with a face in the water. There are tons of fish to see. Many sizes and colors and they swim right up to you. It was very cool. Cathy and I are separated because it’s hard to stay together when you really can’t see the other swimmer (because you’re face first in the water looking at fish). And there is a current that moves you around and other swimmers to watch out for.

Cathy gets out first. I follow in what must be only a few minutes. Both of us encounter a lot of trouble getting out. The rungs on the ladder are round and narrow and extremely slippery. One side of the damn ladder gets loose on me. Finally I am able to get out, but it’s a struggle. I was not exactly at my graceful best. Cathy needs help getting out as well. Note to file: check the ladder before going in to make sure we don’t look like beached whales trying to get out.

The next activity was to be a period of sitting on the beach, but it has been raining. The captain gives us a option: beach or cruise. We opt to cruise. We are already wet, but with the plastic windows closed to keep out the rain, it is getting a bit uncomfortable what with the humidity and heat. We get back to shore around 1:00pm and have lunch somewhere. Then our daily quiet time ritual.

Before naps, we had decided that it would be fun to go into the town of Victoria even though it’s a Sunday. We get up from our naps around 3 and go down to Deck 4. There are a couple of representatives of the Seychelles Tourism Board giving out maps. We ask for one, and also ask where on the map we are located so we can get our bearings. Out of the ship we go.

The first thing that hits us is the humidity. Whew, it must be 90%. Oh well, we need the exercise. The first thing we see are four ocean containers of stuff being unloaded and put on our ship. I really want to know more about that, but there are forklifts moving about so we just head up the road.

The town is clean, and neat and well ordered. There are plenty of sidewalks, we have a decent map, and the place is quiet (remember, it’s Sunday). In fact, the only other people we see walking around are other passengers from the ship! We take a right about a quarter of a mile up the road, hope to get a couple of good photo ops of the inner harbor, but the scenery isn’t all that interesting. In a few blocks, we turn left, and then find our way into the main shopping district. The buildings are, at most four stories high, and there is an interesting variety of architectural styles. They drive on the left here (come to think of it, they do everywhere we have been since leaving Brazil) and there is a fair amount of traffic, so we are pretty careful crossing the street.

The heat and humidity are starting to take their toll, so we hang a left on Independence Avenue to start back toward the ship. Luckily, a few of the little tourist shops are open, because we thought it might be fun to get a few gifts as we are in such an unusual place. The first place we go, there is a very good sales person that is eager to help us. Indeed, we find two perfect gifts, and she takes US dollars.   Steve asks if it would be okay to take her picture, and she is very okay with it, posing in front of her shop. Then we continue down the street and stop at another place where we find one more excellent gift.

We have no trouble navigating the town. On Chemin Lazaner Road near our ship, with run into Evitsa from the ship. He is taking a walk into town to see what he can see. After chatting with him, we arrive back, grateful for air conditioning.

It’s now after four, and we have covered a couple of miles. We are scheduled to have dinner with our next door neighbors, Dieter and Bethsabe’, at 6:30. It starts getting dark as showers move in. In fact, it pours from about 4:30 on. And so different form a thunder shower at home, where it lasts for a few minutes and moves on. This lasted for hours! Tons of lightning. It was very exciting, but kind of too bad for the restaurants, as I would bet more than a few people would have opted to dine in the town.

Bethsabe’ knocks on the door around 5:30 asking if we can put off dinner until 7. They’re just returning from a tour and are soaked. So we meet them right at 7 in the Grand Dining Room. We have a wonderful dinner. Dieter is from Switzerland, she is from Colombia, and they have a really interesting life story together. Both of them are great conversationalists, have lived in Colombia, Switzerland and now live in Miami. We are very much looking forward to becoming better friends as they are also ATW guests.

It’s been a busy day, so after dinner we head up to our stateroom. But I guess there’s nothing new or different about that, is there? Three Sea Days coming up, as we must travel 1,387 miles to our next stop, the Maldives. The Seychelles are a really nice place and we chat about coming back. They are a long way from everywhere but many airlines serve the islands. Perhaps after another trip to South Africa? Or after a week in Paris?  Seychelles Airlines flies direct!