Tidbits from the Seychelles
January 28, 2017
We're currently posted up at Anse Boileau. Aaron and Becky are snorkeling in the somewhat choppy water, but must be seeing something cool because they're staying out longer than I expected. Kelly is attempting to get his drone to work, but it's not connecting to his work phone.
We arrived to the Seychelles at 7:30am on Saturday, well rested thanks to some natural sleep aids on a four and a half hour flight from Dubai. People gawked at us in the long customs line thanks to our matching, bright blue, "BEACH please" t-shirts. We collected our bags, exited customs, and greeted our rental car person, who waited for us with a "KRISTIN O'CONNELL" sign. He left us with the keys, but no general directions or map outside of "the petrol station is on the other side of the street." With the signal and windshield wiper on opposite sides of the steering wheel from what I'm used to, I ended up switching on the wipers before signaling every time I made a turn until we reached our hotel, Copolia Lodge, a six room boutique hotel perched on Sans Souci (which means no worries in French) road high in the jungle.
January 30, 2017
I'm sitting beneath a fig tree, on my belly, looking up at a somewhat run down tropical home. The wind is strong, blowing away any bugs and the occasional towel, but the sea remains calm. We're at Port Luanay, on the northern coast of Mahe, the largest island of the 115 that make up the Seychelles. Each morning we wake up to views of the high jungle, mist catching the rocky peaks and white birds soaring to and fro - a deep green their backdrop. Even a rooster, with its white feathers and red crown, looks majestic against the emerald foliage of the tropics. Sherbet orange coconuts ripen at the top of a palm above me. They'll be cut down and served up with a straw on the beach for thirsty tourists. Maybe it's the number of beaches to choose from, or the fact that the Seychelles is still ramping up its tourism, but the beaches here are far from busy. Or maybe the tourists stick to their resorts? Either way, we're not complaining.
February 1, 2017
We drove to Takamaka Distillery to try to go to dinner, but they were closed, so we drove nearby to Les Dauphins instead. We sat on a picnic table under an umbrella in the sand and since Aaron offered to drive, I ordered myself a couple of Sey Brews, the local Seychelles beer. While we were sitting there, a baby lizard dropped onto my shoulder. I say dropped because I have no idea how it got there, and definitely didn't feel it land on my body, but there it was, sitting on my shoulder. I squealed as I felt its little feet travel across my skin onto my neck. Kelly coaxed it over to him and then it fell. It fell onto the sand and then into a crab hole. Just like that, our little friend was gone forever we thought. Kelly stuck a branch down the hole to try to save it and about five minutes later, after we had mostly considered it crab meat, the little guy crawled back up and out!
We ate pizza and fish and chips and had a little bit of time with our baby lizard before placing him/her safely on a tree. The beach outside of Les Dauphins was great for swimming this time of year - long, sandy, calm, and pretty at sunset. We drove back to Copolia and played darts (the Martins won) which ended with Aaron betting Becky a shot if he made a bullseye. She agreed; he missed; and then countered the same. From behind the pool table, with her 3rd and final dart, Becky landed a bullseye!
February 2, 2017
We woke up earlier than past days so we could eat breakfast right at 7:30am and still have time to complete the other activities we had planned for the day before having to catch our ferry to La Digue. We were sad to be enjoying our last delicious Copolia Lodge breakfast overlooking the Mahe jungle, but were eager to see what La Digue's beaches were like at the same time. After breakfast we started the Copolia Trail, across the street from our hotel, and while steeper than expected, worth every drop of sweat that covered our bodies. We took a wrong turn near the summit which lead nowhere and worried us that we wouldn't see any of the special pitcher plants or have very good views. Kelly came to the rescue and found where we misstepped while we were heading back down and we finished the trail. The views were magnificent and the pitcher plants, fantastic.
