SeychellesDecember 30-31, 2024
Seychelles is a group of 115 islands located in the Indian ocean. This island nation is Africa's least populated country. We visited two islands during the course of our two-day visit: La Digue and Mahé.
La Digue
The first island of Seychelles that we visited was La Digue. As I already described on The Ship page of this trip report, Norwegian's tender operation to get to the island was chaotic and shameful. We were not in a good mood when we finally made it to shore. We kind of summed up our mood when the Norwegian photographers at the pier asked us to pose for a picture. Traci and I decided to pose with a frown on our face and thumbs down. This caused several other annoyed passengers to chuckle.
Traci and I were an hour late getting to the meeting point for our shore excursion that day. This was not a problem since everyone was delayed. The tour companies waited patiently at the pier. We were booked for the 4-hour La Digue Highlights excursion. We were loaded into the back of a truck. In a case of irony, we ended up being seated next to a man with whom Traci exchanged some unflattering words when he tried to cut the line as we were exiting the ship.
The shore excursion was not all that memorable. La Digue is small enough that the tour is not really needed. We should have just rented bicycles like many other passengers did and explored the town on our own. However, we probably would have wondered what we missed if we had not done the tour.
We were driven through a narrow street. The scene reminded me of a small town on a Caribbean island. The people of Seychelles drive on the left side of the road. Bicycle traffic far outnumbers motor vehicle traffic - locals and tourists alike.
Seychelles was a British territory early in its history before it was annexed by the French in 1756. It was ceded back to the British 1814. It gained its independence in 1976. As a result of all these changes in ownership, the people of Seychelles are multilingual. They speak Seychellois Creole, English, and French.
It was a very hot and humid that day. This was actually a blessing because later that day, I would meet a local who told me that it had been raining heavily for several days up until today. During our excursion, we made a stop at an area where we watched a coconut husking demonstration. We saw old equipment that used to be used to create coconut oil. We did a quick tour of an old plantation house. Across the road from the house was an area where there were a bunch of giant land tortoises. They are native to Seychelles. I enjoyed looking at them. They were behind a barrier. Some tourists climbed over the barrier to feed them leaves or to get close-up photos of the tortoises even though they were told not to cross the barrier. I found their behavior to be shameful and disrespectful. There were employees telling the tourists that they are not allowed to be inside the tortoise area, but the tourists ignored them and continued to do what they wanted to do.
old press for making coconut oil
The final stop of our excursion was the famous Anse Source d'Argent. It is a beach known for its large granite boulders. Microsoft used to use a photo of this famous beach as a screensaver. We were offered some delicious lime juice and given an hour or so to enjoy the beach. Even though Traci and I are not beach people, we were fascinated by the boulders. We took a lot of pictures of them. We waded in the water which had a brownish tint instead of the blue-turquoise color you see in travel brochures. This was because of sediment stirred up by all of the rain the island had recently. Despite this, the water was exceptionally clear. I saw a lot of fish and other sea creatures swimming about as I waded. I was surprised by how warm the water was. I have never experienced ocean water this warm. It really felt like a warm bath.
We were driven back to the pier at the conclusion of our excursion. We still had some time before we needed to be back on the ship, so Traci and I walked along the main road of the town which was full of bicyclists. At one point, we came upon a funeral procession. The decorated coffin was in the back of a pickup truck. There were a few cars of mourners riding slowly behind the truck. The rest of the procession consisted of people on bicycles and on foot.
Traci and I visited two grocery stores. I bought some snacks that had piqued my interest (spicy chicken baked corn nuggets and ginger nuts). I had never seen them anywhere else. They tasted okay but nothing special. The rest of the time, Traci and I wandered the town taking pictures on this very hot and humid day.
The bicycle is the most popular transportation.
interesting snack
interesting snack
It was a relief to return to our air-conditioned cabin on the ship. A funny thing happened when I opened our balcony door. The humidity outside caused the mirrors and glass in our cabin to fog up.
Traci and I had dinner in the Aqua dining room. We stopped by the buffet for made-to-order crepes. For entertainment that evening, we attended the comedy show in the Stardust Theater and then went to the karaoke semi-finals in the Bliss Lounge. It was around this time that I started noticing a lot of coughing from our fellow passengers.
Mahé
We awoke the next morning docked at an industrial port on Seychelles largest island, Mahé. More specifically, we were in Port Victoria, the capital of Seychelles. Most notable, as I took in the scene from our cabin balcony, were the tall wind turbines in the area for making electricity. Traci and I had a quick breakfast at the buffet and then made our way to the Stardust Theater to wait for our excursion group to be called for debarkation. After the fiasco of tendering to La Digue the previous day, everyone was elated that no tender boats were needed for this port.
Port Victoria
Traci and I were booked for Norwegian's The Northern Highlights shore excursion. This roughly 4-hour tour was partly motorcoach but mostly walking. Our first stop was the Seychelles National Botanical Gardens. I am not one who looks forward to visiting a botanical garden, but this visit was fantastic! Our tour guide led us on a walking tour of the grounds. We were thankful for the shade of the trees. It was very hot and humid that day. Our guide's knowledge of the plants and trees was what made this tour so captivating. We saw all types of colorful plants - some of which were quite aromatic. Our guide spent the most time talking about the coco de mer tree. It produces the largest seed in the world. The seed can grow to be 1.5 feet and weigh around 55 pounds. We did not see any mature seeds in Seychelles, but I would see one later during our visit to Mauritius.
The plant life was not the only attraction in the botanical gardens. There was an area containing the native giant land tortoises. Unlike in La Digue, we were allowed to get close to the tortoises and feed them if desired. I did not feed any of the creatures, but I admired their curiosity as they approached. I had to be careful not to trip because sometimes these large, sturdy animals would approach you quietly from behind.
