Seychelles… Where Sally would sell seashells on the seashore in the Seychelles; that is if Sally was wise and liked really hot weather!

 April 4^th and 5^th, 2024

 

Seychelles…  Where Sally would sell seashells on the seashore in the Seychelles.  That is if
Sally was wise and liked really hot weather!

 

If not, then Vialula and I will do our best to tell you why she should.  This place is a breath of fresh air and very livable when compared to the Maldives, which is 99% Muslim.   There are many different cultures, religions, and peoples here and they do a great job of acceptance and tolerance, and they make it work well here.  It appears that they are a happy people.  Their only exports are tourism and fish processing … mostly canned tuna.   Let’s just say there can be some odiferous odors when the wind blows the wrong way.  They must import everything they need.

We are in East Africa now.  We are about 1500 kilometers from the African continent and Victoria is the capital and largest city.  That being said, Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa and 115 islands makeup the archipelago.  Some of them are actually reclaimed land from the sea but unfortunately their method of dredging and water that is too warm has destroyed very valuable coral reefs. I think they have seen the error of their ways and hopefully this process will be changed.

One thing you can’t miss when you look up to the higher elevations from the city are huge slabs of rock jutting up.  Vialula and I have met a very good friend on board, Eloise.  Now Eloise is one sharp cookie and she pointed out that these rock formations are as old as any on earth and actually were formed before the continents were continental.  This supercontinent called Gondwana is similar to Pangea but even older dating back some 500 million years ago.   This is one of the rare places you can see it.  Thanks, Eloise!

The history here is split between English and French influences but that didn’t begin until 1609 when the British East India Company led an expedition and then France formally annexed the islands in 1756.  Then you see the British come back after Napolean was defeated.  We were here for 2 days and had very different tours each day. 

The first day we visited inner island points of interest like an crumbled old slave school called the Venn’s Town Mission house.   

We also went to the Botanical gardens and got to feed the giant tortoises that call the island home.   These fabulous old creatures, some over a hundred and fifty years old, slowly move around in their environment and happily munch on the leaves and branches that the tourist feed them.  They were hungry!  

Next, we visited a small tea processing factory where you could sample different teas that are made up on the island.  Vi said it was like sweet tea back home.  I'll stick to my beer of the day which was "Seybrew."  We saw red bananas which they say is similar to our banana but sweeter.  There are 26 varieties of banana on the island.

Day two was a great day out on the water on a catamaran called the Anahita.  The water is absolutely beautiful here and so many shades of greens and blues.  

 

We took a short ride in a submarine where you could get a great view of the reefs and fish.  We were lucky enough to see several different fish, mostly zebra fish.  

Then we went snorkeling and swimming being very careful not to stand or get on the reefs.   The warm waters here are being hard on the reefs.  

After a couple of hours getting fried crisp we took a scenic ride back to the pier and our home away from home.  A day in the water is always a good day.

Zanzibar is our next port.  I just like saying Zanzibar.  Thanks for following along and stay tuned for more useless trivial information that I will impart to you in the coming days!   Take care and hopefully the weather is improving back home and the weeds are making themselves known!!

LeRoy and Vi