Sorry everyone, this has taken a lifetime to get round to writing and even longer to post, but here goes...
Friday night; 22.30 air Seychelles Heathrow - mahe.
Worked all day to save vacation days, so had to rush from central London to meet hubby at Heathrow... stressed!!!
Air Seychelles not the greatest airline – old seats, not much space. Service good though, and big advantage – it’s the only direct flight from London. We got talking to some Americans who flew Emirates via Dubai – a much nicer airline but adds another connection and 2 hrs onto the already 12 hour trip from London ( 36hrs from Montana!)
Anyway, arrived in Mahe at 9.30am to be met at customs and escorted to the helicopter terminal were we got the chopper for the 20 minute flight to North Island.
Mahe reminded me of Tortola, although with a slightly edger feel (probably not helped by the US Navy being in town – but more of that later!)
North Island was beautiful. It is a necker-esque private island but run as an all-inclusive hotel.
We had a beautiful room with plunge pool, sitting room, huge bath, and right on the beach. The giant tortoises come up for bits of apple!
You get a golf cart to drive around in, the island being about 2 miles long and 1 mile wide, with some very steep hills.
The food was really good, but a bit over-done; by day 3 we were dreaming of Edith’s sandwiches at Black Dogs! The snorkelling and fishing fantastic – we caught a 24kg Wahoo which the whole island ate for days, and some mai mai much bigger than we’ve managed in VG. Lots and lots of turtles to see, including some coming up and laying their eggs on the beach which we managed to see.
Routines of the day just like the bvi – sleep, eat, swim, sleep, drink eat repeat! Spent a day sailing, more similar to grenadines than bvi imo, bigger distances and bigger sea’s, with less to do on the islands. Don’t get me wrong, still amazing.
Week goes quickly (why is that when you’re having fun??!!) and we have to leave at 5pm as the helicopters don’t fly after dark – flight to London not till 11.55pm so 6 hrs to kill in mahe. Ahah we said, let’s go to town and get some food….forgetting the naval ship in the harbour.
Suffice to say the American couple with us were very ashamed. These boys were supposed to be hunting pirates off the Congo (only 1000m off course but what’s that between friends...). Instead they were getting hammered in the Seychelles. A full scale brawl broke out in the pizza place we were eating, the military police ( us version thereof) had to come, cart 8 off in a van and pay the restaurant for damage – never mind the rest of the innocent bystanders. Not an impressive view of US Military.
Anyway, kept us entertained till the flight left!
Overall: Nice to go somewhere new. Was it worth the extra 2 hrs travel vs. VG? – No. Would it be worth 24 hrs if I lived in the US? Definitely not, unless you tagged it on to a trip to Africa.
will post pics when I work out how to!
sarah xx
Looking forward to VG next year….
