Seychelles Adventure: A day of leisure

Okay, okay, every day on vacation is a day of leisure, but this last day of our stay was even more so. We decided to visit an island resort for the day - have some lunch, hang by the beach and do absolutely nothing. Then head to the airport straight from there. It was a very lazy and perfect ending to a great vacation. A few photos in no particular order.

As we were sipping drinks on the beach, we saw this helicopter land and pick up a couple. We're pretty sure it was Beyonce and Jay Z or maybe ??? someone famous for sure!

The gorgeous view from the beach. We could see some of the other islands across the water.

The view from the other side of the resort overlooking yet another island of the Seychelles. The water in front it actually the hotel pool - the ocean wasn't quite that turquoise. :)

More beach ...

And … of course the drinks hut. We practically had our own private bar tender as there were only a few of us on the beach.

Seychelles Adventure: Day trip to Praslin

The claim to fame for Praslin island is the Vallee De Mai, which is a nature preserve and boasts one of the only places that the Coco de Mer tree grows. It's a kind of nut tree with some unique characteristics.

1. It has a male and female version of the tree, and once you see the photos, you'll see how easy it is to tell them apart. :)
2. A single coco de mer nut can take many years to form so they are considered rare and expensive.
3. They get their name (Coconut of the sea) because apparently the nut washed up on shore so the islanders thought it had come from a tree that grew under the ocean.

 A female Coco de Mer tree.

A male Coco de Mer tree . . . see what I mean? :)

And this is the nut that can take many years to fully form. A nut this size can sell for upwards of $10,000!  Not sure I'd want one even at a substantial discount.

These are the roots of the tree that help capture water but also keep the trunk from breaking in a strong wind. Unlike coconut palms, the Coco de Mer's trunk doesn't bend in the wind so this root system helps.

This isn't the Coco de Mer, but another dangerous looking plant all equipped to fight off predators. There was so much to learn and see, we wished we would have had more time in the park.

A scenic view of Praslin island.

 And our last stop at the beach - this time with the tide in so we could go swimming.

Seychelles Adventure: Day Trip to La Dique Island

The Seychelles is a collection of many islands. We were staying on Mahe for the week, but were advised not to miss a trip to La Dique and Praslin. This post is about La Dique and I'll write another for Praslin, even though they were both part of the same day tour.

Coming into the harbor - it was a perfect day for the trip. And since we were visiting in rainy season, we felt quite lucky for such a sunny day.

There are very few cars on La Dique as they are trying to preserve the natural  way of living. So, this ox cart was our transportation around the island - don't worry, we didn't have very far to go!

Not to be morbid, but it would be a lovely place to 'rest in peace' don't you think?

Feeding the tortoises.

 

Tiny island, but still really diverse with some nice rock formations in island.

Unfortunately, the tide was out so we didn't get the view (or the dip in the ocean) we would have liked. Even so, a nice relaxing spot to kick back for a while.

Seychelles Adventure: Takamaka Rum Factory

Hmmm, a Rum factory? Of course we're going! We actually had a nice tour of the place - very small - and then got to taste some of their rum. Unfortunately the restaurant wasn't open for lunch as it was a really beautiful setting and would have been nice to hang out there for a bit and enjoy.

This is the waiting area for the tour. A cute little house with a fancy sitting room.

They grind all the sugar cane by hand. It hardly looks like enough for the operations, but it's a small outfit.

This is the raw sugar cane juice before getting filtered and distilled.

Distilling

They store the rum in French oak barrels like this one.

Takamaka makes 5 varieties (and we got to taste them all!)

 

Out behind the 'factory' they have a large garden with a bunch of different herbs and spices and a historic ruin (can't remember what the ruin was - a house I suppose).

The forgotten ruin . . . literally.

 

And this guy is a fruit that has lots of good healing properties but smells absolutely vile! Kind of like gorgonzola cheese left out in the sun.  Even our guide wasn't willing to touch it with her bare hands for fear they would smell the rest of the day!

Seychelles Adventure: Island Tour

We decided to start our adventure with an island tour - in part to get our bearings and to get some local flavor. We signed up for a tour with Discovery Agri Tour based on ratings from Trip Advisor. While not exactly what we expected, we did have a great day exploring some of the lesser known parts of the island and learning tons about the flora and fauna.

This is a skink - very tiny, cute little thing that looks a bit like a lizard. I think the name is cool.

I wish I could name all the beaches in these photos, but despite our guide's constant quizzing, I don't remember. In hindsight, I should have asked Brad to guest-blog as he probably remembers them all! :)

Yep, they really are that beautiful. And half the day was cloudy so that makes the photos even more impressive.

A trip to the local market - now that's fresh fish!!

 

Okay, this guy, not so cute, but pretty impressive. from leg to leg, he's about the span of your palm. We were told he isn't poisonous.