Mahé

Back to Mahé, we visit the capital, Victoria, and go for a walk on the top of the cliffs until Anse Major. Bad timing, the temperature is hitting the ceiling during the afternoon, we really don't feel like coming back on the same track. Good news, it seems that we are not the first ones to face the problem, there is a taxi boat service to bring us back to the hotel. Nice surprise indeed, it was a great moment.

Last hike, climbing 750m above the sea level, under a heavy rain, in the middle of wild nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, passion fruits, guava and orange trees. In 5 hours, we will only cross 3 scientists who are counting the frogs or the snails, or whatever there is to be counted up there. 

 

 

For the ones who didn't feel like walking this morning, and decided to use the bus and join us at the Anse Launay (hello Bouvron!) beach, it will also take close to 5 hours, because bus trips take ages there, and because there is a bus only every 2 hours.

On Sunday, everyone is exhausted by the week, we decide to hang around the hotel, back and forth the beach, and pack the luggage for the trip back to Paris. 

 
You could think that this was the end of our adventures... Not even close.

Impossible to get our boarding pass from Dubai to Paris, because of "a problem with the computer". How can anyone pretend that there are problems with the computers? Anybody knows that this never happens... ;)
The plane takes off upon schedule, no problem with the connection in Dubai, everything's fine until Paris, with the A380 once more. All of us are looking forward to getting home, and spending a looooong night in our beds.
But guess what... The luggage is not there! Thank God we all took our winter jackets and apartment keys with us, so we are heading the bus or train to get home a lot lighter than expected, and Emirates will have the great pleasure to deliver our luggage on the following day.

You wouldn't expect Seychelles to be so eventful, but the more I watch the pictures, and the more I enjoy those holidays :))))

La Digue

Time to move on to La Digue, we get up at 5:30am... and watch the rain falling during hours in the bus then in the boat then in the guest house in which we settle down.
At 10am the weather seems to be getting slightly better, we jump on our bikes and start riding around the island. The rain and the wind lowered a bit the temperature, it feels a lot nicer.

The next activity will be sea kayaking, which will turn out a bit more troublesome than expected: I got crushed by my kayak while landing on the beach where we had a break, two other kayaks turned upside down and drowned while crossing the coral reef. But everyone finishes the day alive and reasonably safe and sound (the salted water helped curing all the scratches we got during the day...).

 

Praslin - Curieuse

On Monday morning, wake up at 6am in order to catch the first boat and not lose any more time; The luggage is supposed to be delivered to us in the evening.
One more thing to be bought before we can go hiking with our hiking boots and swimming suits (yes, that was sexy!!!!): sun screen. Not a lot of choice, but there is a local one with a maximal protection rating, which looks suitable. Wrong choice, we will realize it at the end of the day. One more week to be spent in Seychelles, and I altready look like an over cooked lobster :(

Let's stop complaining: between 2 series of problems, the scenery is incredible, with crystal clear water and white sand everywhere you look.
Even more breathtaking than what you can see in magazines.

 

After a few hours of hiking and enjoying the local wild life in Curieuse, then snorkeling in Saint-Pierre, we head back to Praslin in order to check if our beloved luggage finally made it.
And yes it did! Incredible how good it feels to wear clean clothes after a shower :)

On the second day, we start a 5 hours hike in order to cross the island and reach Anse Lazio beach. More swimming, snorkeling, and sleeping under the trees (looking for the shade, I got enough sun yesterday...)

Seychelles: from Paris to Mahé

Bonzour!

The flight to Dubai is 2 hours late, but I am waiting at the airport with Martin Fourcade, and am about to board an A380 for the first time ever, therefore it could have been worse ;)
 

Things start getting a bit more complicated for the connection in Dubai: we land 5 minutes after the expected take off time of the second flight, for which the "last call" is announced when we rush out of the plane. The information screens inform us that the boarding gate is 21 minutes away. 15 minutes of running up and down the stairs, and between the passengers in the corridors, we reach the boarding gate, as hot and exhausted as if we had run a marathon. Good news: the plane is still there. Bad news: it was not worth running, the plane will still be there 2 hours after that.

When we reach Mahé, our luggage is not there (don't forget, it is winter in Europe, we are wearing jeans, long sleeves tee shirts and walking boots, whereas the local temperature is close to 30°C, with as much humidity as you imagine (or may be even a bit more than that)), and we have missed the last boat to reach the island where we were supposed to sleep tonight.

Fortunately, we manage to find a small supermarket which is still opened on Sunday at 7pm in order to buy water and a toothbrush, and a local market where everything is about to close but we arrive just in time to buy the last 6 swimming suits they have for the 6 of us. That was close...