Back in Paradise!

We flew to the Seychelles for three weeks for the second time, having first visited in 2016. This time, we visited four islands: first Cerf Island, then our favourite island, La Digue, followed by Praslin and, finally, Mahé. We had already started planning in January 2016, as the anticipation had brought us so much joy before our first trip.

Cerf Island

After landing on Mahé, we first exchanged euros for rupees and bought a local SIM card from Cable & Wireless. This offers inexpensive mobile internet access (SCR 99 for a starter package with 300 MB; larger packages are also available). We took a taxi to the Maharajas Restaurant on Eden Island, where the boat from L'Habitation collected us and took us to Cerf free of charge. Our lovely hosts, Kevin and Wendy Horner, were already waiting for us at the jetty. We quickly settled into our apartment at Fairy Tern and then set off to explore the area. Unfortunately, we were plagued by mosquitoes on Cerf, although thankfully we did not encounter them on the other islands. One day, we followed a short hiking trail over the top of the island to the other side. It is a little jungle path through dense vegetation, where we spotted one or two enormous palm spiders. The small cemetery at the top of Cerf was particularly lovely, with some graves dating back more than 200 years. There is also a viewpoint offering fantastic views of the surrounding islands in the Sainte Anne Marine National Park. On another day, we walked along the beach at low tide from our accommodation to the small island of Île Cachée. The snorkelling there was fantastic, and we saw all sorts of fish. It was a truly idyllic little corner of the world. We had it entirely to ourselves and felt like Robinson Crusoe!

Photos

La Digue

After four nights on Cerf, we took the Cat Cocos ferry from Mahé to La Digue. Phew, it was very choppy, and quite a few passengers felt unwell. But we soon forgot all about that when we arrived back on La Digue. It is simply our favourite island! We stayed for seven nights at Villa Creole in the south of the island – an excellent choice! The four villas are situated beside Anse La Réunion, separated from the beach only by a small road, and we saw the most wonderful sunsets there. We had requested a villa in the rear row in advance, as these offer more privacy than the two villas directly beside the road. The facilities were excellent, and we had everything we needed. For SCR 100, a 10-litre water dispenser can be provided, which was a wonderful idea given the climate and temperatures. We prepared all our own meals, as we already had experience of self-catering from our first visit. There are plenty of places to shop on La Digue, including around Villa Creole. That is one of the things we appreciate so much about La Digue: wherever you are going, everything is close by. We also did the tour to Anse Marron for the second time. Our guide was absolutely brilliant, and we enjoyed it even more than the first time! However, Anse Marron has become quite busy now (there were around five groups with their guides), which is a shame because it takes away some of the atmosphere of this breathtaking beach. Nevertheless, we will certainly hike there for a third time on our next visit – and definitely with ‘our’ guide again. We can also highly recommend the sunset dinner at Snack Bellevue. Simply ask your accommodation to book it for you. It costs SCR 500 per person, excluding drinks, but the food is absolutely delicious and among the best on La Digue! Photos Sunset at Anse Reunion, directly in front of Villa Creole

Praslin

We found it quite difficult to say goodbye to La Digue. After a short crossing on the Cat Rose ferry, we collected our hire car at the jetty on Praslin. We stayed for five nights at Le Domaine de La Reserve on Anse Petite Cour. The hotel itself, the food, the location and the tranquillity were all superb, but unfortunately our room (Beach Front Deluxe) was not particularly pleasant. The walls were damp, which made the room smell very musty. Mould stains had simply been painted over. Unfortunately, the hotel was fully booked; otherwise, we could have moved into one of the rooms in the bungalow above. We spent most of our time outdoors anyway. The bay is excellent for snorkelling, especially in the morning at low tide, which we found was the best time. If you swim further out, you can see lots of stony corals underwater, along with fish, rays and squid. We also watched enormous shoals of fish swimming beneath us. At high tide, the water tended to be more turbulent, so visibility was not as good. We were also amused by the fish swimming around in the water while we had breakfast in the restaurant on the jetty. One of them, which the locals call a ‘needlefish’, looked like a barracuda but was incredibly colourful.

Breakfast had everything we could have wished for: fresh fruit, pancakes and waffles, bread, pastries and toast, eggs prepared in every possible way, salads, freshly squeezed juices, cheese, cold meats, bacon and much more. The cappuccino was the best we had during our three-week trip. This time, we also visited Fond Ferdinand as an alternative to Vallée de Mai, but our guide did not seem particularly interested in leading the tour and had very little to say. The climb to the viewpoint is quite strenuous, but the view really is beautiful. Afterwards, you simply walk back down the same path. Compared with Vallée de Mai, we did not enjoy Fond Ferdinand quite as much. Something we Europeans found completely extraordinary was the way a large hole in the road beside Anse Boudin had been made safe: a barrel wrapped in hazard tape had simply been placed in the hole – presumably in the hope that nobody would drive into it. We could not help smiling, even though we had already encountered quite a few curious sights during our first holiday in the Seychelles.

Sunset on Anse Petite Cour beach (Hotel La Reserve) Mahé

After five nights on Praslin, we flew back to Mahé on an Air Seychelles island-hopper flight. We were lucky enough to sit directly behind the pilots. The approach to Mahé is certainly an adventure, but incredibly beautiful at the same time. We collected our hire car and drove to our accommodation, Chalets Bougainville. The two owners, Maggie and Joe, are absolutely lovely. Maggie is Swiss, speaks fluent German and can offer lots of useful tips. We had booked Villa Lemon for four nights. It was a dream cottage with fantastic views of Anse Royale! It was spotlessly clean, perfectly equipped and had a wonderful veranda and very effective air conditioning, all of which made our stay complete. We visited Baie Lazare – and were so impressed by this truly idyllic beach that we went straight back the following day. The far end near La Gaulette restaurant is particularly beautiful: a very wide beach with powdery white sand, no seaweed, crystal-clear water and plenty of shade from takamaka trees and magnificent tall coconut palms, some of which grow at an angle. This beach could easily feature on a photographic mural! We also recommend Petite Anse at the Four Seasons Resort – this bay is simply stunning too.

Approaching Mahé by air After three wonderful weeks in the Seychelles, it was sadly time to return home – but only until next time.