September 10, 2012

Tales from the Seychelles

Land Ho! Land Ho!

Feels great to step foot on solid ground after spending 6 weeks straight at sea. Even if it's wet and raining part of the time here. It's what happens when one is in the tropics.

Pulled into port on Sunday, though. This place is dead on Sunday. Emptier than an out-of-service WMATA train. And only a few places open...most of which are along the beach at the hotels or casino. Good luck if you're near the port and need something on Sunday.

Mahe Island is tiny, relatively speaking, which is saying a lot since it's the largest of the Seychelles islands. The whole country has only 84,000 people, most of them on this island, which is maybe 15 miles long and 3 miles wide at the widest. But it's very hilly. Some steep rockfaces and a peak over 2,000ft high.

Very tourist-oriented (Sundays notwithsanding). Several hotels and resorts along the beaches. They get a lot of cruise ships during the tourist season (which thankfully for us hasn't started yet...we'd be anchored out instead of pierside otherwise).

A couple more days here...overnighting at one of the hotels. A real bed and real shower will be awesome compared to the ship, even if only for one night. If only the internet wasn't so expensive here...


It's a ship! And dry land!