(Backup) Day 79, Saturday, March 24, 2018 Victoria, Mahe Seychelles 🇸🇨

We arrived a bit ahead of schedule this morning, but that was still much later then our normal port arrivals, it was 9:30 AM when they cleared the ship. We met the others that had signed up for the tour, in the Queens lounge at 10, and by 10:30 we were meeting the bus. We were on bus #4, there were eight buses for this tour all carrying about 17 people each. It was air conditioned and we were all very happy about that, as the temp was already getting very warm, 86* and would get hotter, and the humidity was about 80%. 

The Seychelles is composed of 115 islands and Victoria on the island of Mahe’ is there capital: among the smallest national capitals in the world. France colonized the islands in the 1700s, then Great Britain controlled them until their independence in 1976. There is a very strong Creole influence this is because of the,  Africans, Indians, and Chinese that were brought in to work on the, spice, sugar, and cotton plantations, and their language and music, and foods are still very much of today. 

So first stop was the botanical gardens, which was beautiful, but a lot of walking up hill!  Now if it was cooler, it wouldn’t have been bad, but in this heat, it was a killer for most of us. 

First stop was to see the coconut this island is famous for. More then just a novelty, the oil is supposed to be very good for your skin and hair, himm we’ll see. It is the Coco de Mer, it is the only native coconut to the Seychelles, and very provocative to say the least. 

If you look at the right on the shelf and you can see the long flower stem that hangs between the crease in the coconut, didn’t I say it was provocative? 

There were also huge tortoises in this garden, well protected, so we couldn’t get very close. 

   

 

Some of the flowers in the garden. 

 

After leaving the gardens, totally exhausted, the picture doesn’t show it well, but it was all uphill, we head into town, to see the market. 

 

 

 

These shells were so pretty, we bought one. 

Now we traveled over to the other side of the island, and it reminded me of Tahiti. 

 

 

Then there was the lunch and beach stop at a Hilton double tree, that was fun, but after walking in the Indean Ocean, it was very clear, and warm.  I have now put my feet in all the oceans on the globe, how about that!

We returned to the ship a bit late, but since we weren’t sailing until 10:30 PM it didn’t matter.  We were both so hot and tired, we showered, and Ed went up to the Lido and brought it back to the room. They were having a shellfish extravaganza. 

In the upper left is the chocolates they gave us in the apology for the water in the room, and a bottle of wine. We had them in the fridge, and after the 10,573steps, in the oppressive heat we could indulge a bit. 

Quote:  “ To travel is to take a JOURNY into yourself.”  - Danny Kay