Friday 13th April
Port Victoria is the capital city of the Seychelles and is situated on the north eastern side of Mahe Island, which is the main island of the archipelago. Mahe is one of the 42 mountainous granite islands of the archipelago, their being another 73 flat coralline islands together making up the Seychelles. This lush, idyllic paradise conjures up images of ‘Bounty’ adverts. In reality, the scenery is actually even more stunning with its exotic flora and fauna.
The Coco De Mer which is found in the Seychelles is the world’s largest nut.
This morning just cruising into our berth in Victoria.
Our trip today is in the afternoon, so took a leisurely start keeping out of the way of all the morning trips crowding out the ship. Morning weather rather cloudy so made use of the time catching up with laundry, etc. while the ship is fairly quiet.
Late morning very heavy rain arrived, glad we are not out on a trip in the rain! Luckily quite a short period of rain, everywhere soon dried up in these tropical temperatures as soon a sun came out.
Weather continues very hot and humid, we are getting quite used to this weather, going to miss it when it’s gone so really can’t complain if it’s just a bit too hot and steamy sometimes.
All cleared up before we started our excursion. Small buses for trips here, maximum about 30 to a bus.
First stop at the Botanical Gardens. Our guide described all sorts of plants and trees in the gardens, their uses in medicine etc.
One very speciality of the island is the Coco-de-Mer, the biggest nut in the world.
Our Guide with Coco-de-Mer
All the time huge fruit bats flying around and feeding on the bread fruit. Their wingspan is up to five and a half feet (1.7m).
Fruit Bat hanging in Bread Fruit Tree
Fruit Bat eating Bread Fruit
Flying Fruit Bat.
Stopped at the giant tortoise enclosure, lots of tortoises of various ages from 40 up to 90 years old.
Other particularly interesting plants in the garden include Elephant Apples and Ginger Plants
Elephant Apples
Just some nice flowers
Ginger Plant Flowers
Back on the bus to drive into town for a short walking tour passing old buildings, a neat little clock tower on a roundabout in the middle of town. The clock tower was originally wooden which rotted away now replaced by the present clock tower which is based on the one by Vauxhall Bridge in London.
Next we walked to the market, mostly selling fish and fruit to the locals.
A nearby balcony window box!
Nearby the Market we had a quick viewing of the Hindu Temple, a pretty little bird feeding and views of the surrounding hills.
On the way back to the bus went passed the Catholic Cathedral and the Priest House.
The Church Interior
The Priest House next door, some house
Once again on the bus for a coastal drive up round the north point, with one photo stop for the “Bounty” picture.
On agin to our stop at a hotel for an hour on Beau Vallon Beach. Nice beach and lovely clear sea. Water if anything just too hot for anything other than just floating around.
Short cut drive back to the port with just a quick photo stop for overviews of the town on the way to the ship.
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