Days 69-72 Sea Days and Seychelles Islands

Weather
Mid 80's and very humid, scattered showers

Map

Background - The Seychelles is a breathtakingly beautiful archipelago of 115 granite and coral islands scattered across the Indian Ocean, just off the coast of East Africa and northeast of Madagascar. It's known for its luxury travel experiences andis home to some of the world’s most stunning beaches. It enjoys the highest nominal per capita GDP in Africa, Its Victoria, is located on the main island of Mahé which is where our ship docked.

What we did

Today, Viking offered two included excursions (you had to pick one), so we opted for the “Scenic Island of Mahé.” Our tour set out in the morning under mostly cloudy skies, with occasional light rain. Even at around 84°F, the heat and humidity felt intense. We boarded a small bus and made our way into Victoria for a brief stroll through the town center. It’s charmingly compact and very walk-able, with one of its standout sights being a miniature version of Big Ben, built in 1903 to honor Queen Victoria after her passing in 1901. From there, we drove to Berjaya, a resort at Beau Vallon Bay on the island’s northeastern coast. We had about 50 minutes there; just enough time to grab a soda, stroll along the beach and dip our toes in the Indian Ocean. The alternative excursion would have spent several hours at this same beach, but given the weather and the fact that it didn’t quite compare to the resort experience we’d had in the Maldives, we were glad we chose the broader island tour. While at the resort, we also came across a small enclosure with a handful of tortoises. They were easy to approach and surprisingly gentle, making for a fun and unexpected interaction.

Our final stop was the Botanical Gardens, which turned out to be a highlight of the day. Rather than formal landscaping, the gardens showcase a variety of native plants and wildlife, giving them a more natural, immersive feel. There was also a larger tortoise enclosure that visitors could walk into, offering a closer (but careful!) interaction with these fascinating creatures. It was an experience that definitely exceeded our expectations. One of the pictures below is of Amy holding a seed from a "Coco de Mer" palm tree, native to the Seychelles. It is the world's heaviest seed and can weigh as much as 40 kilos. It is not a coconut and this seed takes about 7 years to mature.

Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse in the afternoon. After returning to the ship for lunch, we spent a laid-back afternoon playing cribbage and Azul with Julie and Dean.