The Idyll Continues: The Seychelles

"We may not have much of a role to play in major global issues, but we'll do our part on the international cocktail-party circuit." - James Mancham, first President of the Seychelles (1976)

After being deposed in a coup in 1977, Mancham said, “It is no big heroic deed to take over the Seychelles . Twenty-five people with sticks could seize control."

The Seychelles apparently have an interesting history, having come late to the attention of the Western world and even later to independence. Smart people, when the French came they would raise the French flag and when the English ships were on the horizon, up went the Union Jack. But the islands’ history can best be summarized in two words: “Who cares?” The Seychelles is not about history, or culture, or any of that. It’s about beauty, water and what lies under the water.

Probably the most closely comparable place in the world I’ve been is French Polynesia. Lying just below the equator, the Seychelles is a series of lovely islands. The main one, Mahe, is where most of the population lives, but people occupy a number of the other islands as well, most notably Praslin and La Digue. These were the three islands that the ship visited. Personally, I only really visited one of the three—La Digue. The other two were visited only long enough to board a smaller vessel to go to some smaller, barely inhabited (or not inhabited) islands.

So I blew off Mahe entirely in order to go to Cerf Island. Or, more accurately, to go to the waters just off Cerf Island. Here, we fed some fish from our flat-bottomed boat, in order to see a living demonstration of the phrase “feeding frenzy.” Then, we went into a submarine to watch the life aquatic from its windows. Then, finally, we were given our snorkel gear and off the side of the boat we went (there were about a dozen of us) to see it all up close and personal. As in the Maldives, I saw fish I’ve never seen before and could not identify, but they were lovely.

Or next snorkel trip was the following day. Officially speaking, we were anchored off of Praslin, on which island we spent just enough time to get off the ship’s tender and onto a catamaran. Then, off we went to Coco Island, which is really just some rocks, a couple of palm trees, and a beach, but which is surrounded by an astounding coral reef. Here were seen any number and variety of fish, as well as manta rays, dolphins and turtles. However, most of these were not seen by me. I, unfortunately, got caught in a current and found myself at one point way too close to the rocks, then in rapid speed well on the wrong side of the rocks. No matter what I did, I could not get out of the current and certainly could not get back to the boat.

Fortunately, the snorkel crew was on the lookout for just this problem, and came out to get me in a zodiac raft. The rescue was a tough one, because I couldn’t get into the raft from where I was, so they towed me to the beach and then I was able to board it and get taken back to the catamaran. My one comfort is that almost everyone on our boat wound up being brought back by the zodiac—the currents were so strong that all but two people were unable to get to the boat on their own. The sea is a beautiful thing, but it also is powerful, and this was an object lesson in its power.

The trip back on the catamaran was more idyllic, as our captain played guitar and sang, and the crew set out fishing poles and, sure enough, caught their dinner for the evening.

One of the big question marks of this trip was how well the Seychelles’ coral reef is holding up. Jean-Michel Cousteau is on board the ship, and had let it be known that he hadn’t been to the area in some 14 years, and so was anxious to see the condition of the reef. I gather he was pleased with it. It suffered some damage from the 2004 tsunami, but otherwise is doing fairly well.

The other island at which the ship called was La Digue, and here Beth and I actually did visit the island. It’s a small, pretty island with very little by way of motorized transportation. Most people get around by bicycle or foot, and ox carts are the main “taxi” service on the island. No one place on the island is more than an hour’s walk from any other place, so we took a walk on its main (i.e., only) road, which formed a circle past the beaches then upcountry in the areas where people live. It seemed a lovely, peaceful existence and, since we were there on a Saturday, we could see families playing and barbeques getting started for the day’s relaxations. The pace was easy and the place was beautiful.

La Digue is noted for its black granite formations, most of which look pink. Gardens and homes are built around the huge formations—cleverly using, rather than fighting, nature. The beach Anse Source d’Argent is reputed to be the most photographed beach in the world (particularly with swimsuit models). And, in the Seychelles’ claim to cinematic fame: the soft-core pornographic film Goodbye Emmanuelle 3 was made here. So was the Tom Hanks movie, Castaway.

A note about Praslin, one of the islands we just passed through: we were going to go to Vallee de Mei on this island to see its famous coco de mer nut trees, but were seduced out of it by the lure of the water. But here’s the story learned by those who went on what came to be known as “the big nut tour”: Before the Seychelles were discovered, enormous heart-shaped coconuts weighing up to 40 pounds would wash up on the beaches of India. Inside the husk was a nut looking very like a key portion of the female anatomy. It was at first thought that the nuts grew on underwater trees—thus their name, "coconut of the sea." The nut grows on the female tree. The male counterpart is the 3-foot long catkin (with yellow flowers). These were theorized to be the biblical trees of Adam & Eve (the Tree of Good & Evil), with the Vallee supposedly Eden, the idea having been inspired by the erotic shapes of the nut and catkin.

Oh, well, it's a good story.

Next: Africa.