Ashkeling 2005/6 trip - The Seychelles aboard the Sea Shell
Last Updated: 26-Mar-06
 The Sea Shell - a Dutch schooner built in 1920 |
6-Jan-2006 Seychelles - The Sea Shell Sails
All of our luggage barely fit into the Moke, and we were curious to see if it would make it over the hill to Victoria. It did, but it was a bit iffy at times. We were the first to arrive at the dock (right next to the Cat Cocos, the inter-island ferry to Praslin & La Digue) to board the Sea Shell, a Dutch Schooner built in 1920. We'll be on it for a week cruising the inner islands and hopefully doing some diving as well. Its sister ship, the Sea Pearl (built in 1915), was at dock next to us.
 In the Moke - it was so hot & humid that the camera fogged up |
 Will we make it up the hill? |
 Up and over, to a view of Victoria and the Harbor |
 Waiting at the Meat Corner |
 Just around the block from the Meat Unit |
 Packed with luggage |
 The Cat Cocos fast ferry |
The captain (Tal) and first mate (Saar) are Israeli, the dive master (Maylin) is Swiss, the dinghy driver (Derek) is from Bahrain, and the rest of the eight-person crew is Seychellois. The boat can hold 18 guests, we will be 14 the first day and 13 the rest of the week. Most of the rest of the passengers turned out to be German (8), with two or three French tossed in. There are four of us diving. The deck has three main areas, a foredeck, the wheel house & galley, and what has become the covered aft smoking deck. The saloon is in the middle, and the passenger quarters are below that. There is air conditioning, which is great since the weather is so hot and humid, although it does not work so well. There are three bathroom/showers near the passenger cabins. The two-masted schooner is long and somewhat narrow, which makes it rock in the water quite a bit. Although I usually do just fine on boats, I had eaten something the previous day (I suspect Baobab's salad) which was slightly upsetting my stomach, and giving me a slight queasy edge. Roswitha has had boat issues in the past, but is doing just fine.
 A sister ship - the Sea Pearl |
 The crew ferries our luggage - don't swamp the dinghy |
 The galley |
 A neat ship |
 The aft (smoking) deck |
 A view forward to the sun deck |
 What the hell does this say? (Answered in the text) |
 Jib and fore stay-sail |
 The most sails we ever saw up |
 Captain Tal gives the welcome briefing in the main cabin |
They served us a lunch of fried chicken breast and carrot salad, which was just OK. It seems that all drinks are to be paid for, including bottled water. This is surprising, since the cabins are not cheap, running over 400 Euros (US$480) a night for a double. They are comparable to the prices of a four-star resort, which, at minimum provides water. The jib was put up nominally to call it a sailing ship, it seems. We relaxed as they motored the 45 km across to Praslin. To my inexperienced sailing eye, there did seem to be more than enough wind to put up the main sail (which, technically is the foresail; the rear mast seems slightly taller) and head across. (The aft sail (which is probably the main sail) looks like it is unhoistable due to frayed ropes and a sun cover over the smoking deck.)
 Lunch |
The boat was anchored off Praslin and Round Island, and tea was served. Once we had watched the spectacular sunset over Praslin, they served a dinner of fish with a tomato sauce, potatoes au gratin, and a carrot salad. A lovely Seychellois couple was celebrating their 27th anniversary with a weekend cruise, so dessert was their anniversary cake.
 Sunset over Praslin |
 Happy Anniversary! |
8-Jan-2006 Seychelles - Vallée de Mai
A coral reef connects Round Island to Praslin; this was the site of the morning's dive. Only three of us (the French couple and me) were diving, plus the divemaster. The equipment is tired, yet barely adequate. The dinghy took us the few hundred meters over to the reef and dropped us off. I discovered that my main second-stage regulator was bad, so I had to use my back-up octopus. The dive was just OK. Most of the coral was dead (bleached by El Niño in 1998), but there were hopeful signs of it coming back. There were still a fair number of fish. Maylin was an OK dive guide. She is very good about treating the realm well; as she said, "We are guests down there." She is also very cautious and focused on safety, maybe a little overly so with experienced divers. She did describe a dive plan and reviewed signs before the dive.
 Checking the equipment |
 I really need to get new booties |
 Maylin |
 Scott |
 Scott, Natalie, Christian, and Maylin head out |
 Hanging around |
 Hard coral |
 Coral |
 Big-eyed fish |
The ship motored a bit closer to Praslin, and we had a lunch of spaghetti Bolognese and salad. Then the dinghy ferried us (in three trips) to Praslin for a tour to Praslin's main attraction, the Vallée de Mai and the rare Coco de Mer.
 Spaghetti Bolognese and salad |
 A typical lunch |
 Anything odd here? |
 Casting off |
A tour guide and bus took us to the Vallée de Mai (2) Nature Reserve to see the protected Coco de Mer palm. The male has an elongated catkin which carries flowers which smell like buttered popcorn. The female Coco de Mer palm produces a large nut shaped (after your remove its husk, of course) like a female human hips and butt; the nut can weigh up to 30 kilos. The palm is endemic to Praslin, and is protected. Although it is possible to eat the young nut, it is not especially tasty, and it is also illegal. The only thing the Seychellois do is sell the nuts to tourists for about $200, with a certificate of authenticity. There is a bit of a black market for them, with the Chinese buying them as an aphrodisiac, which is not surprising given the human form. The name stems from the time when the nuts were found washed up at beaches far away from the Seychelles, and it was assumed that they must have grown under the sea. The tree itself was discovered much later. It grows naturally only on Praslin and Cousin. When the palm grows, it produces something like a ball and socket at the ground. The socket is very hard, and provides the ground anchor with holes for roots.
 Tourists! |
 Off into the rainforest |
 Male Coco de Mer flower - smells like popcorn |
 Male Coco de Mer catkin |
 Coco de Mer nut |
 Tall female palm |
 Explanation & demo |
 Size comparison |
 More nuts |
 Size comparison |
 Root socket |
The park also has many other types of palms and trees. The Palmis has a furry purse which splits to release spaghetti-like flowers. When they dry, they look like dreadlocks (= the "traditional Rasta"). Vanilla orchids were brought to the Seychelles, but have escaped into the wild. Since the proper pollinating insect is not present, the plants spread as vines. One tree smells and tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg; its leaves are used in curry. A rat-like spiny rodent, the Tenrec, is also indigenous, and we saw a bold one rooting around. White slugs and green geckoes are present, and the valley has the rare black parrot. We did not see one, but we certainly heard them.
 Palmis purse (on the right) |
 Rasta-like Palmis flowers |
 Frond |
 Latest fashion accessory |
 Bee catcher |
 Roots lift the trunk up |
 Frond |
 Scott shows walking palmhow to do it |
 Leaf |
 Spiny trunks keep rats off |
 Skink |
 Climbing Wild vanilla |
 Big spiders! |
 Palms |
 Tenrec |
 Breadfruit |
The bus then took us to Cote d'Or for a bit of shopping at the local kick-back shop, which happens to sell the Coco de Mer nuts. The beach is also quite nice, but there was not enough time to enjoy it until we mutinied and got the time extended. We even had time to get some ice cream.
 Tropical fruit ice cream on a hot day |
 Nuts for sale |
 Madagascar Fodies - the male is red in breeding season |
 Fodies |
 Footprints on the beach |
Back on board, we had afternoon tea, and then dinner, which was beef soup (from a mix), smoked salmon with passionfruit sauce (I got a salad), and fried fish with veggies (I got Creole sausage), with flan for dessert.
 Another day ends |
 Salmon & salad |
 Fish & sausage |
 Flan |
9-Jan-2006 Seychelles - La Digue
We started with an early dive at Roche Poquete, a small cluster of rocks off Praslin. The dive was uneventful, but my BC leaked.
 Maylin ready to go down |
 Derek mans the boat in the rain |
 Coral |
 Fusiliers |
 Worm |
 Shrimp |
La Digue is the fourth largest island, and a unique place. There are only a handful of cars; most transportation is on bicycles. For a complete change of pace, one can also find ox-carts (handy for larger groups if you don't mind the flies).
 Capt. Tal bids us adieu |
 Sail-less Sea Shell |
 Off we go! |
 Should we take a slow, smelly, fly-ridden cart... |
 ...or bicycles? |
 Church |
 Green gecko |
 Flowers everywhere! |
 Coconut spider |
 She's a biggie! |
We visited the Union Plantation with the copra production, giant tortoises (that one can feed, and children can ride on), vanilla plantation, location for Emmanuelle, and Takamaka ship repair site.
 Plantation |
 Drying coconuts... |
 ...for Copra |
 Vanilla plantation |
 Vanilla vine |
 Aldabra tortoises ahead |
 Even bigger than the spiders |
 SEYPIRATE at the Takamaka boat yard |
 Boatyard rails |
We took lunch at a small restaurant just before Anse Source d'Argent with beef curry, grilled fish, fried breadfruit and rice.
 Fish & curry |
 Beautiful and tasty |
 Bathroom attendant |
At Anse Source d'Argent (or Bacardi Beach) we saw tons of giant crabs which we thought were coconut crabs, until we learned later that those are even larger. The beach was wonderful with its white sand and granite boulders, and we totally lost track of time.
 Anse Source d'Argent |
 Huge land crab |
 Running for its hole |
 I'm not even cooked yet! |
 Teensy-weensy crab (look carefully) |
We still wanted to at least check out part of the east side of the island (where many fruit bats supposedly roost in the trees), but were caught by heavy rain on our way there at the Northern tip. So we waited it out over some fruit juices at the delightful Ocean Hotel (hocean@seychelles.net). Just a little further we watched fruit bats flying low, and then headed back to the Sea Shell.
 An escape from the rain |
 The rain did let up for a little bit |
 Fruitbats at dusk |
Dinner: vegetable soup with chicken stock, octopus salad (I got roasted chicken), rice, golden apple salad, fried aubergines, fruit cocktail
 Vegetable soup |
 Octopus salad, chicken, rice, golden apple salad, fried aubergines |
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Back to the Seychelles (Land part)
What happened to your suit on your 100th dive? (Part 2)
On to Reunion
Cemetery
The house where part of Emmanuelle was filmed
