5 Cards Dealt to Amsterdam: The Say Shells

Although I had heard of the Seychelles, I had no idea what or where they were prior to Holli booking our trip. Holli had dreamed of going there since her childhood because of some photographs in a calendar - the most beautiful beaches in the world...

As I learned, the Seychelles is an independent (~115) island nation in the Indian Ocean. Locals are taught English and French at school from first grade, and the locals speak various forms of Creole. The islands appear to be equidistant from the northern tip of Madagascar and the east coast of Somalia. One way or another, they are well over 500 miles from the nearest major land-mass, and 7 degrees (a couple of hundred miles) south of the equator.

The blue dot is a LOT bigger than the islands that it covers!

That is a long way from Amsterdam - farther than a trip home in fact. We flew Emirates (more on that shortly) out of Schiphol on Friday afternoon at 3:30, laid over from midnight to 02:00 in Dubai (two time zones east), and arrived in the Seychelles at 6:30. The total flight time was over 11 hours, largely in the same direction - as opposed to our trips home that often route through Atlanta. The girls were troopers, making it through the travel day pretty well ready to go once we arrived at the resort.

Eliza kicking it at the fabulous Dubai airport. Around 01:00...

This was not an easy trip for any of us, but I must take a few sentences to give it to Emirates: they have the nicest airplanes that I have ever flown (and we were nowhere near the front of the plane if you know what I mean). The seats were new, there was legroom, the TV screens were probably 15" - and they had a great selection of free movies and TV shows. The food was pretty good, the attendants were as nice as they could be (Eliza got a stuffed-animal blanket on at least two of the legs and a couple of Polaroids).

On the down-side, they didn't really have much of a beer selection, but then again neither does any airline. Oh - and the pilot-fatigue issue that was big in the news a few months ago. And the fact that the ownership is intertwined with the questionable government...

I don't have a feel for their pricing, but a quick search of prices from here to Dubai showed fares maybe 10% higher than KLM so they appear to be reasonably competitive. I will probably not fly with them again because a) I don't feel like I know who or what I am supporting, and b) because it is pretty doubtful I will fly anywhere they service (mostly south and east of the Middle-East).
On to more interesting topics!

We landed on the island of Mahé, the largest and most inhabited of the archipelago (77,000 of the 92,000 Seychellois live here). It is about twice the size of Amsterdam and less than half the size of Metro Louisville, but FAR less densely populated. The drive from the airport on the east coast to the west-coast cape where we stayed (Constance Ephelia) was 15 miles of switchbacks, jungle, struggling engines, and incredible sights.

Including this one, our first real view of the water after emerging from the jungle.

The resort was for the most part fantastic. Our villa included a jacuzzi, steam shower, sauna, and a lap pool - all of these were within the walls of our personal area... This was a new concept for me - I liked it! The one problem that I had with the place was that since it was so secluded we were all but forced to eat every meal there. Not that the food was bad (far from it) or boring (different themes nightly), or even expensive (marginally...) - my problem was with the dress code of all things!

Of the 10 restaurant options on the premises, all 10 include the following statement: Gentlemen, you are required to wear trousers. Now I was not planning to go "au natural", or to wear my Jams, but I WAS hoping to be comfortable during dinner. If even one of these 10 options included an indoor dining area (e.g. air conditioned - remember where this island is??), I would gladly have worn the single pair of "trousers" that I brought with me every night. Since tables with ambient temperature below 82°F was not an option, I complained a lot (but only to Holli).

The rest of the stay was great - the beaches were beautiful, we got out of the resort to see some other things a couple of times, and we got to do a lot of swimming in perfect water.

Another picture of her catching some z's... It is only at times like these that we realize that she is still very young!
It is really incredible how well she keeps up with the rest of us.

We came home to find this one night!

And this on another night!

This may be the only group picture we got during the week, taken while on one of the surrounding islands.

Lucy is getting into gymnastics. When she's on land she's doing cartwheels.

Our one "big" outing was to the island named La Digue, which I believe is supposed to be the home of the most beautiful beaches in the world (according to Holli's calendar from the 80's). Despite the less-than-ideal weather, I would have trouble contradicting that claim.

It was a long, crowded, and sometimes wet boat ride from Mahe to La Digue.
But the boat was going much faster than the Canal Tours in the 'Dam so the girls were happy!

After getting drenched by rain water running off of the roof the second time, I decided to stand for the rest of the trip.
Lucy likes me, so she joined (Eliza too - hiding on the other side).

The first stop on La Digue was an old coconut plantation where there was not a great deal of automation in evidence. The picked coconuts were piled up next to a man who would jam each one down onto a metal spike and peel the outer husk off. The spike was used to lever the husk away from the nut a little at a time, often requiring the worker to jam it sequentially several times before it finally gave way. This was hard work - no way around it as the fibrous husks are very tough!

I don't remember what they did with the "milk", but the shell and meat was tossed into a small mill where it was ground down until the oil could drain out the bottom. The final product smelled wonderful and was really nice!

The mill in operation.

The mill's motor

I loved this old tree that used to provide some shade for the plantation's cemetery. Reminded me of New Orleans.

We did finally make it to the beaches and they were unlike anything I've seen before. Reminded me a little of King Kong.

There was broken coral everywhere, but it is illegal to take it with you.
It's also a bad idea to rub stinky sea-stuff on your wife, thus my awkward pose.

This is the piece I was holding, after I gave it back to the beach. :(
As it grows, the coral is multicolored, but when it breaks off it slowly bleaches out as it dies.

We made one other stop of interest during the day at the Vallee du Mai Nature Reserve. There, we learned all about the cocoa de mer, which has to be the most fascinating nut there is, despite the current presidential race. The lifespan (among other things) mimics that of humans: There are separate (and very distinct) male and female plants; the plants reach maturity between 15 and 20 years, at which point they can reproduce; Geckos transfer pollen (which they eat) from the male "parts" to the female tree to complete the pollination cycle. Once the nut falls from the tree, it site on top of the forest floor as it germinates, which takes a few months. Then a new tree shoots up - it looked like you could just grab the tree and throw it in the back seat and take it with you for the first couple of years! I don't know when the roots get established, but they were not obvious for the many juvenile plants we saw!