Port Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles

We arrived at Port Victoria on the island of Mahe in the Seychelles on schedule, docking about 7:30 AM.  The harbor was full of activity. 

The Seychelles must import most things.

The islands are working hard to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels by investing in solar energy and wind power.

solar panels in background and tuna nets in foreground

We saw large tuna fishing boats and huge piles of nets.  One boat came in just after we docked, going alongside a freezer ship, next to which was docked a canning ship.

Today’s tour had the hokey name Spice and Sea.  Although nothing special, it met our expectations, showing us something of the island. 

Center for Preservation of Creole Language

rum factory

Yup - those are flies on the fish.

For the 'spice' component of the tour, we traveled down the east side of Mahe, then turning inland and ascended a steep road before stopping at Le Jardin du Roi. There we saw a number of exotic plants including a Coco du Mer (male) palm and one of the huge nuts that come from it.  [For facts and amusing legends about the Coco du Mer, click here.]

male Coco du Mer tree

Coco du Mer nut - Pam estimated its weight at 20 lbs.

In addition to plants, we saw several giant tortoises.  There was no stated cultural or religious reason for the presence of the tortoises.   

Leaving the garden, we descended the hill and rendezvoused with a catamaran at the beach.  We were ferried out and given a chance to do some snorkeling over a fairly uninteresting reef.  Under power, we then cruised along the coast back to the ship.  (Yawn)

a man-made island

Disembarking the catamaran, we boarded INSIGNIA to wash off the salt from our swim and have some lunch.

Mid-afternoon we walked into the city where we wandered around there for a while.  There was not much of particular interest.  The city was functional, but not attractive.  The walk to the center of the city and back was brutal, not in terms of distance but rather because of the temperature and accompanying humidity.  Every stitch of clothing went straight into the laundry hamper.

We had expected the 'clock tower' (lower left) to be a bit larger.

We found the Seychelles relatively clean and attractive, especially in contrast to our port calls in Africa.  We did not get a sense that the locals were friendly even though tourism is the Seychelles biggest industry.  In fairness, it was Friday afternoon when we wandered around the city, so getting home to start their weekend was no-doubt on most people's mind.

Our next port of call is the Maldives.