DAY 107---LA DIGUE IN THE SEYCHELLES

 

        We were able to safely anchor and use the tenders to go ashore today.  No swell as Captain Ahbi mentioned might be a problem yesterday.  It was 92 degrees under sunny skies at 9am this morning.  The island just 5 miles from here is Preslin and there are some tours to there today.

Historical/Background Info:

        We were last here on our 2010 world cruise and back then the Somalia pirates were very active.  The ship held pirate drills for us passengers just in case we were attacked.  We weren’t!  So, the Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean 800 miles off the coast of East Africa.  The Seychelles islands has a total population of 92,000 people and is home to numerous beaches, coral reefs, and nature reserves.  The rare giant Aldabra tortoise can be found here too.

        Praslin is the second largest island of the inner Seychelles with a population of 7,500.  La Digue is the 4^th largest island of the Seychelles and 3^rd most populated with 2800 folks.  Most live on the west coast villages where ferries link to Praslin and Mahe.  La Digue is known for its beaches which are dotted with granite boulders.  Praslin and La Digue islands are maybe 5 miles apart, both being very small.

LAST EVENING

                     We both had the marinated hearts of palm salad with some avocado added.

I tried the chateaubriand but it was tasteless.  The baked potato was sufficient.  I ordered a new appetizer to fill my gut.

Rebecca had the grilled salmon.

This is the new appetizer.  A crepe with mozzarella, smoked ham, and goat cheese cream.  Very good.

Brad and Carla Sue, from Louisville, have been our good friends since our 2010 world cruise.  Love them.

This is a group of the world cruisers who have bought garbs when in India and are having an Indian dinner tonight.

On our way back to the suite and just a few doors from us in the center is this station for the stewards.  They wash our glasses here and the ice machine is here also.  We did not know this was here.

                                                                            Murali

                                                    .  Sigit.  They were in here cleaning up.

TODAY

             This is the island of La Digue where we are anchored offshore from 7am to 3pm

        I went to the fitness center early so was finished by 8:45.  I was going to take the tender ashore for some photos.  I left the ship at 9:45 and was back on board by 11:00.

                                         This is our tender pier at the small town of La Passe.

                           Walking down the pier into the town.  I would say village, not town.

The tour buses today were actually vans.  Buses would not fit on the roads here.  Besides there is not much to see other than the beaches.

I guess you would call this "main street".  It's about the only street here.  Mostly tour shops, souvenir shops, restaurants (not that many), and small lodges.  It may have been a half mile street.

Most of the tourists visiting here were from France.  The Seychelles used to be French governed.  The main street was narrow and quite a few small trucks were buzzing by on it.  The main mode of transportation for tourists was bicycles.  I did not see any cars.  I finally figured out I was walking on the wrong side of the road as in France they drive on the opposite side of the road than we do.

My main reason for going to town, besides getting these photos, was to go to a grocery store.  We needed some more air freshener.

This grocery store was off the beaten track and I had to ask a person at the library where it was.  I did get some air freshener here.  Glade brand!

                              I waved at these kids as I walked by and they waved back at me.

                                  Hospital was not very big and probably minimally equipped.

                                                              Rest of the hospital.

                                                 Infinity pool at one of the small lodges

                                       The island of Preslin 5 miles away with a cloud over it.

                                                                       Internet tower.

                                                          Road heading out of town.

     Back on main street heading back to the pier.  Passed by two cows.  One bull and one cow.

                                                      Interesting looking piece of wood

                                  On the tender heading back "home".  Selfie with Mariner.

                                                                      Preslin again.

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The tender gangway.  I was the last one off the tender as I was sitting up on the top.  As soon as I was off 3 crew members went on and started spraying and wiping down the tender interior with disinfectant. I was happy to see this.

        After showering we went up to La Veranda for some lunch.  On the carving board today they were slicing roasted turkey breast.  I got a couple pieces then got a toasted hamburger bun from the pool grill and made a turkey sandwich.  The turkey was very moist and delicious today.  Of course Rebecca has her Atkins bar for lunch EVERY day.  After lunch I went up to deck 12 track to take a few photos.  Love this one of a very small rock out cropping with one tree on it.

Little beach area in front of our ship.

                                                     

        All morning they have been ripping out Marcia's carpet and installing new.  Marcia said they ordered carpet for 7 suites 6 months ago and it finally showed up.  The 7 suites had stains in there carpet so was replaced today.  This afternoon the above clean up people showed up to clean up after the installation.

        We weighed anchor this afternoon at 3:00 and now on a short sail over to another Seychelles island, Mahe.  Just a 30 mile jump to there where we are to be docked by 6:00 this evening.

         We watched the movie, "Les Miserables", this afternoon.  Love the music.

        This afternoon the dining and deck departments will be setting up the pool deck for tonight's Grand Deck BBQ which will run from 7 to 9pm.  The galley team will be preparing an extravagant buffet.  This will be followed at 9pm by a "Rock the Boat" dance party under the stars.

        Of course we will pass on the BBQ as we do not dine in the heat.  We'll be dining in the air conditioned Compass Rose.  I have made a special entree request for tonight.  We want the deep fried breaded pork cutlet.