Seychelles

Seychelles is a country of the Indian Ocean archipelago. A lengthy struggle between France and Britain for the islands ended in 1814, when France ceded the islands to Britain.  Seychelles achieved independence in 1976.

We stopped in the principal island of Mahe and docked very near to the capital, Victoria.  We stayed here in 1999 when we also visited Praslin and La Digue.

Mahe is known for beautiful Beau Vallon beach which is where many of the guests and crew were going today. We thought it would be rather crowded there with too many people using all the facilities so we took a taxi to the Hilton Hotel at the end of Beau Vallon beach.  The beach at the Hilton was a bit rocky but we did have a cooling dip there and they also have a lovely infinity pool.  Provided we bought a drink we could use all of the facilities. Nice bar area,  sun bed with towels, pool and free wifi. We stayed for over four hours and the same taxi picked us up and brought us back to the ship. We stopped for a few photos on the way including the hotel where we stayed all those years ago. A very nice, relaxing day.

Unfortunately our Captain, Aseem Hashmi, has to fly home for personal compassionate reasons so we now have the Deputy Captain, David Hudson in charge. No more amusing anecdotes!  We were pleased that we managed to speak to Aseem and wish him well before he left.

Captain's Last Anecdote: Show a leg

When working on a ship was less attractive many years ago to stop the sailors from jumping ship they would often allow them to bring their wives onboard. At that time it was usual for the sailors to be woken up by tipping them out of their bunk. To save any embarrassment for the women the bosun would shout 'show a leg' and if the leg was silky smooth they knew it was a women but if it was hairy and covered in barnacles they would be tipped out.