Cruising the Seychelles

 

Baie Georgette - Our view after a long hike from Anse Lazio

Most of our time in the Seychelles has been spent on the main island of Mahé. These last few weeks we were finally able to get over to the other two 'big' islands: Praslin and La Digue.

Anse Lazio (in Baie Chevalier on Praslin)

Our sail to Baie Chevalier on Praslin took about 8 hours rather than the normal 4 hours because the normally ever-present wind had died for the day. We knew this but were eager to escape the waters near Eden Marina. So we hiked up our spinnaker and sailed verrrry slowly.

The view from 'Zimbabwe' (the local nickname for Grand Fond on Praslin)

It was nice to get back to what we think of as cruising, which involves anchoring in less crowded areas where we can explore (and fix the boat as needed). Praslin and La Digue, although chock full of tourists, did not disappoint. We found beaches with interesting surf and soft, white sand. There were stunning views and tortoises. We were again grateful to be able to spend the time to enjoy all this at a leisurely pace.

On the 'no this isn't just a permanent vacation' front, we're still doing school, laundry in a bucket and boat maintenance. Matt had to replace a seal in one of our water-maker pumps, re-bedded a trampoline eye-bolt, installed some of the boat parts I brought back with me, and has been chasing down the air that keeps building up in the port engine fuel lines (which makes itself known by shutting down the engine at inconvenient times).

We love the rocks in the Seychelles

Mark and Conrad have been enjoying the surf at Anse Lazio. It has made landing the dinghy a bit challenging at times and we did get a face full of water once. But at least we didn't suffer the fate of a recent charter boat passenger who had to be rushed to the hospital after the dinghy he was in flipped. The outboard engine prop sliced him open in a few places, but we heard that he was mostly okay after a number of stitches.

Ile Curieuse: This reminded us of Angkor Wat

Ile Curieuse is filled with tortoises

Up close and personal with a Coco de Mer nut

 

We only spent a couple nights at La Digue because the anchorage was rolly and uncomfortable (and there was no room to tie up inside the harbor). However, we were able to rent bicycles and see most of the island. We spent a long but fun day biking around the island, doing a walk from one beach to a couple others, and stopping for lunch at the first restaurant we have been to since the Maldives.

La Digue was as great as everyone said. It is a sleepier version of Mahé. The mostly car-less roads allowed us to re-hone our bike skills without being run over, though some of the hills were a challenge for our sea-level legs. Also, it's a good thing Matt used to spend his college summers fixing bikes because we had a couple of technical glitches with the rental bikes. Tourists with busted bikes must be a common sight around the island.

Local 'speed bump'

Where else can you find a tortoise in the middle of the road? Tortoises are not quite as common as pigeons in the Seychelles but there certainly is no shortage of the shelled reptiles. We hadn't been particularly afraid of them even though they come right up to you to look for food. But then we read about this apparently carnivorous tortoise.

Mark skirting a road tortoise - it takes a steady hand

We continue to be impressed by the friendliness of the Seychellois people and the beauty of the country. The cool nights and relative lack of mosquitos are a bonus too.

More rocks, this time on La Digue

Making the kids walk from one beach to see another beach

Green flash count: 1 (Matt, allegedly)

Around Seychelles

View of our anchorage at Praslin Island

This is a bit of a catch-up post, since it's been awhile (I was in the States for about a month visiting family).

 We made it to Praslin, which is one of the other "main" islands that we are allowed to go to in the Seychelles (there's a quirky mix of private/public/ and marine national park islands here, so you need to to do your research or else you can get turned away or hit with a pretty hefty visitor fee). It's nice to have clearer water after the Eden Island anchorage, which has very 'nutrient rich' (aka 'poopy') waters.

Little Big Ben is the best-known landmark in Victoria, the Capitol

 

And we escaped the long-stay inducing, flat water of Eden just in time, too. Perry's bottom needs a good scrubbing and it was time to make water again.

Jen on Longreach made these festive cupcakes. And she's an Aussie!

 

We had a July 4 celebration hosted on Perry with several other boats in the anchorage: Americans, Brits ('oppressors'), and Australians ('fellow oppressed'). Andrew on Sonrisa organized everything and everyone contributed. We had all the fixings: burgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon, and salads and desserts. It was a fun time with friends and, as with all the best celebrations, everyone ate and drank too much.

Sauzier Waterfall

Before I left, we took a drive around Mahé (the main island) where we have spent most of our time in the Seychelles. Sauzier waterfall in Port Glaud is one of the sights that you need a car to reach.

While I was away, Matt did fun things like remove the generator injectors to have them serviced. Of course, things like that never go very smoothly and it took a couple days of effort to extract one stubborn injector. In the end, Matt prevailed and we now have a much cleaner-running generator. There was also a fuel selector valve that allowed air in the line and caused the port engine to die when Matt and the kids took Perry out to make water.  Oh, and the kitchen faucet that sprung a leak and was letting out our precious fresh water. The fun never stops around here.

There are more rainbows here than anywhere we've been. Which is just another way of saying that constant sprinkles (no, not the good cupcake kind) are a way of life here.

 

We visited SMAC Adventures for a really fun zip-lining outing. Rather than just one or two lines, you follow a progression of eight (I think?--I lost count!) lines down the hill. 'Coming in hot' might be one of their taglines and it was a little disconcerting at first because it wasn't clear what was going to stop you at the end of the line. Fortunately, they were well-designed to slow you down at the right time (helped at times by the crew creating friction by vigorously pulling the line up and down--I hope your arm isn't getting tired, dude).

Conrad of the jungle.

Does this harness make my butt look big?

Fun with used rubber gloves. He could not fit it over his head.

After Praslin, we will head over to La Digue. There are almost no cars on the island and everyone rides bikes everywhere. Everyone keeps telling us that we will love it, which is making me a little afraid that it won't live up to our expectations. There are benefits and drawbacks to visiting places where so many of your friends and other cruisers have already been.

In the meantime, we are cleaning the science-project of a boat bottom. It's been over 3 months since it was last done properly. The growth comes off relatively easily but was definitely slowing us down (our trip to Praslin averaged only 3 knots with the spinnaker, mostly because of the lack of wind, but our dirty bottom certainly didn't help). Our days right now are all cold water (80 degrees is cold for us), bitey shrimp, and complaining. But there's a nice beach and clean water at the other end of the rainbow (which means it's raining again... gotta run and close the hatches).

Seychelles by the seashore

 

Tortoises in the Victoria Botanical Gardens

We didn't do a lot of walking in the Maldives or Chagos, so all the walking we're doing here in the Seychelles has taken some getting used to (if you read that as 'there is a lot of whining going on', you're not wrong). You would think that after all these years, the transitions would be easy, but things like going on passage after being at anchor for just a week or two is still an adjustment. 

Land ho! The approach to Mahé Island (the main island)

After a night spent in the quarantine anchorage, we moved over near Eden Island, which is man-made and pretty upscale by our standards (which are admittedly low). After a long social drought where we saw no cruisers and then just a few cruisers, we pulled into a very crowded anchorage filled with old friends and new. The Seychelles is a popular stopping point for yachts headed in all directions and a few boats have been here since last year.

And we walked: formalities, groceries, boat bits and a bit of sightseeing. There are more cars and fewer motorbikes here than throughout most of Southeast and South Asia, but we walk everywhere. We might rent a car or take a bus at some point, but for now we (mostly) like the exercise and pace.

Having dropped off our ripped head sail for repair and started the temporary import process needed if your boat stays longer than 30 days, we moved around to the other side of Mahé island. The water is cleaner and clearer at Beau Vallon, so we can swim, clean the boat bottom, and run the water maker.

 

A Galapagos tortoise--my how the size tables have turned

Chagos to Seychelles

 

The coconut crabs have grown a bit since they became protected

We managed to be in Chagos (Salomon Atoll) for the exact dates on our permit (May 1 through May 28), which is pretty lucky given the vagaries of wind and weather. We saw exactly three boats while we were there (not counting the illegal fishing boat that we spotted several miles away): Time Bandit, Skylark, and Georgia. For about a week, it was just us and the wildlife.

 

Our resident black-tip reef sharks getting the remains of our catch.

The extreme absence of humans has created a unique haven for the fish and animals (even more so than relatively remote areas of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea). With an already stringent permit process for visiting cruisers, Covid has shrunk the number of visitors this year to just a handful.

 

Conrad with his catch (coral trout)

All this meant that we got to see a flourishing bird, fish and crab population that hardly anyone can. The fish went after every lure put in front of them. We could have reached out and touched the nesting boobies if we had tried and saw more coconut crabs than we ever have.

When our four weeks were up, on a wind and current forecast that was decent, we lifted anchor and headed to the Seychelles. Our eight-day passage was a mixed bag of wind, weather, and waves. There were a few squalls, 4-meter swells, bumpy current lines, and variable winds. We dove almost 200 miles south of the rhumb line (most direct route) to try and keep IN the winds and OUT of the opposing current--a strategy that mostly worked. It wasn't the fastest passage ever, but we sailed the whole time and even dusted off the asymmetrical spinnaker for an extra boost as we approached the Seychelles. 

The obligatory damage report: Our whisker pole got damaged during one of the bumpier parts of the passage and then a rip developed in the jib. One of the engine bilge pumps also decided to stop working, requiring that we manually pump out the stray seawater that wanders in during bigger seas. It could have been worse.

The 'yacht club' at Ile Boddam

The beautiful hills of the Seychelles were a welcome sight after a week plus at sea (even the kids said, 'It's gorgeous!', which are not words you hear often from a teenager about scenery).

Cemetery at Ile Boddam with Time Bandit

People are allowed to come in periodically to tend to the cemetery grounds.

Ruins of the settlement at Ile Boddam

The church at Ile Boddam

 

It's a coconut crab in a coconut shell. We continued to find that amusing during our whole stay.

Boobies! (red-footed). The fuzzy one is the chick and the other one is the Mom.

Eel at low tide. Watch your toes.

Hermit crab shell swap.

Ile de la Passe

Non-native wildlife

One of the smaller snappers

Gan, Maldives to Chagos

Passages are not my favorite part of cruising. Too often it's a bad version of Snow White's dwarves: Sleepy, Grumpy, Queasy. For this trip, 2 new dwarves decided to join in: Squally and Lumpy (the seas). On the bright side, we had mostly decent winds, were visited by pods of hundreds of dolphins, and the boobies that took refuge on our boat at night generally behaved themselves (no crash landing or throwing up on our heads as has been reported by other boats).

We managed to just beat the setting sun and pull into the Salomon atoll during daylight after two and a half days of sailing with just a few hours of motor-sailing at the beginning and end. The ability to sail was a good thing because our starboard engine decided to overheat and develop a leak at the heat exchanger cap bolt, leaving it out of commission until we can figure out what's ailing it. Our last day was spent dodging squalls with the accompanying reefing and unreefing of sails (lather, rinse, repeat) but we averaged 7 to 9 knots of boat speed. At the end, we were rewarded by the welcome sight of the lush Chagos isles, tiny fish jumping like popcorn, and a much anticipated good night's rest. We happily fell asleep to the sound of rain that we didn't have to sail through.

The next day, we stopped by to say hi to Time Bandit, who had gotten there a couple weeks earlier, and then went off to try our luck at trolling a lure from the dinghy. About two minutes in, we had hooked a little tunny. The cruisers who raved about the fishing were not exaggerating. One of the resident black-tip sharks happily gobbled up the remains after we filleted our catch.

To Chagos and beyond

 

And, just like that (it seems), our three months in the Maldives is over and we head for Chagos. The weather and wind predictions are about as good as we can expect for this leg of our journey. We will probably have to motor at the beginning, until our wind fills in, and there may be some squalls. But we will be happy if we get some wind and not too many squalls.

One last turtle shot (our anchorage is lousy with them)

We will be off the grid for up to four weeks in Chagos (only email through our satellite phone) and then for another two weeks or so to get to and into the Seychelles. This will be the longest time that we have been without access to any shopping (our Pacific crossing was only 20 days!), so we are packed to the brim with food and fuel. Because most of the inhabitants were 'relocated', Chagos is a relatively untouched marine sanctuary that very few people get to visit. We'll try to do a blog update at some point through our sat phone email, but with technology being involved, we can't make any promises.

Hunt for the Wilderchildren

 

Notice: Google has notified us that our email subscription service is ending in July and users will no longer receive automated notifications when we post a new blog entry. Bear with us as we try to figure out what we need to do.

If you haven't seen The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, I highly recommend it. This photo above is a shot from our own 'private' island (occasionally visited by locals but not since the start of Ramazan). Conrad is expressing himself using found objects, a.k.a. garbage, of which there is plenty unfortunately.

0

We have been enjoying the calm waters and lack of mosquitoes here (a huge plus!) before we make our final push south for Gan, our last destination in the Maldives. We want to time our departure from the Maldives to maximize our Chagos permit, which begins on May 1. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

 

Wahoo revenge souvenir of five stitches

Matt's stitches have healed up and he has been able to get into the water again. The snorkeling and fishing here has been good and the coral is in relatively good condition compared to some of our stops up north.

We have seen some huge schools of parrot fish here

As Javerne and Marsouin have moved ahead, we finally met up with Paul and Chris on Georgia. We knew they were here in the Maldives, but had always been just in front of them as we have moved south. We haven't seen them since Tonga. It's been nice to catch up and reminisce. We all did a little beach clean-up and have seen some beautiful sunsets.

In case you were wondering, boat work continues to call. Matt had to replace a sheared off bolt (a bell housing, engine mount bolt in case you were wondering--yeah, I didn't think so), which is one of the boat jobs that sounds simple but takes multiple days, with much swearing and sweating. In the end, you have that feeling of accomplishment that you get from working hours on something, even though you only ended up where you were before the thing broke in the first place.