April 1, Dubai to Seychelles

Wednesday, April 1, Day 57 - Dubai to Seychelles

We have a very tight connection to our Seychelles flight departure at 2:05AM and have to go through security twice as we change terminals. To ease the hand luggage burden and not risk losing him in our sleepy state, Jack is placed in our carry-on suitcase, not to be released until we get to our hotel late today. With some serious rushing, we make our connection and settle into the worst business class seats we have ever had on any airline. This is a very new looking A330, but the business Class seats are a joke. They are very narrow and we are bumping shoulders the whole way and our feet can’t touch the floor when in the full upright position. The reclining position is not very comfortable either so we don’t sleep to well.  Plus, they leave the overhead lights on for the first couple of hours and then serve a three course breakfast at 5AM. We have had more comfortable seats in coach on Southwest Airlines. But, the plane is off on time and arrives just before 7AM.

Our prearranged driver, Allen, is not there as we walk out but shows up soon and we load into his small Suzuki taxi and head off to explore the island. The car is small but comfortable and Allen is friendly and has very good English skills. He knows his Island and is eager to show us every nook and cranny. We head south and down and around the southern end of the island, checking out one of the high end resorts, and then back up the NW side as far as we can go.

The beaches are very remote feeling as they are in little coves between the mountainous areas. After circling as much of the Island as possible, we back track a little for a lunch stop. We stop at a restaurant called DelPlace and we get a shock at food prices. Lunch for the three of us is 1,285 SCR or $100US. Ouch! But it had a nice view.

From there we  head up and over the spine and see the Mission House site and the tea plantation. From there we follow the narrow track across the mountain spine of the island and down into the city/capitol/town of Victoria.

The island is lush and clean. Everywhere one sees people sweeping and picking up; even on the beaches. There is virtually no trash and the populous seems prosperous.
We are in and out of rain all day. There is some sun early on, but tropical showers move over the island after lunch and we do not get to see as much of the sunlit green water produced by the white sand bottom and sunshine as we would like. Shades of our one visit to Santorini in the rain! The island is still really beautiful and has a very rural, unspoiled feeling about it with neat little colorful houses and lots of flower gardens in the front yards. Too bad there isn’t more sun today.

Allen also stops at a couple of the little churches. He says the Islands are over 90% Christian, mostly Catholic and there are churches everywhere.

We stop in Victoria at a shop Carolyn wants to see and then at an ATM to get Seychelles Rupees with which to pay Allen. It is pouring rain at this point so we don't tarry, but go on to our hotel, Treasure Cove, where we discover they have us arriving tomorrow night for two nights and not tonight and they have no room for us. Fortunately Carolyn has all the paper work from the hotel confirming our April 1^st arrival and the request for a ground floor room. Somehow what they sent us and what they recorded in their book was a day off??? Fortunately Allen would not unpack the car until we were checked in. He helps us to sort out the solution as, by now, we are exhausted having been up since 5AM yesterday with only a catnap or two on the plane trips. We probably aren’t making much sense either. The manager scrambles to work something out. It is Easter Holidays in Seychelles and all the hotels are packed.

Treasure Cove does find us a room at Coral Strand Hotel, right on the beach, and Allen takes us there. He assures us it is OK, though not what we reserved. It is "chaos" at the new hotel reception desk when we arrive. Allen helps with the reception check in as they don’t have the word yet that this has been arranged between the two hotels. We unload, confirm with Allen that he will be back for us at 7AM on Friday to take us to the airport for our flight to Mauritius. We wait a few minutes for the room to be made ready. It turns out to a Motel 6, 1960's style room with a beach and pool view, king sized bed and shelf style desk top. No chairs, tables or any other surface. However it is as clean as a pin and the AC is blasting away when we walk in. We will take it! 

By now it is raining again. We get a shower and put on some clean clothes. The rain has let up so we decide to find the pool bar for a drink and an early supper. The main restaurant doesn’t start service until 7PM and it is 5PM now. Carolyn has two mojitos and Dick has one Long Island Ice Tea and we each have an order of fish and chips. There went 965 rupees or $75US! Get me the hell out of here before I go broke!   But, the food is hot and fresh and the drinks are well made. Plus it is nice to be right on the beach even if it is overcast. The pounding surf is putting us to sleep.

The wind is really blowing now from showers and thunderstorms all around. There are still some people playing in the water but the light is fading fast and we head for our room. The saving grace is that the A/C here works and we have a bed! The room is as cold as we want it and by 7:15PM Carolyn has fallen asleep in the midst of giving Jack a foot rub, in compensation for his suitcase trauma, with her glasses perched on her nose. Dick is not far behind. It is cool, dark and dead quiet in our room while children and a band play out by the pool and thunder rumbles around us. We are dead to the world.