Seychelles: A Spot of Paradise in a Huge Indian Ocean

Days 92-93, 2024 Grand World Voyage

Wednesday and Thursday, April 4-5, 2024; Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles.

When I imagine faraway island paradises, it’s hard to beat the Indian Ocean nations of Maldives and Seychelles. I was disappointed in 2020 when our grand world voyage ended abruptly due to the pandemic before we reached those scheduled ports.

This year threats of terrorism changed our course, sending us to these countries as we sail around Africa rather than through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. I’ll admit I wasn’t thrilled about repeating Africa so soon, but the silver lining is overnight stops in Maldives and Seychelles.

While they are both tiny countries made up of islands spread out over vast ocean areas, they have different geography and characteristics. The islands of the Maldives are flat small atolls barely peeking out of the ocean. In addition to small atolls, the Seychelles has larger volcanic islands, complete with steep mountains that remind me of our first port of Grenada in the Caribbean earlier this year. The French and Creole influence is evident.

My last-minute research of the Seychelles indicated that most beach resorts are a long and expensive taxi ride from Victoria on the island of Mahé, where we dock. That eliminated the possibility of a day at a resort like we enjoyed recently in Maldives. My sisters and I took the easy approach and signed up for a Scenic Mountain Drive excursion on our first day. This nearly four-hour tour was pricey ($150), but offered us a view of the island we would not have seen easily on our own.

It was a good thing that the buses were small (perhaps 23 passengers), as the roads are extremely steep, curvy and narrow. After a quick tour of town, we headed across the mountain to the opposite coast. Nice houses, villas and even what I would describe as mansions clung to the mountainside. This is not an island designed for bicycles, and I saw few motorbikes.

The Seychelles was uninhabited until the 1770s, when European explorers arrived, bringing Indians and enslaved Africans. It’s likely that Asians visited the island earlier but didn’t settle. A monument represents the fusion of Africa, Europe and Asia.

The Seychelles was a British colony until the country won its independence in 1976. It remains part of the British Commonwealth, with driving on the left side of the road and even Maltesers (chocolate covered malted balls) for sale in the supermarket.

Our best views were from the Mission Lodge high in the mountains. A lookout marks the spot where Queen Elizabeth stopped for tea in 1972 during a visit to open the new international airport. It is near the ruins of Venn Town, where missionaries operated an orphanage for freed slave children.

While the beaches we saw on Mahé were just as beautiful as those in the Maldives, vegetation grows nearly to the shore here. Many of the resort rooms and villas are hidden in the trees rather than built over the water.

By the time we returned to Victoria and the Botanic Gardens, the heat, humidity and fierce sunlight were getting to us. We pressed on through the gardens to an enclosed area with a few dozen giant tortoises, all eager to munch on the tender shoots of leaves we fed them.

On day two, I left the ship early to avoid the heat of midday, walking the mile into the center of the busy town.

My objective was Little Ben, a rather small clock tower in the center of a chaotic intersection. It is designed after the famous Big Ben at Westminster. I found a bench in the shade and sketched for 30 minutes or so.

Ben Sack, our artist in residence on the cruise, came by to chat and took my spot after I left. I’ll look forward to seeing what he produced.

Our first day in the Seychelles was my birthday, and Holland America knows how to make it special, even if I am one of a thousand passengers. A balloon and greetings from the guest services team adorned my door.

Of course, my sisters gave me cards and small gifts. Later in the day I found a cupcake and card from the captain, a nameplate from the technical team and a braided bracelet from the nautical team. Josephine, our dinner hostess, sang happy birthday on my cabin voice mail, and all the waiters celebrated with the Indonesian birthday song and a cake at dinner. My cabin stewards left an exquisite layered birthday cake made of towels and napkins.

All in all, it’s a nice way to celebrate another year around the sun and almost another circuit around the Earth.