Princess Cruises - the Island of Mahe in the Seychelles.

Princess Cruises – the Island of Mahe in the Seychelles.

Welcome to the Seychelles.

After leaving the Maldives we have three very enjoyable days at sea travelling in south-westerly direction heading towards the African Coast. On the 26^th January we celebrate Australia Day and as most of the passengers aboard are Australian, Princess Cruises puts on many events to help celebrate this day. There are yellow and green balloons in the bistro area, Australian Flags around the ship and all the dining areas have large cakes decorated as the Australian Flag at their entrances. There are many organised activities – Australian Day Trivia, Pavlova eating competition, face painting, thong throwing, sing a longs, deck parties and a huge Aussie BBQ and the chefs have surpassed themselves with Pavlova, peach melba and Lamington cakes. In the evening the on board entertainment has a real Australian flavour with everything from didgeridoo playing to many Australian traditional songs being performed. (After so much celebration the ship has run out of cream.)

Australia Day Cake on the Sun Princess.

Our next port of call is the Island of Mahe in the Seychelles Islands. The Seychelles consists of 115 tropical islands with gleaming white sandy beaches fringed by gently swaying palms and lapped by turquoise waters which are filled with wonderful coloured tropical fish.  The island of Mahe has soaring hills and mountains clad in lush tropical vegetation and during our visit they are shrouded in heavy clouds.

Allan being welcomed on the dock.

After some very careful manoeuvring by the Captain, the Sun Princess is finally docked at Victoria Port. We have planned to do our own thing on this island, so armed with a local map we set off to walk to the city centre of Victoria. The weather is cloudy and the temperature is warm – it is very pleasant for walking.

Our walk into the main town of Victoria.

 

A memorable statue with the mountain covered in clouds.

One of the beautiful tropical flowers we see.

What we see is a very quiet, orderly and meticulously clean Tropical Island and we are greeted by many happy smiling locals. There is a real mixture of different nationalities and religious groups among the people who call the Seychelles their home. The vegetation is lush and green and there are many exotic plants with colourful flowers and elegant looking palms. A coconut palm tree exclusive to the Seychelles Island produces the largest and heaviest seed in the world. The shape of this coconut is not round but more bum (heart) shaped and it is seen on a lot of their tourist souvenirs.

Tropical Flowers.

Fantastic palm.

 

The unusual shaped coconut found only in the Seychelles.

Our walk takes us past many local buildings including the 100 year old clock tower which is a replica of the clock located near London’s Victoria Station. We visit the local Mosque, a Hindu Shrine, the Catholic Cathedral and St. Paul’s Cathedral and we stroll down streets with colourful Créole Architecture. A trip to the local fish and vegetable market is a highlight.

St Paul's Church in the main street.

 

The Catholic Cathedral.

 

Lovely house with a garden full of palm trees.

 

The Indian Temple in the middle of town.

The Clock Tower in the centre of the main roundabout in the middle of town.

Without very much warning the skies open and we are caught in a tropical downpour which lasts about ½ hour. After the rain stops, we continue our walk (taking a different way back to the ship) with a stop at a local craft market.

We enjoyed our time in this tropical paradise and loved all that we have seen - but we are a little disappointed that we have not seen this island in full sunshine or seen elegant palm trees swaying over white sandy beaches – maybe we will see these things at another port of call on our journey around the Indian Ocean.

The fish market.

 

One of the colourful stall in the craft market.