Trip Report: Seychelles

[Brit]

Thank you for this! We spent a few hours researching Seychelles last night as an option for our vacation in two weeks. This is perfect timing!

[Brit]

I'm not surprised to hear the the food was outrageously priced, we found that in the Maldives as well. You are kind of a captive consumer when you are on a small island.

I think we will be somewhat limited in terms of where we can stay since it is a holiday week and we need a room that they will allow three people to stay in - or at least that is what cursory searches told me. H has some free nights that we might be able to redeem at Le Meridian, so while it isn't my first choice, a few free hotel nights might balance out exceptionally high food (and I assume drink) costs.

We are not at all beach layers. Like we have never laid by a beach or pool together in seven years. We were hoping there would be surf, snorkeling, paddle boarding, hikes, etc., um, and babysitting at the hotel. :-)

I'm still waiting to get my passport back from UAE customs. I will not be able to book a trip until (if) I get it back before the holiday. My resident visa is still in process. I hope to get the passport back late next week. We would plan to leave on Friday of next week. Fingers crossed. It is driving me absolutely bonkers to have this up in the air!

[GilliC]

I'm surprised that you say that Seychelles isn't a great area for snorkelling. I have some friends who are avid divers, and they consider Seychelles one of the world's best locations for diving/snorkelling (and as nomadic dive instructors, they've been all over). Maybe the diving is just a lot better.

When we were there we didn't have time to make it to any of the marine parks, so we only did a bit of snorkelling off one of the beaches on La Digue, which wasn't too impressive. I really wanted to check out the Ste. Anne Marine Nat'l Park but we weren't on Mahe for very long.

You were there in August/September, right? Did you go on any of the the whale shark snorkeling trips?

[mdgirl]

I'd also be interested to hear how you think the scenery and culture compares to other tropical destinations. Whenever I've seen pictures it just doesn't strike me as particularly unique, and I've never heard anything about any sort of local culture.