Seychelles vs. Maldives vs Bora Bora

[kirstinb]

We are trying to decide where to go for our annual July trip this year. I've been missing Bora Bora/Moorea and would love to go back, but trying something new sounds good too. Here are my issues: Always wanted to go to Maldives but I believe July is their rainy season. Does anyone know how Seychelles compares to Maldives? My other issue is that DH tends to need action. In Moorea he had fantastic snorkeling everyday. In Bora Bora the snorkeling wasn't as good, but there was still SOME....and there was still the excitement of taking the boat from the motu each night to wherever we were dining, with lots of choices for dining. I am worried that Seychelles or Maldives would be far too inactive for him. Does anyone know if you can leave the resort for dining experiences or is it not really that kind of place? In other words, what is there to do there besides relax and read a book? Which sounds awesome to me, btw. Dh has the issues.
PS Thought about Bali too but researching and planning the options seems a bit overwhelming to me.

[kirstinb]

MavJen
Gonna hit you with a million questions now, lol!
How long was the flight to Maldives? What are the best/most popular islands to stay? Best high end resorts? Do you know anyone who's gone during the rainy season? I know it's hit or miss, but I'd consider it. I'll stop here for now:)

[chicago]

I haven't been to Maldives, but we are going to Seychelles next July. H and I can't sit on the beach and do nothing for days, but we aren't really super active on our beach vacations either. We are staying on Praslin, which is the 2nd largest of the islands. We are only going to be there for four nights, but we are planning to do some beach hopping and general exploring as well as a day trip to La Digue to see Anse Source d'Argent. There also seem to be some other day trips that are possible, but I doubt we will want to do much else besides hang out at the resort and check out those two islands.

I don't know that there's really all that much to do in the Seychelles. If we weren't also spending time in South Africa, I wouldn't be taking such a crazy long flight to go there, though I'm obviously super excited to check out the islands.

Have you given any thought to Fiji? We were there for our wedding and honeymoon in June/July of '10. Weather was great, island hopping was easy. Although we stayed on a private island resort (Royal Davui) for part of our stay, there was no lack of things to do. Fiji is the soft coral capitol of the world - the snorkeling there was incredible, particularly around Royal Davui. We kayaked, did a village visit, participated in kava ceremonies, did a private sandspit picnic, took a scuba lesson. There were also options to go deep sea fishing or to travel to the main island for white water rafting, ziplining, etc. We spent two weeks split between Royal Davui and Likuliku. I also liked Taveuni Palms, Matangi, Vatulele, and Qamea among others.

[GilliC]

Anse Source d'Argent is gorgeous! And La Digue is a great island just for cycling and walking around. We did some snorkeling, but we weren't there for long and didn't have time to visit any of the marine parks. I have some friends here who used to be dive masters all over the world, and they say great things about the diving in Seychelles. There is also some hiking and nature walks in the national parks. July is in the middle of the dry season. (I was there in January, which is the wettest month. It poured a few times, but we also had some gorgeous weather.)

Personally I wasn't that thrilled with Mauritius. The beaches we visited weren't amazing and honestly we just didn't really see the appeal. Especially compared to Seychelles. If you've never been to India, visiting the Hindu temple could be interesting, and they have motorized water sports, but I thought the landscape was far more interesting in Seychelles and Réunion. Neither Seychelles or Mauritius is really a great fine dining destination, but there is some fantastic street food in Port Louis (big vats of excellent biryani). The food in Seychelles was good, but there weren't too many choices (on Praslin we tried Pirogue, which was a bit pricey but nice, and Coco Rouge, which was fun, tasty, and simple.)

If your DH is more active, maybe Réunion? There's a bit more activity - paragliding, rafting, etc. And considering it's French, you may find more upscale dining options.

For an overview of activities, you might want to check out the Diving & Activities chapter of the Lonely Planet Mauritius/Seychelles/Reunion book.