Beach Life

We’ve just spent 12 days in Paradise. Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Northeast of Madagascar and about 1600km east of Kenya. Our time was spent on the main island of Mahé and we stayed in the capital city of Victoria. It seems all of the beautiful places on earth are called Victoria! Seychelles has been on David’s bucket list since I have known him. In undergrad at Dalhousie University in Halifax his roommate Rene was from Seychelles; living in Canada for his studies. David has intended to visit for close to 30 years and finally was able to do so. Rene was kind enough to open his home to us and show us his beautiful island. He was an amazing “tour guide”, giving us a true local view of this stunning island.

Mahé was gorgeous. Everything one imagines paradise to be. Green and lush with an abundance of flowers, coconut trees, birds and long sandy beaches.

The weather was HOT! A much more humid heat than the dry heat of Africa. It’s the “just got out of the shower and I’m sweating again” kind of humid heat. Some relief was found most days when the tropical rain would fall (sometimes in buckets!) for a short while.

We traded our Safari wear for bathing suits and flip flops and were true “Beach bums”, visiting Rene’s favourite beaches, some days dragging the reluctant kids out of the ocean passed sunset. To escape the heat “beaching” is a lifestyle in Seychelles

Step 1) A quick stop at a food truck or restaurant for some amazing creole take away (the curries, cassava chips and fish were some of our favourites)

Step 2) Head to one of the countless local shops for some cold drinks including Seybrew, the beer of the islands.

Step 3) Choose a beach, find a coconut tree to sit under for shade (no umbrella needed), set up chairs

Step 4) repeat

Many hours were spent each day swimming, people watching, sand castle building, relaxing and even learning how to husk a coconut fresh from the tree. The water was the warmest ocean water we’ve ever experienced and the colours the most beautiful greens, blues and turquoise imaginable – straight off of a postcard. It’s no wonder Prince William and Kate as well as George Clooney and Amal chose these islands for their honeymoons.

It wasn’t all fun and games. There was some learning to be done as the older two boys Haydn and Reece studied for their scuba diving certification. At age 13 Haydn is a certified PADI Open Water Diver and Reece, age 11, a certified PADI Junior Open Water Diver! David and I also were able to refresh our diving skills and we ended our time in Seychelles with 2 family dives on the reefs just off Beau Vallon Beach. We saw moray eels, large puffer fish, parrot fish, a turtle and an octopus amongst other colourful tropical fish and creatures. A great family experience!

Next we fly to New Zealand for the next chapter of this epic adventure. It is a long day of travel (as I type we have 9 hours remaining of a totally flying time of 21 hours). We left Seychelles and flew 4.5 hours to connect in Dubai. Next was a 5 hour layover in Dubai followed by a record breaking 16 hours to Auckland. Unfortunately time didn’t allow for us to spend any time in Dubai, so we’ve placed it on the bucket list for another time.

Recap time. We’ve been away from Canada for 19 weeks and have called 50 different accommodations “home”. Time seems to be flying by!

Country count is at 24 (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, Italy, Monaco, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, Malta, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Vatican City, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Ethiopia*, South Africa, Seychelles, United Arab Emirates*) (*airport layover only)

Onward to New Zealand and Australia!

With Love,

The Travelling Babins

“Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly” – Van Morrison