Sunset Beach Glacis

... Arms in downtown Victoria, a long stop at the Botanical Gardens being amazed by the size and aggressiveness of the fruit bats and beauty of the tropical flowers, a long drive to Intendance Beach home to the exclusive Banyan Tree Resort, and a final meal at Vye Marmit’ in the Val des Prés craft ...

Port Launay - Ille Moyenne<br><br>Last full day on Monkey Puzzle in the Seychelles and we're heading north to round the Island to spend the night in St. Anne Marine Park. The wind picks up as we approach BeauVallon Beach and we begin sailing first on a bean reach and as we round the island close hauled tacking to our ...

... in and head to the coral about 100m off the starboard bow of the boat. They see plenty of fish is the crystal clear water with great rock formation and pinnacles. They're pleasantly surprised and fell that the snorkel rates with that at Ille Coco and St. Pierre. We also feed the bat fish which weren&#8217;t shy about taking bread practically from Marcello&#8217;s ...

... a small bonito caught again by Lisa. As we round the northern point of Mahe&#8217;, the wind begins to build to 30k (katabolic effect off the high mounts) coming almost due south right on our nose. We roll-up the job and reef the main as we motor sail directly into the wind to anchor in the designated area off Beau Vallon Beach.<br><br>It&#8217 ...

... colored fish of all types and size including eagle rays, lion fish, blue and green striped grouper. The water is shallow, maybe .5-1.5m below the surface so the light is fantastic. Coral formations are beautiful. We must have spent at least 2 hours in the water. This has to be one of the best snorkel locations in the world.<br><br>We&#8217;re back to the boat ...

... We began the circle hike through the park. Almost instantaneously you feel like you've been transported back into pre-historic times with, incredibly large coco du mer trees and overgrown prehistoric fauna surrounding you. Adding to this backdrop is the sexually suggestive nature of the male and female coco du mer seeds. Perhaps, the Adam and Eve had the same setting in ...

... s no need to top up the fuel. Once finished, we take Sunsail&#8217;s advice and head to the mooring ball field to meet Robert, but, instead find Miles, apparently, Robert does take a day off from managing his mooring balls.<br><br>Neal of Sunsail told us that we should depend on the custodians of these mooring balls to do our provisioning if we want to get the ...

... to shore. As we ask about fresh fish a fishermen is coming in with what appears to be about 10 small fish on a large metal ring. After a bit of haggling with the help of our new found friends, we buy 6 shoemaker fish for 10 euros and take a quick look in land for other resources.<br><br>Back at the boat, Lisa and Marcello decide to go back on shore to check the mini-markets and find ice for drinks. They return successfully having gotten ice ...

... experiencing in the Seychelles. After about 2 hours in the water and paying the park ranger on the island $15US/person, we headed back to Monkey Puzzle for a hearty lunch and short nap.<br><br>After lunch we dingied over a mile to Anse San Jose on Ille Curieuse. After exploring the leper colony museum, we started our 1.7km hike to the giant land tortoise refuge. The trail first ...

... planned mid-cruise provisioning in St. Anne, Praslin.<br><br>After lunch on board in La Passe, we headed down wind with light trade winds (SE 9-12k) pushing us wing to wing or "farfalla" (butterfy) as the Italians say a little about 10M northwest to Anse Petite Cour , Praslin where we tied up to a mooring ball which cost ...