Wordless Wednesday: Les Rochers, Praslin

Coral Strand in Hell or Outer Space?

There used to be a really cool webcam attached to the Coral Strand Hotel showing a good portion of Beau Vallon beach. Now that the renovations have started, I wondered if they left the camera in place. I checked and this is what I found:

(click on the pic for the live link)

Is this hell? Is this outer space? Is this some weird tropical fungus underneath the floorboards?

Any ideas?

Hola Argentina!

Yesterday on the beach, my daughter and I noticed a large number of tall dark and handsome young men cavorting on the beach. That amount of guys only could only mean one thing: Navy. Now, we're used to the Yanks (easily identifiable by their short haircuts, tattoos and noise level) and the Brits (older, heavier, more seasoned looking), but these guys' origins were a mystery.

A mystery soon to be solved, as one young man approached my stall. It turned out they were from Argentina. "Ah, the losers ..." was my first thought, which luckily I refrained from speaking out loud. Luckily, because these young men are so charming and polite, I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings in any way. And the boat they are on is too beautiful for words. It's not your usual Navy ship; no, it's a frigate! And her name is the ARA Libertad. Too romantic!

According to the Nation "One of the world’s tallest, fastest and most beautiful sailing ships, the Argentinian naval frigate Libertad, which arrived in Port Victoria on Saturday on a four-day goodwill visit, was built in 1956 and incorporated into the Argentinian navy in 1963. Her main mast is 52 metres tall, she is 104 metres in length and her 27 sails span 2,700 square metres.

It seems they celebrated their national day here with a military parade on board. I wonder if they did the tango as well ...

Bus Trip Island Style

I don't have a car. This will be obvious to those of you who laughed at my gullibility re petrol prices.

Not being the proud possessor of a spanking new twin cab (anybody who is anybody in Seychelles has one of these), I have to take the bus when venturing further than Beau Vallon. I live in Bel Ombre and it's a mere twenty minutes on foot along the beach to my craft stall, so I prefer to walk than entrust my life to a bus driver who imagines himself to be Ayrton Senna.

Some time ago, Seybrew (the local brewery) brought in breathalyzers which they donated to the Seychelles police. Very public spirited of them, considering they are making huge profits on selling the booze. These breathalyzers were duly used and over 80 percent of the drivers tested showed alcohol levels over the limit. This figure included taxi drivers and (surprise, surprise!) bus drivers. The police reckoned that the machines must be faulty and sent them back to the factory. New breathalyzers were delivered with the same results. I understand they've stopped using them.

Join me on a bus ride in Seychelles for 40 seconds by watching this little gem of a video.


Actually, bus drivers here in the north of Mahé are usually the better drivers. We even have a regular bus schedule and an air-con bus every hour. The air-con buses are the equivalent of first class trains and you pay Rs5 versus the usual Rs3 to ride in luxury. I guess this is because we have more tourists here.

And the best bus driver of all is a woman. She's not only friendly, that chick is one smooth driver...

Wordless Wednesday. Takamaka Tree Just Past Sundown

More pics at Wordless Wednesday

Rub a Dub Style, Man

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I rather like these Pous Sa Dife guys. Pous Sa Dife literally means "push the fire" and these guys do have fire in their bellies.

Seychellois dance hall music is very popular in the clubs and at all the fetes like Regatta, etc. Evenings on the promenade, this stuff is blaring out of cars and, even walking along in a residential area on a Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, you'll hear this music blaring out of private homes, whilst the inhabitants are busy getting high on Seybrew and indulging their passion for dancing.

In other words: If you're in the Seychelles, it's unavoidable. So you might as well like it ...



This is a professionally made music video. If there are any music video producers reading this: there is clearly a niche market in the Seychelles for producing decent videos. Please come and save this industry...

Anyone Want Real Estate in Seychelles?

Anybody interested in buying property in Seychelles? Because I have a nice little piece of land for sale at Anse La Blague on Praslin. It's 1532 m2 and 2 minutes from this beach.


Actually, I'd really like to keep it and build a small spiritual retreat centre there, but I'm not the sole owner and my brothers insist on selling. Unless you'd like to join me and invest in a retreat centre ...

And the Beau Vallon Promenade is Ours!

There have been a lot of rumours flying around about it being the last Bazar Labrin at Beau Vallon. This, of course, because the same Russians who bought the Coral Strand, have bought the land along the beach.

According to STB, the government has told the Russians they may not build until the high-water mark on the beach (as they had planned). The Beau Vallon beach promenade belongs to the government and will be left as it is. All activities that are usually held at Beau Vallon, including Bazar Labrin, Regatta and all other activities for the "people" will continue to be held there. The Russians will just have to build further back.

This is great news, not just for us vendors, but also for the Seychellois youth who can go on drinking their Seybrews and blaring hip-hop music from their cars along the promenade. What would we do without our Creole traditions?

Wordless Wednesday: From my Verandah - Bel Ombre Church with Beauvallon Bay in the Background

Petrol Prices Update

A week ago I posted on the petrol prices in Seychelles being the tenth lowest in the world. All baloney as it turns out. This is somehow so typical of what happens here. It seems SEYPEC (the Seychelles oil company) gave the data as 89 cents per gallon; they mistook gallons for litres... How clever is that? And that price is CIF, meaning when it gets to the port, not the pump.

They've had to revise the data and Seychelles is now the 5th most expensive place in the world to buy petrol.

Makes more sense somehow ...

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset at Beauvallon

Another opinionated Seychelloise

In Seychelles, we have a strong tradition of opinionated women. And why not? We run the place after all...

Unfortunately, this tradition seems to be on the decrease; there are too many wishy washy girlie types (of all ages) around these days. So it really warmed the cockles of my heart when I came across Rawpinions. She's a Seychelloise studying in Shanghai and blogs about everything under the sun and Seychelles.

It's good to know there is another strong opinionated Creole out there.

Petrol Prices

I don't have a car, so I take a lot of taxis. In the last few months, some of them have doubled their prices, all the while bemoaning the cost of petrol. I came across this article by CNN Money which shows that Seychelles is the tenth cheapest place in the world to buy petrol. We're down there with all the oil-producing countries.

Where gasoline is cheapest
Rank Country Price/gal
1. Venezuela 12 cents
2. Iran 40 cents
3. Saudi Arabia 45 cents
4. Libya 50 cents
5. Swaziland 54 cents
6. Qatar 73 cents
7. Bahrain 81 cents
8. Egypt 89 cents
9. Kuwait 90 cents
10. Seychelles 98 cents
45. United States $3.45
155 countries surveyed between March 17 and April 1, 2008. Prices not adjusted for cost of living or exchange rates.
Source: AIRINC

Many of the taxi drivers are raking in foreign exchange to boot, which they are changing on the black market. So how about lowering those prices a bit, cabbies?

The Flip Flop Test

Seeing that I am at the beach practically every day, I practically live in my flip flops. My wonderful Brazilian Havaianas are slowly wearing out though and I can't get them here. Send me a pair?

What Your Flip Flops Say About You

You are super laid back and peaceful. Not much disturbs you. You're content with what you have in life, and you can't stand feeling worked up. A lot of good things tend to come your way in life... You're not too busy or stressed to let an opportunity pass you by. Your ideal warm weather place: Hawaii

The Flip Flop Test

Actually, Seychelles suits me fine.

Need some time out on Praslin

Like most Seychellois, I hop off to Praslin when I need time out from the oh so hectic rat race on Mahé. It seems unbelievable, I know, that one might need a vacation to an even quieter place, but right now, I could do with a change and Praslin is the cheapest place to go to from here.

Last year, I stayed at the Villa Flamboyant for three nights. I was all on my own during the day and did nothing but read and swim in the ocean. The beach is pretty long there and wonderful for evening walks. That's all you can do there, because it's literally in the middle of nowhere. But oh so peaceful...

I took this picture from my breakfast table.

Isn't it tempting? I wish I had the time to go for a couple of days of seclusion...