Seychelles - A natural untouched paradise ❤

For those of you are considering travelling to the Indian Ocean let me tell you a few things about the Seychelles. It is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. It is where some of the oldest tortoises live and home to some of the biggest palm spiders I have ever seen in my entire life! The islands are beautiful and snorkelling is amazing. Does that interest you? Well read on....

Hubby and I spent a week in October on Ste. Anne Island which is the biggest of eight islands in the Ste. Anne national marine park. Only 4 km off the east coast of Mahe which makes it convenient when you want to visit the main island which is a short boat ride away.

Ste. Anne National Marine Park

We flew with Emirates via Dubai which was easy enough. Our flight there was pretty smooth and uneventful (phew). 

We stayed at the Beachcomber Resort which is the only resort on the private island of Ste. Anne. Our room was a tropical villa. Spacious and comfortable. We opted out of booking a room with a plunge pool because we spend more time on the beach. Everything about the room was perfect for us. It was clean and airy with a massive bathroom. What more could we ask for?

Tropical Villa with complimentary champagne and fruit!

The beach at Ste. Anne island was pretty but not the best I had seen. There were rock barriers on one beach which meant swimming was out for us. On the part of the island where the boats drop you off the beach was covered in seaweed so another no no. The only beach we ever swam in was the one near our room. Let me tell you something - it was shallow! You could walk for ages and the water came up to your knees. This was for most of the day so swimming was a bit boring for us. The other more natural beaches had plenty of things to look out for but the sea slugs freaked me out. I didn't want to step on them so I stayed away. We usually like to either take a hobie cat out or sea kayaks but because the water was so low we didn't bother this time.

Beach on Ste.Anne Island (watch out for the sea slugs!)

The beach closest to the restaurants. The rock breakers are for the big waves

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Our daily walkway to get to the restaurants. If you wake up really early you can see reef sharks and stingrays!

So what was there to do? We decided to take a boat to the mainland and hire a car. This is easily done through the hotel. Driving on Mahe is very easy. You can drive around the whole island. The beaches on Mahe are beautiful. Long stretches of white sand and calm waters. The markets are also fascinating and I bought the best vanilla (Pods and extract) chilies, nutmeg, lemongrass for tea and other food goodies. Definitely worth a visit. When we got hungry we decided to try some restaurants out. Big mistake - it seemed people did not want to serve us! We waited for ages for anyone to come and serve us. In the end we left. This happened in about two restaurants so we gave up and opted for take away pizza. I must say this was the best pizza I have ever tasted. We took our take away pizza and ate by the side of a beach. Much better than sitting in a stuffy restaurant where service was non existent! I must give some advice about souvenirs - they are pricey! We bought some magnets and regretted buying them as the price for one was about ten euros.

Mahe's version of Big Ben!

Some of the views from Mahe are amazing

Gorgeous white sand beaches are everywhere!

I had to share the best pizza we had! 

Pizza and the beach! Better than any hot and stuffy restaurant!

The most expensive coconut we have ever had...I think we got ripped off!

The other trip we decided on which was a must was a tour to La Digue and Praslin. We woke up early around 3:30am and headed out. The boat takes you to Mahe where you take a transfer to the main port. Mayhem!!!! Waiting for the boat to Praslin and La Digue was long and busy. If you do decide on this trip be prepared to wait and have plenty water. Definitely wear something comfy on your feet and take loads of sun lotion. Once you arrive to the islands it is beautiful. La Digue is unique because of the huge granite boulders. Once on the island you will be given a bike to ride which is how you get around. Go and see the giant tortoises and coconut mill. A visit to the plantation house is a must as well. The day is long so take your time and enjoy. It will be hot so make sure you have something to cover up with. We ended up snorkelling on Anse source d'argent for three hours! We had so much fun dipping in and out of the water we didn't realise that time had simply flown by. This had to be the best part of the tour. The beach was beautiful. In fact all the beaches on the island were amazing. There are a few places to stay on La Digue but a day was more than enough for us. On the way back they stop off at Praslin but to be honest by this point we were knackered. Waiting for the boat back was horrendous. It was like a cattle market. Make sure you keep asking which queue to stand in because it was worse than mayhem. I am happy to say we did make it back to Mahe without hopping on the wrong boat.

Waking up at 3:30am has its benefits! Beautiful sunrise!

All calm arriving to La Digue...

Gorgeous giant turtles 

We spent 3 hours snorkelling here. Amazing!

Famous Anse source d'argent beach. Out of this world

So after our exciting but tiring trip to La Digue we decided the rest of the time was to be spent at our resort. We relaxed the week away. Our favourite restaurant on was Mon Fleuri where we were really taken care of. I have so many allergies so they were more than accommodating to this. My favourite meal was the palm heart salad. You have to try it. Delicious. Fresh and crunchy palm heart. Not the horrid tinned stuff. On our last night we ordered a seafood platter which was also amazing. They gave us the best table in the restaurant. We mainly ate in Mon Fleuri which was our favourite but we did try the main restaurant which had buffet style meals which were themed. I loved the Indian night which was my favourite. Lunch was also given in there where I used to have pizza. I would wait for the freshest margarita ones which were the best! On the whole the food and drinks at Beachcomber was good. Entertainment in the evenings was nice and light, often live music which suited us. There were kids at the hotel but they did not make too much noise. The only thing I will add that we did not like was the swimming pool. This was often dirty and greasy. The water never reached the vents so did not get circulated. We never stepped into the pool (we hardly use the swimming pools preferring the sea but would be nice to actually have the choice!)

Anniversary dinner at Le Robinson restaurant

Tropical anniversary cake - absolutely delicious 

Palm heart salad

Dusk walk to the other side of the island

Banyan Tree

A must is to visit the other side of the island as the beach is gorgeous and full of life!

Driving through the island

Beach full of seaweed - definitely not for swimming!

The yoga class was really relaxing. Definitely worth a try. We hired a golf buggy for two days as well and went to the other side of the island which was really cool. Beware of the huge banyan trees if you are superstitious. Theyre so scary at night time but such fascinating trees to look at. Don't bother to buy any cinnamon as there are wild trees on the island. Go on the dusk walk and they will show you where these are! 

So this is a little explanation of our trip to the Seychelles. Would we visit again - probably not. However, I am truly happy to have been there and explored the islands, just once is more than enough. When choosing a hotel would I recommend Ste. Anne - yes I would if you are after somewhere more laid back and relaxing. If I had a chance to change anything I would have stayed in maybe two different hotels. North Island being the other one. When speaking to guests who had come from there the beach sounded beautiful and it would have been nice to have split the week up so that would be my tip to you. Try and split your time up for variety and to see and experience even more...

Some photos of the rest of our holiday for you to see...

Moyenne Island

Steak dinner at Mon Fleuri

Pizza at lunchtime

Our last night dinner - the best table in Mon Fleuri

Seafood Platter - A must for seafood lovers!

Eggs we found in a tree..

Breakfast...

Spices to buy from the market - not expensive

Moyenne Island

Biriyani from the India theme night

My trip must haves were:

• Underwater camera (to take hilarious photos of my hubby because I am such a bad photographer)
• Aleader Womens Mesh Slip on Water Shoes (because sea slugs are horrible to step on)