The Seychelles, 9,000 Miles to Paradise

Guest post by Tracy Ryan

Seychelles photos by Joseph Y. Wong @ TKG STUDIOS

What’s on your travel bucket list that you think is impossible? For me, a vacation to a remote tropical location – something that would put Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands in white sandy dust. A place that would conjure up images of stranded island movies such as Castaway, Blue Lagoon and Six Days, Seven Nights. Luckily, my husband’s employer selected the Seychelles as the company’s sales incentive trip destination this year.

Where are the Seychelles you ask? 

9,000 miles from Chicago to be exact, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 842 miles off the coast of Mogadishu, Somalia, the African nation famous for the terrible tragedy detailed in the film, Blackhawk Down. An archipelago of 115 islands, although 90% of the population lives on the main island of Mahe, with the remaining residents on Praslin and La Digue, I quickly realized a trip to the Seychelles was more than going to let me cross this item off my travel bucket list.

A Stop in Dubai en route to the Seychelles

The biggest challenge and roadblock to Americans visiting the Seychelles is the distance.  Chicago to Praslin Island, where our resort was located, took three flights including a quick overnight in Dubai for a total of 48 hours door to door. Almost every attendee, whether from Europe, Asia or America, flew through Dubai and many attendees took advantage of this and stayed a few nights. Almost everyone said, “I’m glad I saw it, but I don’t need to go back.”  Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is a far cry from visiting an authentic Middle Eastern city. Yes, seeing Sheiks and women’s eyes peeking out from a body wrapped in head-to-toe fabric in stifling heat combined with hearing the haunting calls from a mosque, make you feel like Carrie from Homeland about to embark on a C.I.A. mission, but Dubai is a modern sprawling city on its way to becoming a combination of the Middle East of Las Vegas, an international city with the most Starbucks cafes and the crown jewel of Duty Free Shopping. A few attendees of the trip added a day trip to Abu Dhabi or the desert and felt the experience more Middle Eastern-authentic. Others flew to Paris first and then direct from Paris to Mahe airport. A few added an African safari to their trip, with South Africa only a 4 to 5-hour flight from Mahe. Still others arrived earlier or stayed later on the Seychelles with varied plans from staying at hotel chains on the main island to no-electricity huts on a remote island, accessible by ferry.

Back to the Seychelles….

You need at least one week here, better off 10 to 14 days. You need to split your stay between Mahe and Praslin Island or even one of the resorts on the smaller islands, only accessible by boat or a helipad. We stayed on Praslin, a 15-minute, 10-seater, two propeller scenic and stifling-hot air transfer from the larger (it’s smaller than small) Mahe airport.

Be ready to be awestruck by its natural beauty

I am a lucky world traveler due to my husband’s career. I’ve been to the famous beaches of five Caribbean islands, Florida, Hawaii, South Carolina, three Mexican resort towns, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Thailand, Vietnam, Costa Rica, South Africa and Madeira. But nothing comes close to what your eyes are seeing when you finally get to your hotel and look at the view. Maybe it’s a combination of the bluest sky, unique topaz-colored ocean and whitest sand you have ever seen and the fact that you know how far away from home your body is at that moment, but your mind is not playing tricks on you. Pull out your camera and make your friends jealous, but the picture won’t capture what you are feeling. The only time I remember feeling this awestruck was during a South African safari when our ranger took us on a cliff overlooking the plains that were dotted with giraffes and other animals grazing, birds soaring in the sky and the sun setting. Then I had a gin and tonic in my hand, this time a glass of champagne, and as my husband and I soaked in the view from our villa at the Raffles Praslin Seychelles, we both said, “Wow. Just wow.”  And it only got better.

Excursions in Seychelles

Over the next few days, attendees picked from a variety of excursions from island hopping by boat to sunbathe on remote beaches and snorkel in reefs only accessible by water, big game fishing, boat trips to specific islands known for a bird sanctuary, hiking or biking trails, half-day trip to the center of Mahe Island to the Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home to the coco de mer palm tree which has the largest seeds of any plant in the world and some of the rarest birds including the Seychelles Black Parrot, golf at the famous Constance Lemuria course or a cooking class. Each night at dinner attendees compared pictures and stories.

• Fish – One man, an avid fisherman, caught the largest marlin he has ever caught and landed the fish ten minutes into the trip.
• Golf – The golfers raved about the back nine that takes you up the mountain with views of the ocean and beaches, then back down including a par-three hole with the tee on top of a cliff with a 10-minute cart ride winding down the mountain to the green parked next to the famous Anse Georgette beach.
• Nature – The Vallee di Mai visitors showed pictures of rare birds and the largest tree coconuts in the world growing as big as 20 inches wide and weighing 65 pounds.
• Boat – The pictures from the boat excursions were stunning. People swam along with giant sea turtles, saw huge stingrays and large fish.
• Culinary – The cooking class attendees promised to share recipes of the chicken curry, creole rice and heart of palm salad they learned to make from the head chef of the resort.

Island hop the 100+ Seychelle islands by boat

With over one hundred islands and only two with airports, the ability to island hop by boat is what makes the Seychelles so unique. Where else in the world can you anchor from one inhabitable island to another to snorkel or swim to a tiny white sandy beach that perhaps no one else has ever set foot on? And with many of these remote islands having a small eco-friendly, luxury or barebones resort with a restaurant or two available for a quick meal or night off the boat, there is almost no need to book a week at a resort. To stay in one place in the Seychelles is like going to Disney World and visiting Epcot seven days in a row.

Another unique aspect about the Seychelles is the cuisine

A combination of Indian, Chinese, African, French, English and French influences results in mouth-watering dishes (curries, stir-fries, fish cooked in banana leaves), pastries to die for, ripe tropical fruit and freshest sushi everyone had ever had.

Miniature world combining land and sea with vivid colors

A walk through the dense jungle-like forests, so green that a rare red bird can’t hide, with taller-than-skyscraper trees, you expect Tarzan to pop out at any minute. Next, you are on the most picturesque tiny beach with white sand and better snorkeling only 15-feet in the sea than you sailed an hour from your Florida resort and paid $200. From a boat, you notice the large granite rocks that jut out along the coast and pop out of the sand in the strangest places.  The eco-system is the closest to Hawaii in my experience, but it still has this remoteness that makes it different. Thankfully, the government and the beautiful people of the Seychelles protect their environment and wildlife with strict rules and regulations.

If your bucket list contains a remote island destination, I highly recommend visiting the Seychelles. A place where the sea meets the sand unlike no other place in the world.