Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 48/96 - Victoria, Mahé Island, Seychelles - Our Halfway Point
First, last night, Cruise Director, Nick, announced that the crew member who was taken off last night for a medical emergency was in the hospital and stable. Everyone was happy to hear that good news.
Today is day #48 of this 96-day journey, so today wrapped up the first half of this adventure. Seychelles is also our 96th country. So, where are we?
Seychelles is a 115-island archipelago just under 950 miles east of the African coast and just over 300 miles south of the equator. We are docked in Victoria on the island of Mahé. Victoria is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Seychelles and Mahé is the largest island in the archipelago.
Today's tour was a bus tour with several photo stops in and around Victoria, a visit to the Botanical Gardens, and Beau Vallon Beach.
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| Arriving at the dock in Victoria |
Our first stop was high above Victoria at a lookout with a panoramic view of the city and port.
Our next stop was The Botanical Garden.
A highlight of the Botanical Garden is the Coco De-Mer palm. This plant produces the largest nut in the world. The nut is used locally to produce perfume.
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| The plants are distinctly female or male and produce different items - the female produces huge seeds (left) and the male produces huge spikes or spadices that bear flowers |
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| The female tree produces these nuts |
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| Arlona's had included for size reference |
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| The male plant produces these spikes that are loaded with flowers |
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| Geckos or the wind transport pollen from the flowers to the female tree, pollinating the seed |
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| This tree was planted in 1956 |
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| In front of a large traveller palm |
We saw lots of colorful flowers.
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| Asystasia sp |
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| Kopsia fruticosa |
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| Star of Bethlehem |
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| A bee, photobombing |
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| There were a bunch of Seychelles blue pigeons hanging out |
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| Green Gecko |
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| Seychelles skink |
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| If you look in the center, do you see something hanging down...with pointy ears, perhaps? |
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| Incoming |
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| Yup, it's bats - big bats |
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| They were enormous fruit bats and they were all over the trees |
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| Look closely - there are multiple bats in the trees |
Next up was a visit with tortoises.
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| OK, this isn't a real tortoise |
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| But these were - at least 25 of them |
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| We were given leaves to feed them |
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| They loved it |
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| We also massaged their necks - they loved that as well, rising up off the ground while we massaged |
A juvenile fruit bat had fallen from the trees in the tortoise area.
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| Our guide fed it some star fruit |
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| She let the bat crawl up her leg, eventually getting into her hands |
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| She carried it to a neighboring fruit tree and it began crawling up, we hope to reunite with its parents |
We left the garden and headed north along the east coastline. We stopped for photos at tourist favorites.
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| Sculptures in a roundabout |
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| We didn't see any Western fast food, but this was close |
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| Immaculate Conception Cathedral |
We stopped for photos at tourist favorite spots.
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| Diamond Jubilee Fountain |
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| Victoria Clock Tower |
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| Arlona, interacting with the local wildlife |
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| Dugong statue |
We stopped for photos along the east shore of the north part of the island.
Our final stop was at a beach resort where we had free time and enjoyed a soda.
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| You can see another island in the distance |
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| Mynas, an invasive species, were all over the restaurant, looking for handouts |
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| Arlona took the opportunity to touch the Indian Ocean |
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| She also found a couple of nice additions to her shell collection |
We returned to the ship and grabbed lunch before The Colonnade closed at 2:00. After lunch, we went out back on Deck #5 and I caught some of the local birds.
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| Frigatebirds were out fishing |
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| Snagging lunch |
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| The upper one looked jealous of the bottom one's snack |
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| Tern |
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| We watched them hoist several loads of fish from a boat and drop them onto this conveyor for processing |
As evening approached, we went to the Observation Bar as usual and then to The Restaurant for another hosted dinner. Tonight's host was Seabourn Six singer, Jay. He was the only member of the Seabourn Six we hadn't dined with. It was another nice dinner since we also met two other guests we had not had the opportunity to meet.
We're here in Victoria overnight. We made it an early evening since we have an early excursion tomorrow. We placed a Room Service order on the door and called it a day.
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