Raise the sails!
The Seychelles are an ideal spot for yachting, located outside the cyclone zone and offering short cruises and numerous anchorages up to 60 miles from Mahé. In Victoria harbor, yachtsmen can meet at the yacht club or in the little wooden house of the Marine Charter, the meeting place for all yachting professionals, skippers and deep-sea fishing boats, just like the Eden Island marina.
Harbour dues are the same for all islands and anchorages, and are based on tonnage and time spent in port. You also have to pay a small fee to sail in the marine parks or disembark on certain private or state-managed islands. The cost per person is around €15 for the Baie Ternay and Sainte-Anne parks, Coco, Curieuse and Saint-Pierre, €20 for Silhouette (with authorization) and €30 for Grande Sœur, Cousin and Aride. Stretching from 120 to 700 miles from Mahé, the remote islands (Amirantes, Farquhar, Aldabra), all coral islands, are aimed at those accustomed to longer, more arduous sailings, with fewer passes and anchorages and subject to special regulations. The presence on board of a skipper-guide is mandatory. Permission to disembark must be granted by IDC (✆ +248 4 384 540), while the Aldabra atoll is subject to special conditions, with the Seychelles Island Foundation (✆ +248 4 321 735) able to grant or refuse permission to visit.
As far as the weather is concerned, it's worth noting that the south-easterly trade winds set in from mid-May to mid-October: this is the Indian winter, which lends a certain character to the crossings. The north-west monsoon, on the other hand, sets in from December to mid-March. The winds are calmer and the seas beautiful. Rains are also more frequent, especially from December to mid-February. The shoulder seasons are therefore ideal for quiet cruises and diving. So, bon vent!
Big on the line
The best fishing season is between October and April. As Mahé and the granite islands rest on a 160 km-long underwater continental shelf, it's best to reach the edges of this shelf to tease out the big fish. Around 100 km north of Mahé, at Bird and Denis, where depths of 1,800 m can be reached fairly quickly, several world records have been set. Of all the catches, the blue swordfish, or blue marlin, is the most sought-after for its size. But there are other equally combative varieties. The black swordfish, which can weigh over 400 kg, is a fierce fighter, never tiring, while the striped swordfish is renowned for its acrobatics and prodigious leaps. As for the sailfish, it reacts vigorously as soon as it is hooked and fights with its predator in a true aerial combat by deploying its crest. The wahoo prefers to be towed at 80 km/h. You can also fish for dogtooth tuna, bonito, bream, barracuda or bourgeois. The success of an outing depends above all on the skipper's eye for interpreting the ballet of birds above the shoals of fish. A big-game fishing trip lasts between four and nine hours, and an early start is a must. But in the Seychelles, you never come home empty-handed!
A lot of hikes
On the Mahé side of the island, you'll soon be climbing the Morne seychellois national park and the Sans-Souci road. The program includes a beautiful hike through lush jungle, reaching an altitude of 905 m, the highest point for... 1,600 km! Also worth seeing are the Botanical Garden at Mont Fleuri and the King's Garden at Anse Royale, while a superb hike awaits you in the north between Bel Ombre and Anse Major.
But if you want to admire the star of Seychelles nature, the famous cocofesse, you'll have to go to Praslin, in the Vallée de Mai. Thousands of coconut palms and cocos de mer have made their home here and have become the stuff of legend, justifying the classification of this exceptional forest as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Less touristy, the Fond Ferdinand allows you to admire the cocofesse as you stroll up to the heights of the island. Also worth noting: the hike between the superb Anse Lazio and Anse Georgette. Finally, on La Digue, you can climb to the Nid d'Aigle or take a tour of the "Veuve Reserve", a small forest and one of the last four places in the world home to the Paradise black flycatcher.
Near Praslin, you'll have to dock on Île Cousin to admire its bird sanctuary of marine avifauna, including turtle doves, song magpies, frigate birds and paille-en-queue, to name but a few. Then keep your binoculars close at hand to discover Aride's 73 hectares of unspoilt nature. More than a million seabirds lay their eggs here! Or opt for the aptly named Bird to recharge your batteries with some three million feathered neighbors... on 1 km2. Finally, just a few minutes by boat from Praslin, Curieuse is home to around a hundred land tortoises.
The spa craze
Spa? A way of blossoming through water, and a niche which, in the Seychelles, seems to be gaining ground in the 5-star segment. A pioneer in its field, the illustrious Lémuria in Praslin (also known for its superb golf course) offers treatments and massages in an exotic wood pavilion with a palm roof. Because when it comes to surrender, it's important to take care with the décor. At North Island, the ceremony takes place on the highest point of the island, facing a green and blue horizon. Le Château de Feuilles offers a hot stone massage. What a pleasure! In short, from the Hilton Northolme Hotel & Spa to the Four Seasons, Story Seychelles, Maia, Ephélia, Domaine de l'Orangeraie and other top-class establishments, "spatherapy" has found a home in the Seychelles.
