We wanted to book some activities on Holiday Island, but they were either full or happened only once a week on day we were travelling. Only trip that we managed to do was to visit nearby Sun Island. It is resort operated by the same company so boat ride was for free. We just needed to pick one of departure times and sign for it on reception.
Sun Island is bigger, maybe 3 times and also more developed. It even has a pool. From my point of view, it was overcrowded. So we made very good decision when we picked Holiday Island - it was more suitable for us. That, however, does not mean all those hundreds of people on Sun Island picked badly :-)
Holiday Island is quite small - just 700 meters long and 140 wide. I am surprised I did not get bored during those 7 days. Maybe because I took many photos. We are going to look at Holiday Island with different perspective now.
I have too many photos from Holiday Island, so I need to split it to 3 parts. That's the reason previous post did not contain many Maldives "postcards". But it is main point of this post - to show why people are going there - white sand, turquoise water, green palms.
I was forced to take 2 weeks off in my work in February 2015. We were thinking "Why should I sit at home and then have less available time for proper summer vacation? Let's go to some warm place". But where to go during winter? Europe is cold, it has to be somewhere further away. Sri Lanka had raised occurrence of some virus in January, so we were afraid to go there. What about Maldives?
We bought Lonely Planet, only to realize Maldives are not ideal for individual holiday makers, and even worse for travellers - distances are huge and accommodation expensive, unless you want to stay in capital Male. Not to mention food - islands open for tourists are usually handled by single resort, so they have only "single" restaurant and no shop with food. Self catering in Maldives is probably as expensive as half board.
Anse Lazio is at northeastern side of Praslin, not too far from Anse Georgette. There are 2 options how to get there for people accommodated in Anse Kerlan without a car.
- You can take bus and go to Mont Plaisir terminal station, which is about 2 stops, but quite steep slope. Then you can walk 1.9km throught country (it took us 37 min).
- Take bus going in other direction for 50 minutes and get off at Anse Boudin. Then walk steep road up and down for 1km.
Beach Anse Kerlan was only 100m from our accommodation in Praslin, but it got so low priority that we went there only once to check how it looks like. It happened shortly before another trip so we took 5 photos and left. If there will not be anything better, we might return...
Real attraction for us were beaches Anse Georgette and Anse Lazio. To get to both of them you need to walk. It is up to you to decide how much.
When we arrived to Praslin at 6th of May it was sunny and hot. And it stayed that way until we returned to Mahe. This has made our stay at Praslin unique from whole Seychelles :-)
Arranged taxi did not materialize at port so after waiting for about 30 minutes we asked taxi driver waiting nearby if he could take us. He was chatty, after learning we are there for the first time, he explained basic facts about the island and added a few extras. For example nobody likes ferry ride between Mahe and Praslin during bad weather. He went to Mahe once with his family and refused to return by ferry. They had to fly back. Or that he had a customer who immediately after arrival to Praslin asked him to get him directly to airport, completely ignoring original reason of his visit to Praslin. So from this point of view we must be crazy or something.Seychelles - light and magic at Anse Source D'Argent
Added: May 31, 2014
I had so many photos from Anse Source D'Argent that I decided to split them into 2 posts. This second post will show rest of photos. Current theme is magic of evening light.
If you want to be at this place for sunset, you will need to have some source of light. It is getting dark quickly and L'Union Estate is quite big. There is not much illumination in estate so you might get lost easily. We had headlamp, flashlight and a map with GPS in my phone and yet we got lost once. (The problem in our case was we did not arrive there following the road but indirectly along the beach and throught forest. No wonder I did not recognize our way back).Seychelles - Anse Source D'Argent
Added: May 30, 2014
There is a place in the world, where dozens of people wade knee-deep in water, holding their iPads in their raised hands. And you gladly pay for that sight. Where is it?
You can tell I suck at telling riddles, because I reveal the correct answer before asking. BUT! Did you guess also that Anse Source D'Argent is in La Digue? If you follow my blog then this tricky question could not knock you out.Seychelles - north of La Digue
Added: May 29, 2014
We have visited 2 beaches at the northern end of La Digue. It is quite far from Belle des Iles and it can get tedious when you walk at noon. But don't worry. When you reach a cemetery, you are on the right track. Anse Sévère is just around the corner.
Seychelles - arrival to La Digue
Added: May 28, 2014
After 4 days in Mahe we moved to the island representing the highlight of whole trip - La Digue. I was thinking about arriving one day earlier, but 1st of May was state holiday in Seychelles and I was worried about morning bus to port. I did not know bus drivers don't take travelers with their all luggage then. It is pity, we could spend there one day more. Even it would be cloudy and raining.
Seychelles - eastern side of Mahe
Added: May 25, 2014
I am going to skip many days now, to our last full day at Seychelles at 10th of May, because it was on Mahe again. We returned from Praslin by Cat Cocos ferry scheduled at 9am, allowing us to spend most of the day at Anse Royale.
Seychelles - beaches at south west of Mahe
Added: May 24, 2014
Maybe we have made a mistake to stay at place where it was quite easy to find accommodation with good price. Maybe we should have invested a bit more money and time searching, so that we could stay closer to south end of island. It would allow us better possibility to visit surrounding beaches. Who could know it will be so tedious to travel by local buses.
Seychelles - north west of Mahe
Added: May 24, 2014
We arrived to Seychelles at 28th April. It was hot, partially cloudy. Whole this island was very nice sight from landing plane. But after visiting other islands I consider it waste of time. Yes, I know, our planning and selection of places to visit makes big part of that feeling. Maybe if we stayed here for a week or 2 and had enough time to visit all important beaches and do some hikes in National Park I would feel differently.
Fortunately my impression improved a lot the last day before our return home, because we visited Anse Royale. Those photos will come later.
2 weeks ago we have returned from our trip to Seychelles. As is normal for us we went there on our own, and we used information from last-minute travel deals just to beat their prices :-) Our expenses were about same to prices offered by holiday search engines (self-catering), but they offer just single island and we were on 3 of them. Plus our sum contains everything we've spent.
Attractions of Rio de Janeiro
Added: August 01, 2010
Flight to Rio de Janeiro was uneventful and rather quick. We flew around Rio and landed at Galeão airport ahead of schedule. It seemed we will get to city during daylight, but it turned to be wrong assumption. We were waiting for a bus to Botafogo more than one hour. Some buses arrived but all of them were heading to different parts or Rio.
When our bus finally arrived it was full. A driver did not want to take us, but the "bus employee" at the bus stop helped us to get in. He was probably tired of my periodic bothering him When is our bus due? Driver finally said he will take us if we don't mind standing 50min. No problem for us, just get us there. It was dark when we stepped off the bus. Now to get oriented quickly and find our hostel. We selected Botafogo because it was cheaper than Copacabana and Ipanema and still rather close and safe. Our next task is to blend in and look like a Brazilians to avoid being robbed. At least that is suggested in all descriptions of Rio de Janeiro. Plus walking quickly so lazy muggers don't bother. This part should be easy, but how can we blend in with 2 backpacks each? :-)
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