Today marked another sad breakfast of old snacks and some of the bananas we had purchased earlier. People don’t really do food here. For being a former French territory, it’s nearly impossible to find any kind of pastry, and that includes the venerable plain croissant.
We hopped on the ferry around 1015am. The crossing seemed smoother this time and we were back on Praslin in no time. The same lady who had rented us a car earlier was meeting us at the dock with (somewhat surprisingly) a different tiny hatchback than before. We maneuvered our bags into the trunk and were on our way back to the Acajou, where we were “upgraded” meaning we got a room on the second floor.
After settling in, we changed from our ferry attire of shoes and shorts into our Praslin attire of flip flops and shorts. We had a very important appointment at the Les Lauriers hotel, where we had scheduled a PCR test. We will need this to get out of the country, since we can really only go to the Emirates from here. Our planned destination of Abu Dhabi requires a negative test within the previous 48 hours. Our flight departs tomorrow afternoon and we received the test at 1230 since the nurse was running late. I couldn’t quite understand if she said she got “bit” or “hit” on the drive to the hotel. Maybe hit makes more sense, but who knows. There are quite a few bugs on this island that could slow one’s progress if they worked as a team.
With our estimated 40th PCR test under our belts and up our noses, we drove out to the Constance Lemuria resort and golf course on the island’s western shore. We were hoping to see Anse Georgette, billed as the most beautiful beach on the Seychelles. We had to request prior entry to the resort, as they fashion themselves very exclusive. There was a gated entry and our names were cross-checked on a clipboard before we were allowed in. While the Conrad was stupidly expensive, the Constance may actually be idiotically expensive. Its rooms go for upwards of $1400 per night. Guests of the hotel are driven down to the beach, but mere mortals like us had to walk.
We paralleled the golf course, where no one was playing golf, and perhaps 15-20 minutes later arrived at Anse Georgette. The water was a beautiful transparent turquoise. The sun was beating down strongly and the water was more than inviting. I took my water camera out into the waves for a spell, attempting to cool off, but the relief was short lived. As soon as I exited, it became quite hot again.
Because it requires requesting permission a few days prior to visiting, it is significantly less crowded beach than nearby Anse Lanzio. At one point, we were even able to find our own little nook with shade under some palms. The ants and other bugs found it too. We shared our shade with them somewhat unwillingly.
Since our “hike” involved walking along a golf course through a 5-Star resort, we hadn’t thought to pack water or snacks for our journey. It wasn’t like we were doing a solo crossing of the Sahara. Nevertheless, the exclusivity of the resort kind of limited our options. Nicole had earlier asked if there was a restroom she could use at the club house, and they heard “restaurant,” to which they responded, “Only guests may visit the restaurant. Outsiders not allowed.” This was really ruining our hydration game.
On our way back, we probably had an air of desperation on our faces when we went back toward the club house, and a nice lady told us to follow her through what could only be described as some kind of storage area or locker room. We each got a sprite and a bottle of water. She said she’d give us the bottles of water for free since they were priced at 100 rupees a piece (in the vicinity of $8). Her gesture was not unappreciated. Nicole drank her water in about two gulps. I polished off my sprite before we got back to the car.
For the rest of the afternoon, we tried in vain to find breakfast foods at a market, but kept striking out. What do people do for food on this island? Also nothing is open for lunch. And dinner doesn’t start anywhere until after 730pm. La Digue had more options, and is much smaller. We are looking forward to getting to Abu Dhabi where there is presumably fast internet, numerous delivery places, and Allah willing — a washing machine in our room.
passports & pepto bismol 