Africa

[Visited: July 2003, July 2021]

My first visit to Seychelles, in the midst of the dry season, had been a bit of a disappointment, as we had a lot of rain. Still, the beauty of the beaches was obvious. I was looking forward to seeing them with more sunshine on a second visit, almost twenty years later. As we land in the dark of night, we see that the platform is soaking wet and it is raining hard. We have to wait a while before we can take the Cat Cocos catamaran: Covid restrictions have reduced the number of sailings. Meanwhile, we explore Mahé island, and walk on several of its beaches. Alas, the sky is overcast, and it rains every now and then. Beaches just don't look as attractive under a grey sky. Later in the afternoon, a choppy ride brings us to La Digue. We explore the island by foot and on bicycle. The small island is ringed by beaches, one more beautiful than the next. We cycle to the north, passing several smaller beaches.
Then, we arrive at Anse Patates, a cute little beach at the far north of La Digue. It could be a trademark Seychelles beach: it has the fine white sand and the granite rocks for which the country is famous. We continue to ride until the end of the road, passing several more attractive and empty beaches. Later, we cycle south, to what is often considered the most beautiful beach of the world: Source d'Argent. An entrance fee is required to enter the Union estate. We park our bikes, and walk along a first stretch of beach. The actual Source d'Argent beach starts further south, and as it is the end of the day, it is almost empty. The rock formations are superb, and memories start coming back. The beach is actually a string of beaches, some very small. Huge granite boulders tower above the white sand. The backdrop is green vegetation. We walk to the very last beach. There is a lot to explore, as there are spots where you can walk between huge rocks and find a tiny bay or pool marked by other rocks. We climb some of them, enjoying some great views of other parts of Source d'Argent.
On a sunnier day, we cycle to Grande Anse, where we see a honeymoon couple pose for pictures and then walk straight into the waves with their wedding dresses. After drinking and eating a fresh coconut, we follow a trail to Anse Cocos, passing Petit Anse. Several more stunning beaches. We find locals barbecuing fish and enjoy being on the beach for a couple of hours. Here, too, some spectacular granite rocks. At the end of the day, we re-visit Source d'Argent again, frolic in its quiet waters and on its empty beaches, until we see the sun set under a cloudy sky. We then continue to Praslin, a bigger island, which has some fantastic beaches as well. We drive to the far west, where we walk along Anse Lazio. Like Source d'Argent, it has a main beach and a string of smaller beaches, all separated by granite boulders. We walk up to a viewpoint from where we have a good view over the bay and the perfectly shaped beach. We drive around the island, see Grande Anse beach, many tiny beaches, and end up staying at Anse Volbert which has what must be one of the longest beaches of the Seychelles. It makes for a great early morning walk. On our tour to Cousin and Curieuse islands, we see more beaches, of which the one on Cousin is the most stunning. It is wide and rises steeply from the turquoise waves. We also explore several beaches on Mahé, the main island, and watch the sun set over Beau Vallon beach before we say goodbye to Seychelles.

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Seychelles beaches (Seychelles)

Seychelles beaches > Seychelles > Africa

[Visited: July 2003, July 2021]

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