Interesting discussions regarding North Island vs Fregate vs FS vs Six Senses in the Seychelles. We will look forward to some more comparisons after recent visits by others herein.

My impression is that Seychelles, while beautiful, are not worth the trip from California for us--the diving isn't supposed to be as spectacular as other places we can reach more easily (or even further afield), and laying out on a beach all day won't work for me. If we want to just lay out on a great beach, it's far easier from California to just hit up Mukul in Nicaragua, Hawaii (though no truly amazing property so far), Mexico, French Polynesia, or Fiji. Even getting to some of the island/beach resorts in Brazil is easier for us. And all of those have better scuba diving to interest us.

The FS/SS resorts seem too sterile to us, particularly in the Seychelles--they seem to me as if they could be anywhere--and the North/Fregate costs are ridiculously expensive unless you're paying for children or sharing costs with friends for the villas. As merely a couple of 2 person, Fregate and North just seem to pricey for the benefit, even were we already in Africa. That's why we dismissed the Seychelles on our most recent Africa trip and instead went to Anjajavy L'Hotel in Madagascar (well, the lemurs, too!).

In addition, we really find good good to be important. If we're spending $3500+ a night, we'd expect tremendous food, and it hasn't been a resounding call here that the food at any of these places is that great. If we're going to deal with average or just decent food, we'd much rather hit a more out of the way, less "glam" spot than the Seychelles.

If we lived in Africa or Europe, of course, we'd be more likely to try the Seychelles. But nothing yet interests me enough to bother. I feel the same way about Mauritius, to be honest--just another tropical remote island with nice weather and beaches that has some lovely resorts on it...but once you're there, it's just another luxury beach resort which could be anywhere.

I'll still be curious to hear if I'm wrong with any of these. But Laucala and Wakaya in Fiji are much closer to us in California and with far more exciting diving. Plus that Laucala submarine looks fantastic.