Day 3.
After sleeping in and a morning run, we had breakfast again at the Beach House.
The amusing coconut weather station on the front lawn.
At about 10 am we checked out of the Beach House, stored our bags, and then walked down the the beach.
And found a soft patch of sand under the trees to stretch out and relax under.
It was a good chance as well to go for a dip in the warm blue waters.
Just after 12pm we walked down to find some lunch. We weren't too hungry and didn't feel like spending 30 euro's each for a main at one of the restaurants so settled on Baobab Pizzeria again.
A bottle of Seychelles water with a name suspiciously similar to a certain famous French Brand.
And the tasty seafood Baobab Spécial again to share.
Back at the Beach House our taxi was waiting to take us to the
Kempinski Seychelles in Baie Lazare.
Our taxi driver was very friendly and talkative and we chatted about our stay in Seychelles. He was born in Tanzania to a Seychelloise father and his mother was from Goa. He had moved to Mahé in his teens. He said it was about a mile walk to the nearest shop outside of the resort, so we stopped on the way to stock up on water and snacks to avoid paying the inflated resort charges.
And checking into the Kempinski, with a welcome glass of lemongrass water.
And being shuttled to our ocean view room.
Our room for the next two nights.
The bathroom.
On our balcony looking out to the coconut plam trees and the beach beyond. I was glad we had paid a little extra to upgrade to a room with a sea view.
At $410 a night it was definitely one of the more expensive places I have stayed at. The rate included half-board (breakfast and dinner), and as the dinner buffet was 1000 rupees (~$74) each it wasn't too unreasonable for a five star resort.
We then enjoyed a wander around the resort, including seeing the resident tortoises and horses, and then went for a stroll down the beach.
Outside the hotel restaurant just after 7pm for dinner.
The buffet had a different theme each night of the week, and tonights was Asian with a delicious range of spicy and tasty dishes.
And some sweet and tempting dessert to finish at the end of day 3.
Day 4.
As with dinner the night before, the breakfast buffet had a great range of hot and cold food to fuel up for another day of diving.
The resort had it's own dive centre where I booked a dive through the hotel concierge.
I was picked up just before 9am, and after a short drive to nearby Anse A La Mouche, I was kitted up and then walked out to the waiting boat for our dive today.
Our guide for today, Anton, briefing us on our plan for this morning. It was only a small group with a German couple who were on vacation and had been diving everyday for the last 2 weeks, Matthias from Switzerland who was also here on vacation and Debbie from South Africa who was training up to become a Divemaster.
After a short boat ride arpund the coast, we were soon in the warm blue waters. Matthias, my dive buddy for today.
There was little coral or plant life but the water was clear and we soon encountered some of the locals underwater.
The dive was relatively shallow with a max depth of 17 metres.
A lone Lionfish.
A couple of ~1 metre long
Green humphead parrotfish.
I had never encountered parrotfish before so was great to see their very peculiar head and 'beaks'.
A passing Ray that somehow has misplaced his tail!
Looking down on the others.
The bright Seychelles sun shining through.
A large Ray nestled in the sand.
At the end of the dive we ventured down and went under some large boulders. We spotted a few sharks too but they unfortunately were too far away to get a good shot with my GoPro.
I was the first to exhaust the air in my tank but with 55 minutes it was still a good duration for the dive.
Back at the resort where I joined back up with Rianda under the beach umbrella's.
After the substantial breakfast we weren't too hungry so just shared a hamburger at the resort beach café for lunch.
And then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and taking it easy.
Enjoying another stroll along the beach at dusk.
The theme for tonight's dinner buffet was 'global cuisine' and had quite a mix of different dishes.
And indulging in some more dessert, before vowing to have a good run tomorrow to work it all off!
Day 5.
Covered in sweat after lumbering up the hill from the resort to work off a few calories from the night before.
And indulging in one last holiday buffet breakfast!
Our luck with the weather had run out on our last day and it soon became overcast and started raining for the first time since we had arrived in Mahé.
We had nothing planned before our departure today apart from just being lazy so we just chilled out at the resort. Luckily the rain was only intermittent and the weather was still warm.
We checked out at 12pm and stored our bags and grabbed some lunch at the resort beach café.
Chicken burger to share.
Testing the waterproofing on my iPhone in the hotel pool!
We used the same taxi driver again and he arrived ontime at 3pm for our ride back to the airport. I had left my cap behind when he dropped off at the Kempinski 2 days ago and luckily he had saved it for me today.
In the open air check-in area at Seychelles International Airport.
About the board the ET 737 at 5:30pm at the end of a wonderful time in Mahé.
And about to catch the ET A350 back to Dubai after a relaxing and amazing trip to Seychelles!
