Seychelles 2018 Day 2 – Arrival into Mahe

The iPhone alarm woke me up at 430am and I quickly got up to brush my teeth and awoken up mommy while at it. Changed K out of his PJs which was slightly wet due to pee leakage from his diapers and K also woke up. He was quick to adjust especially when I told him that we were taking another flight where he could watch the Little Pony again and became cooperative.

At 445am there was a morning call in the form of hard knocking on the door. We had to answer the door to acknowledge before going back to the packing. Then 5am again. We left the room at 505 and checked out, while we heard some conversation between the staff and our neighbors as they hadn’t check out yet.

Waiting at first floor were some other guests too. We guessed it right, the transfer was not only for us but for a few guests. While some like us did not really need the 3hrs, the others did. We boarded the 20 seater bus and it drove to another hotel a few distance down and picked up a couple before zooming through the quiet streets of Negombo. K was already tired and was lying across my lap resting before we arrived at the departure terminal of the airport.

Mini bus.

We went through the bag checks and walked through immigration. Proceeded to the 2nd level where the shopping area was and had our breakfast at Coffee Bean, the total costs was 4000rupees. That took out half the amount that we changed the previous day but it was fine. There were also charging ports available and I had to plug in my dying phone. We all shared croissant, quiche and cheesecake and then took a walk around before waiting at the seats facing the runway where the planes were parked.

Breakfast at Coffee Bean.
Big baby care room in the airport.

Before we knew it, it was time to board and after using the toilets, we quickly go through the gates for yet another round of scanning before entering a waiting area where buses brought the passengers to the planes on the runway for boarding. After we settled down, K started his video while we all rested and waited for the takeoff.

It was a smooth flight and similarly as the flight in the previous day, K got his breakfast earlier. This time around, the food was ok for both the spicy local and the international. K also took a 1.5hrs nap after his breakfast while I was napping for a bit and then got up to watching some episodes of Big Bang Theory (the movies were limited and I wasn’t interested in the rest). There were short episodes of turbulence that accompanied the journey but no drama too.

Child’s meal.
Adult meal

Soon we were descending into regions of calm waters and the plane landed nicely into the airport of Seychelles, on time at about 1030am! The temperature was also hot, hotter than Singapore comparatively at this time. As expected, it was a small airport and we had to walk on the tarmac to get into the immigrations. Got our passport stamped and proceeded to the luggage belt, hopping that the luggage had arrived safely, and it did.

Brought the luggage through customs and out into the arrival. Was hoping to see my name on the cardboard as mentioned in the email instructions from Absolute Cars rental but didn’t see any. So we figured that we settle some of our stuff first by going to the forex to exchange some rupees while mommy lined up at Airtel to get data plan. Barclays was the only one opened and I exchanged 100 Euros with them for 1:1.64. Nouvobanq next door could do slightly better but was closed for a short while. We got our data plan of 1.5gB for 30days at 25euros. We actually wanted to get a 2gB for 7 days at 11 Euros and 2 of them which would actually be cheaper by 3euros but the counter staff said that it would be activated immediately so it did not make sense to get that. I wasn’t in the mood to argue and just let it be.

Arrival in paradise.
Seychelles Airport.
Forex at Seychelles.

Called the number on the email and was informed that there was a traffic accident in town and thus the car was late. One of the staff actually found us and brought us to the Skychef shop to wait. I brought some drinks from the store and soon after, our car arrived!

I moved the luggage into the Grand i10 which was smaller than my expectations (was initially offered the smaller i10 and I asked for a bigger one). Managed to squeeze one luggage at the trunk and one at the front seat. Returned the baby seat which was too small for K and signed off the contract as the staff was rather relaxed on the checks. Then with the GPS for the Sir Selwyn Clarke Market punched in, we were on our way.

Enroute we saw SPAR supermarket on Eden island and made a stop there instead of going to the market. The 1st hour was free in Eden Plaza and we proceeded to SPAR supermarket that we awfully familiar with while our time in Europe. The only difference was that we had to put our bags in lockers provided before entering. We got the chicken, the veggies, the eggs, the milk and the water. Even bought some biscuits for breakfast the next day. Just outside the supermarket was an exchange and I was surprised to see they would take in SGD but for a price of 10:1 SGD. Changing Euros was actually better and thus we changed another 200euros.

Eden Plaza.
Spar International.
Bag storage tag.
Inside Spar.
Eden plaza parking.

Punched in Sailfish Villas and we drove some 30mins to the location. As the road went up and down the hill, with many bends, K felt a little unwell and burped out. Luckily he didn’t vomited though we had plastic bags already on standby. The route we took brought us to a viewpoint that had a panoramic viewpoint of the Eden island. After stopping for a bit of photos, we continued on downhill. Once we saw the beautiful turquoise waters of the Anse A la mouche, we turned into the small road as indicated by the signs and parked at one of the sheltered carpark. A man helped informed the lady in charge and she drove her car and guided us to the correct villa. It was just a minute drive away.

We were then shown a 2 bedroom huge villa that had a great view of the bay, 2 bedrooms and one came with a huge tub, a good kitchen and big living room with TV. There was a laundry room outside and the whole placed was protected by security and motion sensors! Of course there was WiFi.

Viewpoint Panorama
Welcome tea and snack.
Master bed
Real Hibiscus flower.
View from the bedroom
Huge tub
Sink
2nd room
2nd bathroom
Living room
Kitchen
Common toilet
Balcony

After we paid the remainder of 107euros for K who wasn’t part of the Agoda booking, we called Teddy glass bottom boats to make a reservation for trip to Moyenne island the next day before heading out to Anchor cafe for lunch. It was a short drive before we arrived at the cafe with its own private parking lot.

Ordered fish of the day and some chicken curry, a vanilla milk shake and fruit juice. K had some fun climbing up the huge anchor. The food was nice but quite expensive 693rupees in total. And it was really warm since there was neither aircon nor natural draft. After some last few climbs at the anchor, we returned to the villa to take an afternoon nap at around 4ish, trying to adjust to the new time zone.

Huge Anchor at Anchor cafe
Hanging propellers
Our drinks.
Fish of the day
Chicken Curry
Inside Anchor Cafe

The next thing I knew, I was awoken by mommy who had woken up earlier to prepare dinner. It was already 630pm and the sun was almost setting. Took a picture of the setting sun but it was a little cloudy.

Sunset seen from the balcony.

The rest of the evening was spent in front of the TV and having dinner that mommy cooked. Seychelles was a country at nice and slow pace, allowing ample family time as there weren’t much to do in the evening. That was how we spent the evening, in front of the TV with a bottle of Seybrew and at the tub, nice end to a tiring day as the body adjusts to the 4hrs time difference.