We all woke up at around 7ish and K immediately got out of bed and went to the kitchen counter, asking for the packet milk. As he had seen it yesterday and I told him that I would allow him to have it in the morning, that was then his first task once he woke up. Funny.
Morning tasks involved the preparations of lunch for mommy and getting K prepped for the day for me. K just ate his breakfast of bread and cookies and watch TV while I had to clean up the crumbs after him while he walked around.
We had some milo that mommy bought from the supermarket the day earlier and I tried to make coffee which I thought was filtered but wasn’t. Used the filter from the machine to filter it manually.
We cancelled our initial plan of going to Moyenne island as mommy felt that it was a little tiring for a day trip to end at 4pm, concerned that K, having woke up at 7am, lacked the sleep. Anyhow, we would also be seeing the giant tortoise in Curieuse Island. Instead we would be visiting one of the beautiful beach called Anse Intendance some 30mins away by car.
Packed and then we were on our way. Taking the coastal road, the roads became narrower as we drove. No wonder there weren’t many big cars around. Soon we saw the signage for Banyan Tree resorts. I passed it thinking that there was another turn as the google map didn’t reflect that. Had to make a Uturn afterwards which was not easy as I had to find space. Back to the road that led to Banyan tree, we reached to the end and found Banyan tree entrance and a dirt road. Wasn’t sure if the dirt road was meant for driving and asked a person standing nearby. He informed that we just that to drive through the dirt road and the parking for the beach was a 2mins away. So we went through a real bumpy one before arriving at an open space and parked our car there.
It was slightly drizzling but the weather managed to hold up as we made our way to the beach. Right after some warning signages informing about dangerous waves during the Sept period, and another talking about sea turtles laying their eggs on this beach ( its one of the beaches that sea turtles come lay their eggs from Oct), we came up to a powdery sand beach with turquoise water and medium size waves crashing onto the beach. We walked towards Banyan tree and chose a shaded area to sit down. There wasn’t any tables and chairs and shelters for public use, the loungers were for the resorts guests. There weren’t any cleaning facilities either. We were frankly under prepared as it was our first beach visit.
Anyhow we still continued to let K enjoy himself. Took out the sand scoop where he dumped sand all over after he had sunscreen applied on him unwillingly. Managed to show him a tiny crab crawling on the ground. Brought him to the waters where the wave crashed in and he had such crazy fun, screaming as the waters flushed our legs in all directions. Needless to say, K was mostly all wet and sandy and myself too, only a little less.
After spending about an hour there, the sun became quite unbearable and so we returned back to the shade and changed K out into a new set of clothes. Then we trudged through the sand back to our cars, during this time the beach was getting busier. It was amazing how these people could prefer such a time to go under the sun.
These public beaches were really left untouched, so much so that there weren’t even restrooms and wash down facilities (at least I couldn’t find it) like that you would expect in East Coast Park. The car suffered a sandstorm as a consequence but heck, if there weren’t sand in the car, we hadn’t been to Seychelles!
We drove towards Anse Royale town and K was visibly exhausted from the play, relatively quiet during the trip there. Town was really small and most of the shops closed. Didn’t even realized that we had arrived and passed through it 2 times! Then we saw a certain Kreol Kafe and thought we would stopped there for lunch. It was indeed good choice, the location was beautiful, beach set up with a beautiful view of Anse Royale beach. While we waited for our Hawaiian pizza to be baked, I took a stroll to the beach to get some pictures and feel the nice gentle waters.
Since it was going to take some time, mommy suggested that I drive to the Anse Royale beach itself to get some photos – we passed through it just before arriving at the cafe was enchanted by its scenery! I drove and parked at the public carpark next to it, (luckily to slot in on arrival as it was a pretty popular beach with cars packing the parking lot) and got off to walk on powdery but packed sand and to the waters. It was warm and nice and the huge boulders and island made the place looked like a paradise! Couldn’t help but took a selfie and even video down the scenery.
Returned to the restaurant and K was finishing his meal. The water splashed on the tabletop of his child’s seat and an empty glass told a story of him being clumsy during lunch, usual of a kid. Pizza was just arriving and it was huge. So both mommy and me shared the pizza without ordering more food. We ended with one scoop of vanilla ice cream to cool of the sweltering heat and K took most of it, almost wanting to drink up the melted cream too. This ended up with a bill of 345rupees that included a 1liter mineral water.
I drove to the petrol station just opposite the cafe and pumped 5liter gas, expecting to bring the level back to a quarter. For whatever reason, after paying 100rupees, the level didn’t move at all (the attendant would be doing the dirty work as you drive the car and pay directly to him. He didn’t bother returning the change, it was about 18rupees per liter). I went to pick up mommy and K from the supermarket close by and drove in for another round, this time I specified by amount paid (200rupees) and the level shot to half tank! I over top up by a quarter tank.
We drove back to the villa and took some time to wash down all the sand, from the clothes to the toys and the body. The sun was shining brightly and it would be a sin not to sun our wet clothes. There was a clothes hanger outside the apartment and I hung everything that I washed there. Then we prepared for the afternoon nap, both mommy and K were exhausted and felt asleep shortly and I took a short nap and woke up to jot down the happenings the 2 days that past.
Mommy woke up to prepare dinner for K and a while later, K also woke up. After a bit of TV while we prepared to go out for dinner, we drove towards Maria’s rock cafe, 15mins away. Enroute, we stopped at a store to get water (to last us till the next morning, mommy need to cook. Though Seychelles tap water could be boiled, we always took the more conservative approach for K’s meal). There was a outside party going on across the road with many cars parked along side the road and many people gathered with some music playing in the background.
We drove on and the streets became darker, contributed by the setting sun and the lack of street lamps. The restaurant was at a really ulu location and in a narrow street after passing Kempinski Resort. There was once at a location where I had to park very close to the edge so that the other cars could pass the one car width road. Nonetheless, we managed to get there and parked in front of the restaurant, that had a pirate theme to it.
Ordered a meal of prawns and fish fillet and passion fruit juice and Fanta orange. The food was to be self cooked on a hot hot plate. Greasing the plate with their 2 formulae of butter with some unknown ingredients, the fish fillet and the fresh prawns were then put onto the plate, sizzling and releasing steam up into the air with the smell of BBQ seafood. Adding sauce to the one plate of rice and veggies salad (since we only ordered one meal), the dinner was pretty delicious! The prawns were fresh and the fish tasted tender and nice. The rice was tasting good with the sauce, a little bit like tobasco without the spiciness. As the portions weren’t enough for 2 of us, we ordered another one this time with fish only.
While K entertained himself at the pirate ship that came with a skeleton steering wheel and a nice hammock to watch the stars in the clear night sky, we cleared the 2nd portion of the meal and I ordered a Creole Cappuccino, cappuccino with the addition of spice, to end the dinner. A meal that costed 707rupees.
The drive back was mostly done in the dark illuminated once in a while by the sparsely installed street lamps. As it was late (by Seychelles standards) there weren’t many cars around. There were however quite a number of people walking along the road. I had to drive slowly and a few times I had to brake because I wasn’t sure what I saw on the road. As a result, K vomitted in the car once we arrived back at the apartment. Quickly got K out and immediately cleaned up quickly hopefully that the stench will not remain.
The night was spent bathing in the tub, cleaning up the dishes and packing in preparations for our transfer to La Digue the next day. We slept at about 11pm, seemed like we had already adjusted to Seychelles timing.