St. Anne Marine National Park

So here it comes, the report of our boat tour in the St. Anne Marine National Park on Mahe - I am happy to finally share it with you after a delay.

The boat tour starts at 9:00 am at the Victoria harbor, on the way there we tourists get a little taste of the morning rush hour on the island - but that's not a problem for us, because we have a panoramic view of the sea the whole time. It's really funny, on the island many workers are picked up by trucks at the roadside and transported to their workplace, the vehicle briefly stops at the roadside and the Seychellois quickly jump onto the cargo area of the trucks, where they joke around with each other in the wind.

Finally, we arrive at the Victoria harbor and are already greeted by the organizer of the tour. He takes us to our boat for the day and introduces us to Clifford (our private guide) and Christian (skipper). Both of them are super likable from the first second - so let's go towards the Marine National Park. Through the glass bottom of the boat, you have a direct view of the entire underwater world.

Before reaching the first island of the 'marine park', the so-called 'fish-feeding' takes place. Armed with a package of slices of toast bread, we lure the fish to our boat and it is amazing how quickly the shoals swarm around us. If you throw whole slices of bread into the water without first chopping them into pieces, then it is a feast for the so-called 'batfish', really beautiful larger fish specimens with a yellowish-gray color (see photos).

We continue to a reef off the island of St. Anne, which gives the marine park its name, where we can do our favorite (holiday) activity - snorkeling. And after just a few minutes, we can't stop (fish)swimming anymore. The diversity of species and the reef itself are simply incredibly impressive, and this time we also have an underwater camera with us. We would love to stay underwater forever, we have never seen a reef like this before.

After snorkeling, we continue to 'Moyenne Island', the home of land-dwelling giant tortoises. Christian anchors the boat here and we are allowed to go ashore. It feels like the Caribbean. The giant tortoises are, as the name suggests, hard to miss, they are already a few meters away from the sea and are impressive. You can even touch them (which the animals seem to really like, as the locals confirm) and I don't know how to describe the texture. A bit like leather, harder on the head and softer on the neck - you have to feel it for yourself. Actually, we could spend the entire time on land with the tortoises, but there is still a hiking trail with great views waiting for us, so let's continue. There are also enclosures with small baby tortoises along the hiking trail, which are no less cute than their older counterparts. During the hike through 'Moyenne', we come across some deserted dreamy bays and one lookout point surpasses the other. After about 1 hour on land, we get back on the boat and continue towards 'Long Island'. On the way there, we enjoy the direct breeze on the bow of our yacht - how beautiful life can be :))

Before reaching 'Long Island', the anchor is dropped and this time Clifford goes ashore with us as our personal guide and photographer. We have to walk through knee-high water for a few meters to reach the island, which is completely deserted. The Seychelles prison used to be located here - I wonder if the inmates were aware of the dreamy place they were allowed to live in? Today, there is not much left of the prison, it was relocated to Mahe 25 years ago, not least because the inmates kept escaping and fleeing to other islands through the sea (according to Clifford, especially during Christmas to party on the beach). Clifford takes us to the most beautiful spots and photo motifs of the island and finds us a few coconuts, which he opens just for us by hand with a very special technique - impressive.

Before we continue to our last stop, we get to enjoy the island and the surrounding sandbanks for a while, I can only repeat myself - a dream!!!

Finally, we arrive at Surf Island, where the excursion ends with a barbecue. We have the pleasure of enjoying typical creole cuisine (fish curry, grilled tuna, mango salad, chickpea mousse, etc.) and look back on the numerous impressions of the past few hours. It will surely take a while for us to process everything. Afterwards, we get to enjoy the beach and drink the juice from our coconut, which Clifford collected on Long Island. But somehow, it doesn't quite suit our taste, it tastes like 'nothing' - Clifford and Christian find our faces amusing - but tastes are known to be different.

We reluctantly begin the journey back to the harbor and have one last opportunity to admire the sea from the bow of our boat. If only we could freeze time, I would have done it now.

Back at the harbor, it is now time to say 'goodbye' to Clifford & Christian, we have really grown fond of them, and if any of you ever travel to the Seychelles, a boat tour with them is an absolute MUST!!! :D

Before heading back home, I get to swim some laps in the pool and my thoughts keep coming back to the underwater world of today.

At home, I will cook a delicious meal one last time on Mahe before we start packing our suitcases, because tomorrow the first part of our journey already comes to an end and we continue our journey to Praslin!