Okey dokey - so we arrive at the very small airport on Mahe in the Seychelles. As you can imagine, we're quite tired having basically missed out on a night's sleep but VERY excited! It was a beautiful morning - clear blue skies and amazing palm trees. Mahe itself is the main island in the Seychelles with the capital Victoria. They drive on the left which is always a bonus!!!! ;o) As with many of the Seychelles islands, as they were created by volcanos, they are quite hilly / mountainous with just a flat bit of coast round the edge.
We drive along the coast road with the bay to our right and across the bay we could see Sainte Anne island and one or two other little islands. The driver takes us to the jetty - typical Beachcomber styley with nice comfy chairs and we're given a quick drink before we and our luggage are loaded onto the boat.
Across the bay to Sainte Anne where we are greeted by Sandrine and a golf buggy to take us first to breakfast (though after all the travelling we were truly most keen to get a shower and change!!) and then we got changed in the transit rooms. By that time our room was ready and we were taken there - here's our room, a lovely big bedroom with a sitting area, massive bathroom / dressing area, outdoor shower and the beautiful veranda :o)
I guess it took us a couple of days to chill out, the first Sunday we couldn't just sit still - by the time we got to Wednesday, we were pretty chilled ;o) Its very easy to chill at Sainte Anne really - lovely food, fab service, amazing views, hot weather and some rather nice frozen cocktails ;o) As always on our travels with Beachcomber hotels, we were well looked after! Chilling was improved for me by 2 hours in the beautiful spa - a lovely massage and facial :o) The therapist was fab - although she did tell me that my skin was in awful condition, I really needed to moisturise more and "madam is getting lines and bags round her eyes. This eye gel is for 40+ however, as madam has lines already, its not too soon to start"!!!! SNIFF!
The first Sunday was beautiful weather but then we had a few days of rain and cloud - Monday through to Wednesday. It didn't really spoil the holiday at all cos we just snorkelled even more!
Yes - I learned to snorkel!!!! Nick's much better at it than me ;o) I'm a bit too worried about rocks, waves and urchins to do more than snorkel around the sandy shallows! As you can see from the pics (check out the online album cos I couldn't get any more pics into this mega blog!!), the main lagoon beach is enclosed with rocks - within the rocks it's very calm and the staff can check for urchins etc which makes it really safe to bathe. The waters around Mahe and Sainte Anne are a protected reef so, there's no motor water sports like water skiing. Nick did a bit of sailing but with these amazing reefs just waist high beyond the rocks, its too tempting just to snorkel above the reefs! Here are a few of the pics Nick took when snorkelling and the view around the lagoon over to Mahe (having blog probs so no snorkelling pics at the mo - sorry!).
One of Nick's highlights was seeing a little shark, about 80cm long swimming by the shore. Apparently it was a lemon shark, not dangerous or aggressive but still pretty cool. Even better was the Mummy Shark swimming just out by the reef. Apparently that too was a lemon shark but it seemed a bit big and had black tips to its' fins - indicating a black tip shark, slightly more aggressive - apparently they don't usually come in that close but...... at least it wasn't a tiger shark, well we're pretty sure anyway!! Nick really wanted to swim with them but everytime he was ready to snorkel, the sharks disappeared! Maybe they were shy??!?!?!! He got a couple of pics tho but really its like "spot the fin" in the middle of the ocean!!!!
We took a trip on Monday to Victoria for a look round and some souvenir buying - Nick was delighted to see the models for the "Miss Intercontinental 2007" competition (which we later discovered in Dubai was won by Miss Venezuala!!). I was more interested in the shops ;o) In the centre of Victoria is a mini model of Big Ben! Its a strange mix of tropical, french and early 1900s Britain! Works well tho :o)
Other than that, we fell into a nice pattern of breakfast, snorkel, sunbathe, return to airconditioned villa for lunch and a cool down then, when it cooled a little, more snorkelling, a bit more sunbathing, back to villa to change then drinks and dinner :o) Very civilised!
We took a lovely walk one day when the tide was out up along the coast of Sainte Anne to an amazing banyan tree. For those that don't know, these ancient trees grow their roots from their branches and they grow down until they touch the ground and them bury down from there. As you can see from the pic, it makes for a pretty amazing tree!
We also had a couple of lovely dinners in the little restaurant on the resort called Mont Fleuri. Most of the dinners were buffet dinners in the main restaurant but we booked for 2 nights at Mont Fleuri and I had the BEST DESSERT EVER!!!!! It was so nice the first time, I had it twice ;o) Strawberries with a rosemary icecream and a meringue top done to look like a capuccino - yum! Here we are at Mont Fleuri.
All in all, we had a really relaxing time - Nick got a brilliant tan, I got a bit of a tan - which is fairly amazing for me!
After a week at Sainte Anne, time to move onto Dubai. An early start (4:30am) was improved by the news that England had beaten France in the rugby semi finals!!! Back to Seychelles airport where everything was shut until 6am!! Its small as I said!
Back on Emirates where one of the funniest things is the number of hot towels you get in business class - I counted 5 hot towels on the 4 hour journey between Mahe and Dubai!!!! Another lovely flight until we started the descent over the desert into Dubai. I should say, on the way into Dubai we came in from the north across the sea at night and could see all the incredible lights on the buildings. This time, we came in from the south across the desert in daytime. Its really bizarre - all you can see is desert then the odd random rectangle of green, then a few more, then more patches of green than desert then BAM major city... truly incredible views.
Anyway yes, across the desert, descending, strange thermals from the desert - MAJOR turbulence!!!! I was proud of myself tho - only grabbed Nick's hand a few times ;o) Fortunately we were only 20 minutes from landing but it was an interesting experience coming in across the desert but at least I'd be prepared if we did it again!
Into Dubai - where Emirates seem to send business class customers by a totally different speedy route!! Baggage out first, express security lanes - I really am getting used to this now!!
Wow, Dubai, what to say - I'll probably run out of superlatives but here goes......
We were greeted by our chauffeur in an Escalade with cold towels, chocolate and water who drove us to the Park Hyatt hotel - here's the link to the hotel if you want all the details http://dubai.park.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp
We were taken to our room - 2101 - never have I seen so much marble, so many amazing rugs, so much glass, so many chandeliers - truly breathtaking. Our room totally blew us away, from the massage table just inside the door where the masseuse will come up to do a facial, the pedicure / manicure chair, the wet room / steam room / shower area to the patio with the garden out to Dubai creek marina filled with the most incredible cruisers we'd ever seen - including 2 100foot cruisers side by side, Sultan One and Sultan Two - cos clearly the Sultan NEEDS two huge boats?!?!??!?!?!!?!?! Here's some pics anyway....
Sunday afternoon we went to the gold souq - an amazing arabian market area with 350 gold shops!!! Dubai truly is amazing - bits of it are so Arabian and bits of it are so western, gorgeous mosques side by side with huge ornate and ostentatious malls, towering office blocks next to traditional arabian Dhows on the river. The people as well are fascinating - from the Dubai natives wearing the long dish-dash (for the men) and the abeyas (for the women) to endless Brits and Aussies in tank tops and shorts... but all completely harmonious. It was a good lesson in how its possible for people with widely different cultures and views on dress and religion to live together successfully.
Later on Sunday afternoon, we were picked up by Nick's cousin Alan and his eldest daughter Harriet who have lived in Dubai for 2 years and we went to their beautiful house where his wife Kate and the other 2 children - Alice and Joe - were waiting to see us. We haven't seen them since they moved out there so it was a great opportunity to catch up and eat a delicious English Sunday roast!!!! We were getting a bit fed up of prawns and lobster by then!!!!! :o) We arranged then to meet up with them again the next afternoon for a "desert safari".
Monday morning, Nick and I went for a walk around the creek but by 12pm it was 36degrees so we didn't last long! Alan, Kate and the kids joined us for lunch and then we were picked up by our safari driver Badar in the landcruiser. We played "spot the camel" as we drove out along the roads into the desert then pulled in at camp one for drinks, toilets and time for the drivers to let some air out their tyres ready for dune bashing.
At this point I should say that really Nick needs to blog the next event too - so you can hear from both sides how it went....
OK, Kate and I are woosses - neither of us like roller coasters, fast whippy around things, major up and down things and hanging off the edge of cliff high dunes. Unfortunately for us, dune bashing involves all of the above!!!! Alan, Nick and the kids were whooping with delight as we ploughed into and up hill high red sandy dunes and then slid and drifted back down the other sides at speed. After the first 10 minutes which finished with a truly gargantuan big dipper of a dune, Kate and I were pea green and feeling horrendous. Truly, if a camel had appeared we'd have hijacked it and found our own way home!! The second 10 minute session of dune bashing was less intense - well, apart from the scary moment where our driver didn't make it over the crest of a dune and we started sliding sideways down it, imminent risk of rolling the car etc etc etc - hmmmm, lets just say even the driver stopped talking!! It was worth it though to pull in at "camel rock" and watch the sun setting over the dunes - really breathtaking.
From there, a much more placid drive to the camp where we were greeted with arabian coffee and dates, dressed up in Arabian costumes, tried our hand at belly dancing, were covered in Henna and BEST OF ALL I GOT TO RIDE A CAMEL!!!! Lifetime ambition fulfilled :o) It was really special, I rode with Alice and just loved every second of it.
After that, back to our hotel and a "goodbye" to Alan, Kate and the kids - truly special time and special memories with them and we're keen to go visit them again next spring with the girls... I won't be doing the dune bashing again however!! Well, someone will need to wait at camp with Izzy ;o)
Final day, Tuesday, gold souq in the morning where Nick bought me the most beautiful eternity ring as a 10th wedding anniversary present. We were recommended by a friend of Nick's to go to a store called "hemendra" (out of 350 stores, a recommendation was VERY useful) and they looked after us really well and gave us an excellent deal on the ring. Note if you're visiting Dubai - always aim for around HALF of the first price you're given on jewellry ;o)
Finally, Tuesday afternoon to the Mall of the Emirates for more souvenir buying and opportunity to take some more pictures of the amazing modern TALL architecture. The mall of the emirates had a ski slope in it - what will they think of next?!?!?!?!!
Yet another early start on Wednesday morning, 4 am, back to Dubai airport for a bit more duty free shopping and then we had a lovely 7 hour flight back to Newcastle.
So, home safe again with amazing memories.. Nick and I had such a special time and we were so grateful to Lauren and our parents for looking after the girls so well and enabling us to have this holiday together. I missed the girls and it was a real joy to pick them up from school and get their cuddles and kisses but I'm so happy that Nick and I got to spend some quality time together - just to chat and chill and hang out :o) We quite like each other you know!!
I think that's about it for the holiday - I bet your eyes are watering from all that reading! Next blog, parent's evening and Izzy's arm but for now - off to bath the girls
Love to all
Nikki xxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxx
1 comment:
The trip sounds amazing !!!!!
What an awesome time for you both to always remember.
Love Katherine
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