Free bikes! Dives! Octopus curry! finds dollar-stretchers in the Seychelles.
Will Hide
Bernard, my proudly Seychellois driver, was adamant. ‘‘Seychelles is much more beautiful than Mauritius.’’ When had he been to Mauritius, I wondered?
‘‘Oh never,’’ he shot back confidently as he negotiated puddles and tried not to splash pedestrians making their way to work in Victoria, the compact capital of Mahe. ‘‘But that’s what everyone tells me.’’
For all I know, that may be true, having never been there either.
This was also my first visit to the Seychelles and, based on the drive from the airport, with lushly clad granite hills swathed in mist soaring away to my left, things certainly looked promising, even if the ominous rain clouds did not.
I was here in January, looking for some sun. I should have read my guidebook a bit more closely, for November to March is rainy season. ‘‘Well, I could have told you that,’’ said a friend, who grew up there, unhelpfully, once I was back.
‘‘It bucketed down in January. And don’t go at Christmas. It really chucks it down.’’
But still it was hot, around 30 degrees Celsius every day and I was in shorts and T-shirt, in winter. In between the showers, the sun came out and all was right with the world. When I was confined indoors, I wrote Christmas gift thank you cards and subsequently received many brownie points for the colourful, fish-themed stamps. Even at airmail rate they were cheaper than a first-class stamp sent from home.
A trip to the Seychelles, of course, will never be truly cheap but you just have to know where to look for your bargains. Hop on any bus in Mahe, for example, and your chauffeur-driven tour will cost just seven rupees, or 70 cents. Avoid rush hour, though, when they’re packed.
At the other end of the spectrum, there’s Fregate or North Island, private slices of Seychelles paradise, where, in the latter case, a villa for one night starts from a cool $12,000. William and Kate honeymooned there and Seychellois have fingers and toes crossed that he might have slipped in a good word to his brother Harry when he marries next month.
But I’d come to stay at four resorts where your money can go further without compromising on paradise moments, especially if you book in advance and don’t stay at peak times.
My first, Hilton Labriz on Silhouette Island, stares out towards North Island – a cat can look at a king, and all that – and is about 40 minutes away from Mahe by boat. We bumped across