Bang! Fried Ghekko

I was innocently checking the football results on the computer last night when there was a big bang. It turns out that a ghekko had crawled inside the computer's power supply and fried itself and also fried the power supply.The real picture is a bit too gruesome for public comsumption (according to Karen). Anyway, luckily I had a spare power supply lying around at school so we are back in business again.

Sunset Beach

We spent this afternoon on Sunset Beach. Sunset is a small beach a couple of miles north along the coast from Beau Vallon. We parked the jeep and headed for the path down to the beach when we saw this Mini Moke claiming to be from the Isle of Wight!
Lisa checking out the beach.
I went for a snorkel and saw my first Eagle Ray. It 'flew' through the water about 6 feet below me.
A nice trip to Sunset. We'll be back.

Leg Art

We were having our now traditional saturday lunch in the News Cafe in town. Lisa ran out of paper to draw on....
Muppet!!

Sunset Dinner

It's been a very busy first week back at school so far, so we treated ourselves to dinner in the Coral Strand Hotel.
Happy Birthday Mary!!

Pink Crocs

Lisa wanted me to take a photo of her new dress and her new crocs, so here they are...I spent the day marking projects today. They all have to be done by monday. About 6 o'clock I went down to the beach to meet Karen and Lisa. I had a swim with the sunset one side and the full moon rising the other. Me and Karen had a drink at the Coral Strand bar while Lisa played on the sand. I think we are gonna miss all this.

It was all too much for some people...
Last day of our Easter hols tomorrow :-(

French Cafe

We did a spot of shopping this morning. We've got a new helper who insists on carrying the basket.
After shopping we tried a new cafe that Karen had spotted a few weeks ago. It is in the French Library, the food was tops. Here's Karen and Lisa getting stuck into their ice-creams.
The chocolate pancakes stuffed with ice-cream were horrible...

Home on the Hill

After a nice day messing about down on Beau Vallon beach, we came back up to the house to eat Job Fish curry and watch the sunset. Here's Karen on her favourite step watching the sun go down.
Another firey sunset over the Indian Ocean.

Bird Island Day 3

It was our last day on Bird Island today. It has been a remarkable place to stay. We have been to lots of places around the world, but I think this place is fast becoming our favourite.

This little fella provided our wake-up call this morning.
Karen joined him on the veranda.
Lisa is ready for a trip to the beach.

On the way to the south end of the island we came across the trees that the Frigate Birds use to roost. They were squabbling over the best perches...
Me and Lisa had a swim while Karen went of for a spot of snorkelling.
I also did some snorkelling, and between us we saw some nice Trigger Fish, Threadfin Butterfly Fish, as well as a nice pair of Moorish Idols..

Lisa played in shade under the watchful eye of yet more birds.
I took a walk up to the Sooty Tern colony. During the breeding season there are up to million birds here. Today there were 'just' a few thousand buzzing round in the sky.
All too soon it was time to fly back to Mahe.
I'm sure we'll be back one day.

Bird Island Day 2

This pretty young Fairy Tern was sitting on the tree next to our chalet this morning. Good morning Bird Island.
I went for a walk right round the island this morning. It should take about an hour. It is fantastic to be able to walk right around a real remote 'desert' island. I saw four other people on my way round.
Looking back along the long sweep of West Beach...
Noddy's perched on an old beach shelter at the North point of the island.
And some very brave Great Crested Terns.

I found a very beautiful Cowrie shell. It must be fairly newly vacated because the pattern is still clear on the shell.
There were thousands of ghost crabs all round the beach. Some of them are quite feisty.
A superb walk. I was away about two hours so I arrived back just in time for lunch. Karen and Lisa were already getting stuck into the buffet.
After lunch we went over to the calm East beach for a swim. On the way we had wait for todays plane to land before we could cross the runway.Me and Lisa did some diving for coral.
Karen took a walk along the beach and found an area full of hermit crabs. Here she is pointing them out to Lisa.
Hermit crabs crawl into discarded sea shells or snail shells. They retreat into the shell if they are threatened.

This crab is looking for some toes to pinch!
This is different type of Ghost Crab to the one I saw on the West Beach this morning. One of their main foods is baby turtles!Back at the Lodge we saw a flight of about 50 Greater Frigate birds circling above. They have a wingspan of over 6 feet, but they are very agile. They wait for the Sooty Terns to return from a days fishing and try and steal their catch.
An outstanding day finished off by a great sunset.

Bird Island Day 1

Today we flew to Bird Island. Bird Island is a small coral island about a 30 min flight north of Mahe. It is privately owned by an English family who run it as an eco-friendly holiday destination. All aboard...
This is a bit different from a 767. Chocks away...
Nice view down over Victoria and Silhouette in the distance.
Approaching from the North, this was our first view of Bird Island. The island is about a mile long and half a mile wide. The East side of the island is protected by a reef which makes the waters calm and great for snorkelling. On the West side the beaches are steeper and the sea is rougher.

The island is well named. There are birds everywhere. This Noddy was part of the welcoming committee.
There are twenty chalets on the island. This one is ours for the next three days.
The chalet is very luxurious. A massive four-poster bed and a great colonial feel with the slated shutters. Also there is no TV, no phone, no air-con. Here's Lisa checking out her colouring table. Nice view.
We had a wander out onto the West Beach. Guests can go anywhere on the island. There are no roads, no cars and NO DOGS!!!
Some of the hundreds of Noddys on the island.

There are also about 50 giant tortoises on the island. Lisa took a shine to Samantha (a male!)
The oldest tortoise in the world is on Bird Island. He was here when the first people arrived 200 years ago. His name is Esmeralda! We found him sheltering under a Takamaka Tree. Esmeralda is the oldest living land-based creature in the world!
We finished off a great first day with a sunset walk along the beach.
Lisa went to bed and the Lodge provided a baby-sitter so me and Karen could have dinner together. After dinner we had a few drinks, and a game of pool with a couple from Warrington. They have been on holiday to Bird Island 10 times. I have to say I am starting to see why.