New Years Eve

We went into town to do a spot of shopping this morning (mostly booze!) On the way back we stopped off at the beach. The surf was up..Lily was keen to get in on the action.
That hunky beach boy heading out into the surf is me with my new body board. After a couple of head plants I was back in nursing my wounds and recounting stories of massive waves and cool rides! The last sunset of 2007.
We stayed and had a drink at the Coral Strand Hotel. The kids fell asleep and a couple of friends from school turned up so we had a few drinks to celebrate the end of an eventful year.
About 10pm we went back up to the house. Peter warmed up his Job Fish curry (our equivalent of turkey curry.) We got stuck into the Takamaka Rum and watched the New Years fireworks.

Happy New Year to all!!!

Biking La Digue

There are very few cars on La Digue (infact there are more ox-carts) so everyone gets around on bikes. We hired some bikes to check out a beach the other side of the island.
Peter (& Lily), Julia and Me (& Lisa) heading for Grand Anse, yet another beautiful beach on La Digue.
This evening we caught the ferry back to Mahe and finished the day off with a Pizza in the Baobab Pizzeria.

Our Chateau

On La Digue we stayed in the Chateau St Cloud, an old plantation house. It is very grand. We had the ground floor of the chateau. Here's Lisa, Peter, Julia, Lily & Karen posing in front of our digs..
Me, Karen and Lisa spent the day chilling out and ambling around La Digue, while Peter, Julia and Lily climbed to the top of the highest mountain on the island. This is a giant millipede that we spotted on our travels..

Valle de Mai

It's not always sunny in Paradise! We went to the Valle de Mai today. It is famous for being the only place in the world where the Coco de Mer tree grows naturally. Today it was very wet. We had great fun splashing through the puddles.
Later on we headed over to the small island of La Digue. Leaving Praslin harbour.

Anse Lazio

Karen & Lisa enjoying Anse Lazio (Lazio Bay) on Praslin.
Lunchtime at Anse Lazio. Grilled fish straight out of the sea. Julia, Lily, Peter, Karen & Lisa.
Me and Lisa on the beach outside the Villa.
Karen & Lisa doing a spot of beachcombing.

Praslin

Today we went over to the Island of Praslin. The ferry took about an hour. We had a couple of brief sightings of dolphins. Here's Peter holding onto his new hat, Julia holding onto Lily and Lily holding onto her bottle. It was veeerrryyy windy.
We stayed in the Villa Flamboyant, named after the tree with the red flowers (not the very flamboyant waiter Ronnie!) We had a swim when we arrived. Our room is the one to the left of the hammock.
Julia and Lily on the beach.
Lisa paddling in the sunset.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas everyone from Danny, Karen and Lisa. Hope you all have a fantastic time at Christmas and a great New Year. Thanks for all the brilliant pressies.
Lisa opening her stocking presents at 7 o'clock. Santa managed to bring most of the stuff she asked for in her letter.
After breakfast we walked down the hill to Beau Vallon Beach for a swim.
It was a beautiful morning and the sea was looking gorgeous.
After a swim we had walked back up the hill and got stuck into opening presents. Here's Lisa (and me) with her fancy doorbell from the Nottingham gang.
Lisa teaching Lily to read 'Lisa Style'!
Lisa checking out the e-card from Isabella and Natasha.
After the presents were all open we got down to preparing lunch. Peter collected fire wood from the woods behind our house, and we got a good fire going. We wrapped the Job Fish that we bought at the market yesterday, seasoned with lemon grass from the garden, in banana leaves and cooked them on the fire. They were beautiful. Good work Peter and Julia.
Christmas Lunch Seychelles Style. Merry Christmas.