A light rain shower hovered over sky as we departed for La Digue early the next morning.  Our trip consists of first taking the interisland ferry to Praslin Island and then taking another ferry from there onward to La Digue Island.  It felt a bit inconvenient, but it made more sense once we discovered that given the number of passengers shuttling between the three islands and the location of the terminals/piers on the islands.

Just as the boat (a large double deck catamaran) was ready to depart, a full rainbow appeared stretching across the horizon.  Almost everyone onboard was trying to take a picture of it, including both of us.  And for James, that was just about the last good moment until we reached Praslin Island.  A few minutes after we reached the ‘open sea’, James began to get the nauseated feeling.  He tried to stare straight ahead at the horizon to maintain his inner balance, but the bouncing motion of the boat still made it difficult.  Not sure if it was good that there were a few others on the boat that looks to be in the same condition.  But for the last 45 minutes or so of the trip, James just kept looking for sign of land and couldn’t wait for us to reach solid ground.

 

When we reached the Praslin Ferry terminal, a single building with a few travel agencies, a ticket office and a café, James was able to take a deep breath of relief but was a bit weary on the next ferry leg.  But the ride to La Digue turned out to be short (20 minutes) and relatively smooth even if it was on a smaller boat.  La Digue is the smallest of the three main islands of Seychelles.  There are not many paved roads on the island and only a few service vehicles.  The prefer mode of transportation on this island is bicycle, along with electric carts and ox-powered carts.

The hotel arranged an electric cart to pick us up at the ferry pier (can’t really call it a terminal because there isn’t any structure other than a place for boat to dock).  Just beyond the pier were some shops, banks, travel agencies, and restaurants.  This can be considered the key hub of the island.   We rode on the main road that circles the island, which is a simple two lane wide road.  Our hotel, Domaine de L’Orangeraie, was only a few minutes away.  The hotel was split by the road, with the pool and restaurants on the beach side of the road and the lobby, business center and cottages on the other side.   The rooms at Domaine de L’Orangeraie are individual cottages in a garden setting.  Our ‘room’ was a split level townhouse, with a sitting room, half-bath and a full kitchen on the lower floor and the bedroom and a full bathroom upstairs.  In the back of the cottage, there was a deck with a lounge chair and table facing into the garden area.  There is also a private stone enclosure beach ‘shower’ to wash off before going inside.  This is the kind of place one can be comfortable for a long visit.

After putting our stuff away, we first asked the hotel concierge to book a dinner reservation for the restaurant at La Digue Lodge, which was recommended on a couple of websites.  Then we picked up a couple of hotel bicycles and start our exploration of the island.  We first started going south on the main road.  We were looking for a possible place for lunch as well.  There were a number of restaurants along the way, but we wanted to see a bit more, and we were enjoying the riding.   We started toward inland toward the Veuve Reserve (a garden reserve) and ran into a restaurant that Jessica seemed to like.   While there weren’t a lot of patrons, it had somewhat an extensive menu.   Jessica ordered a chicken plate with fries and rice, and James ordered a grilled fish with rice and potatoes, along with a tuna salad that we would share.  The plates turned out to be huge.   Jessica’s dish had two enormous pieces of chicken.  And James’ fish turned out to be not just a fillet but a whole 12 inch long fish.  By the time we finished – and left quite a bit on the plate still – we were both stuffed.  We rested a bit at the restaurant before we started riding again.    We first stopped at a store that had some local art and craft items.  We picked up a few local trinkets and artwork.  And then we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few snacks and drinks.  The baskets on the bikes came in very handy.

We stopped temporary back at the hotel to drop off the stuff we bought and picked up a couple of beach towels before restarted our way up north in search of a good beach spot.   There was a long stretch of beach within a few minutes of a bike ride from the hotel.  Anse Severe may be one of the better beaches easily reachable on this side of the island where most of the hotels and guesthouses are located.  The eastern side may have more beaches but the roads is said to be more hilly than those on the western side.    We checked over the beach as we rode by.  We decided to go onward to see some of other ones.  We went around the northern tip of the island and started down the eastern side.   We rode by a couple of more beaches.  We walked around each one a bit, but they didn’t seem to be as good as Anse Severe, at least to us.  We doubled back and picked out a spot under a tree at Anse Severe to rest and enjoy the beach life.  While the water didn’t seem that rough, only a few people ventured into the water.  Jessica walked around and picked up a few more souvenirs off the beach, but didn’t take a dip.  The various pieces of shells, corals and rocks became important keepsakes of our trip.   Then Jessica napped while James read a magazine on the iPad.  After a couple of hours, around 4:30PM or so, with the tide start to come in, we rode back to our hotel.

As it was still a while before our 7:30PM dinner reservation, Jessica decided to take a dip in the infinity pool.   We played around the pool area for about hour before heading back for a shower and some snack.   The mango juice we bought was good, but when Jessica opened the bag of biscuits, which was not vacuum sealed, there were lots of little bugs inside the bag.  These bugs actually seem to be everywhere here on the island.  We threw the biscuits away.    The wafer bars, which were vacuum sealed, seem to be without uninvited guests.   Anyway, we snacked away while watching a movie on TV as we waited to leave for dinner.

We arranged a ride from the Lodge to take us to the restaurant.   There was little amount of street light as we drove down the street.  Most of the light came from the buildings along the road.  The Lodge is located by the beach about midway on the island.  The first thing we noticed with the restaurant was that the floor was sand, and the dining room seemed to be encased in a big tent rather than a building.  (The next morning, we saw that our hotel restaurant was almost put together the same way.)    There were only two or three other guests when we arrived.  Instead of selecting the preset menu, which seemed a bit big for us, we decided to order a la carte.  Jessica ordered the Creole seafood soup and the Seafood platter and James ordered a salad and grilled jumbo shrimps.   Jessica’s platter came with lobster, crap, shrimps and three types of fish fillets – a large plate indeed.  My plate had 6 or 7 jumbo shrimps along with a good size serving of rice and vegetables.   Sharing the plates between us, we were both stuffed again by the time we finished.  Yet, we decided to try a piece of their chocolate cake to cap our dinner.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel’s ‘beachfront’ restaurant.  It had a good selection of buffet items, but the bright sunny day and view of the blue water and sky probably enlighten our perspective of everything there.   Our plan that day was to head out to the L’Union Estate, where there is a nature park and tortoise reserve and Anse Source D’Argent, the beach by the reserve.  We took the bike and rode down the coast once again.

After passing through the Nature Park entrance, we ran into some local vendors selling coconut oil, local snacks and utensils.  We picked up a wooden spatula.   Then we headed to the tortoise reserve, which has a waist high stone walled compound that looks to be about the size of half a football field.  Inside, there is a little pond and a number of tortoises.  Most seem to be resting and sleeping.   And a couple seemed to be doing that male/female thing.   We tried to feed some of them, but they were picky initially.  Finally, some park staff people dropped off a bunch of foliage next to the enclosure, and we had a bit more success using those to feed them.

 

After about half an hour with the tortoises, we continued our ride through the park toward the beach.   At the edge of the beach, there is a restaurant.  It was about 11:00AM and the restaurant seems to be doing brisk business already.   Leaving our bikes by the restaurant with many other bikes, we started exploring Anse Source D’Argent.  The water was very shallow at the beach; the shallowness seems to stretch hundreds of feet out to the sea, a perfect spot for snorkeling if not swimming.  Jessica started wading into water looking for corals and sea life.   We played in the one part of the beach for about half an hour before starting down the trail toward another part of the beach further down the coast.   Along the way, there was a stand selling juices and fruit; we stopped to get some coconut juice.  We played on the beach a bit longer before deciding to grab lunch at the restaurant at the beach.

The menu of the restaurant was set on a large blackboard behind the counter – variation of local dishes.  James decided to go with a tuna salad, and Jessica ordered a Creole fish platter, with fresh lime juices for both of us.  The plates here turned out to be surprising generous as well.  And like most places on this island, the floor was on sand.

As we started to get back on our bike to head back to the hotel, James’ gear chain had slipped off.  Luckily, Jessica still remembered how to reset bike chains and helped to get it back on the gears.  About two-thirds of the way back to the hotel it started to drizzle a bit.  By the time we got back, it became a light rain.  We were lucky that our stuff didn’t get too wet.  After cleaning up a bit, we decided to go to the pool area to kick back for the rest of the afternoon.  Because of the on and off showers, we decided to grab a ‘sofa’ by the lounge area next to the pool, waiting for an opportunity to take a dip.  Due to the weather, there were only a few people around the pool.  We end up spending most of our afternoon napping and reading our iPads, while enjoying the scenery of the coast and water.  James was able to jump into the pool for a quick dip, mostly to cool off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had wanted to have dinner at the hotel’s a la carte restaurant, but it wasn’t open on that night, so we went to the buffet restaurant instead.   The selection may not have been the most extensive, but the quality was good.  There was a grilling station, where they were grilling fresh meat and fish, and there was also a pan-fried pasta station where a chef prepared a pasta dish to your liking.

After an early breakfast the next morning, we prepared for our departure from La Dique.  Before returning to Mahe Island, we stopped over at Praslin for a full day of guided tour.  Our first stop of the day was Vallee De Mal National Park.  This park contains the Coco-der Mer (Seychelles coconut) trees, indigenous to this island.   There is a male and a female variety of the palm, with the female bearing the fruit.  A mature fruit can weight upward of 30kg, a very big fruit indeed.   The guided tour took about an hour and a half through the park.  We also got to see a number of other local plants and trees.  Jessica picked up a number of red colored seeds that is used for jewelry and artwork.

 

Our next stop is the world famous Anse Lazio beach located on the northern end of the island, which is ranked among the best beaches in the world.  We got there just after midday.  There are two restaurants there; one on the beach right near the entrance onto beach and the other one a bit further down the road that sits inside a former plantation style house.   We decided to go with the second one, which also has a souvenir shop.  We picked up some specialty local soap there before our lunch.  For lunch, Jessica went with Fish and Chip set lunch while James went with a club sandwich and fries.

After lunch, we head to the beach.  Anse Lazio is a long, wide white sand beach, with strong waves.  It is a top choice for both surfers and bathers.  Jessica ventured out into the water a few times while James mostly rested under the shade.  Our ride to the ferry picked us up around 4PM.  Our Ferry was originally scheduled to leave at 5PM, but ended up being about an hour late.   There wasn’t much to do while we waited in the terminal area.  The wait only prolonged James’ dread for the hour long boat ride. As the boat began its way back to Mahe Island, the sun also began its downward path.  We could see a bit of the sunset over the water as the sky turns from light to gray to dark by the time we reached Mahe.

When we returned back to the Fisherman’s Cove, James’s head was still spinning from the boat ride.  The room we were given on our return was a bit smaller than the room we had before; primarily there was no living room area in our new room.  The bathroom, the bed and most of the amenities were similar.  After putting away our stuff, we decided to go to Le Bourgeois restaurant for dinner, just a few steps away from our new room.  The food was great as the first time; instead of fish this time, Jessica had beef and James ordered the seafood risotto as the main courses.

What made this dinner more memorable was a mishap James had.  He had his shorts on when going to the restaurant but was told by the host that long pants were required for gentleman at the restaurant (Jessica would question whether James qualifies as a gentleman).

We ordered and were just settling in with our basket of bread and drink when James’ coaster flew off toward the edge of the restaurant near another table.  There was a small pond on the front edge of the restaurant.  James totally forgot about the pond and in the evening light, the water look like just plain old dark ground.  To try to avoid bothering the patrons at the table where the coaster landed, James tried to step around outside to get the coaster.  But he stepped right into the water.  James could see all eyes at the restaurant were on him as he stepped out of the pond with his pants all wet.  The good thing was that James was wearing his Crocs.

With a late night flight the next day, we decided to head to the island’s main town (Victoria) after we checked out of our room just before noon.  We planned to spend a few hours there for lunch and a little bit of final local shopping and sightseeing.  We browsed through some of the local craft stores and picked up some local souvenir items.  We also walked through the local market, with a number of interesting looking fish there, along with a number of local vegetables being hawked.  One of the things we noticed when we walked through town was that a number of shops have Chinese proprietors.  In fact, the taxi driver who drove us from the hotel into town said that his wife’s family was originally from China.  A good illustration of the distance Chinese people have traveled to find opportunities.

For lunch, we settled on a restaurant called the Parrot’s Cove in the center of town, a casual Applebee and Chili’s type of eatery, which we discovered had a casino upstairs later on but didn’t have time (or the cash) to visit.  Jessica ordered a salad while James went with a pizza, along with an order of fries and drinks.  Afterwards, we walked around town a bit more, including getting some local stamps at the post office before taking a taxi back to the hotel. One note on taxi, there are no meter, and it can be uncertain how much a ride may cost.

It was about 4PM where we returned back to the hotel.  We just ‘lounged’ in the lobby until about dinner time.  We settled in our favorite spot, napping and doing some reading.  Every once a while, looking out into the sea, we both regret that this will be our last day here.  While we were there, Jessica struck up a conversation with a group of people from her hometown area.  They compared notes on the arrangement for the trip, the itinerary, and prices.

We wanted to go back to Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort for dinner.  But when we got there, most of the power was still out and the restaurant we want to eat was not open.  Thus, we headed back to the hotel and went with the buffet route.  We figured we will fill ourselves before the flight.

The first leg of the flight from Seychelles to Dubai was uneventful.  As usual, Jessica slept most of the way while James ended up able to dose off for only a couple hours.   Arriving in Dubai around 4:30AM, we started to think of what we want to do before our 11AM flight to Beijing.  We decided to do our shopping first, have a light bite and then figured a way to rest before our flight.

Had a hard time figuring out what would be good to bring back, we finally settled on picking up some local specialty snacks, such as prunes and chocolate covered dates.  Jessica also got some more branded scarves and jewelry.  Thankfully, she passed on the leather Ferrangmo iPad cover.

After a light bite of muffins and juice at Paul’s, we started looking to see where we can get some rest.  Originally, James was thinking of the paid Airport Lounge; but the sign of “No Sleeping” out front discourage us from going in.  But then Jessica spotted a ‘sleeping pods’ place not far from the lounge, where we could rent a capsule with beds to rest by the hour.  We settled on a two hour slot, for about US$30.  This turn out great, as the nap was really helpful to get ourselves rejuvenated.  And we figured that it would be especially good for our long leg of the flight.

But a surprised awaited us when we boarded our flight.  We got an upgrade to Business Class for our flight.  The extra space and accommodation put an exclamation point to our trip.

We landed in Seychelles just before 7AM.  Walking down the manual staircase out of the plane and looking out over the mountain and water, the sense of the tropics engulfed us.  Much like the first time James landed in Kona on the Big Island, the view of the environment gives one the feeling that you are in a place where life beats to a different drum.

After clearing immigration and picking up our luggage, we were met by people from Masons’ Travel, the local travel agency that helped with our booking arrangement on the island.   Before heading out to our hotel, they went over our itinerary and what we need to use for our scheduled guided tours and transports, as well as guide us to where to exchange for some local currency.  The Euros is used fairly widely on the island, but it is still good to get some local currency.

Seychelles, a group of islands located 4 degree south of the Equator and about 1,000 miles east of the Africa continent from the Kenyan Coast, was a way station island in the Indian Ocean until French took control of it during the 1750s and named it after Jean Moreau de Sechelles, Louis XV’s Minister of Finance.   British fought and took control over it in early 1800s.  Seychelles became a crown colony in early 1900s and upon its independence in 1974; it became a republic in the Commonwealth.  Thus, it is natural that cars use the right hand drive in Seychelles, British style.  As our van drove through Victoria, the capital of Seychelles on the island of Mahe, toward our hotel on the north coast of the island, we saw a number of British enterprises, such as Barclays Banks and Cable and Wireless, operating there.

 

We arrived at our hotel, Le Meridian Fisherman’s Cove, around 9AM.  The hotel is built into its surrounding landscape.  When we got off the van, we step right into an open lobby, where straight ahead was a front and center ocean view off the north coast of island, a picture frame that draws you right into the landscape.   Since we arrived early, we stayed in the lobby to wait for our room to be ready, giving us a chance to soak in the view.  The lobby has a couple of lounge chair that face the water front and center, which became our favorite spot throughout our stay at the hotel.

Our room was spacious.  The bathroom is almost as big as some of the rooms we had stayed, with a long tub in the center, a rainwater shower on one side and a double sink on the other side.  The living room area has a full size sofa and two working desks and a large flat screen TV, along with a sound system for your music.  There is also a patio area with a full size day bed facing the ocean.  This is the kind of room where it wouldn’t be all that bad if you stay mostly within its walls during one’s entire vacation.

 

After putting our things away, we had a light breakfast before heading out to the hotel beach and cove area.  The tide was not as low as it was earlier in the day, but it was still low enough such that we could walk about quite a large area in the cove.  Jessica was busy digging under the water for shells and little sea creatures to play.  We spend about an hour playing in the water.

 

We went back to our rooms to clean up and took a shower before deciding to heading out to the surrounding area.  The one disadvantage that we discovered on the island is that it is not easy to get around to other places.  The roads are narrow with no consistent sidewalks.  (There is also very little street light at night.)   We decided to walk along the beach.   Just past our resort there is an estuary that probably gets flooded during high tide.  But at that hour, it was quiet and we could see many fish in the water.  There were light crowd along that stretch of the beach, with a small group having a picnic lunch.

About half a kilometer out from the hotel, we arrived at the back gates of the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort.  We decided to stop and see if we can get a bite there.  There are several restaurants, including a Chinese restaurant.  We decided on the casual Pizzeria diner.  James ordered the Fish and Chips while Jessica had the Creole Chicken, along with an order of salad that we both shared.  We both also had fresh squeezed lime juice.  The lime juice turned out to be the best one we had all week there.  The Creole chicken was pretty good, but not to Jessica’s taste.  She did like my huge plate of Fish and Chips.  The fish was lightly battered that is both tender and firm, and the fries were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

It was about 3PM when we were done consuming our feast, and we decided to go back to our room to take a nap for some sleep recovery.  Amid the view of the beach from our window, and a movie playing on the background, we dozed off quickly on the sofa.   When we woke up around 6PM or so, we decided to head out to the lobby to get some fresh air and also to get the free Wi-Fi available there before dinner.

Around 7PM, we start thinking of where to go for dinner.  The restaurant choice at the hotel was either the buffet or the formal restaurant.  We were still somewhat full from our lunch so passed on the buffet option, and the formal restaurant was all booked for the night.  (We booked a reservation for the following night.)  We didn’t want to venture out either.  Thus, we decided to just get something simple items from room service.  We order Spaghetti with Pesto, Penne with Bolognese, Chicken nuggets and a bowl of mushroom soup.  As for room service meal goes, it wasn’t too bad. And we were able to eat it sitting on the sofa while watching a movie– just like home!

The next day, we had an 8AM scheduled pick up for our all day cruise excursion of the Ste Anne Marine National Park.  Our ride didn’t show up until past 8:30AM, which had worried us for a while.  But it also enlightened us that Island timing shouldn’t be taken too strict.   We arrived at the pier where a catamaran sat waiting to take a group of eager tourists.  The group turned out to be quite diverse, comprised of people from across the globe.

The catamaran has a big cabin with a bar/serving area at the back.  At the front of the boat is a large net connecting the two hulls that also served as a nice sun bathing area. As we left the pier, we first circled a couple of the nearby small islands with nature reserve with lots of birds. Then we headed over to the middle of the harbor where the first activity was to go the semi-submersible: a glass bottom boat where we could see the coral under the water in the Marine Park.   Given the size of the contingent on the tour, we split into two groups for the submersible.  We decided to go with the second group.  While the first group was in the submersible, the catamaran circled around a bit, giving us a chance to take some pictures of the nearby islands and just soaked in the sun on the deck.

Once we were in the submersible, we can see how shallow the Marine Park was.  The top of the windows at the bottom of the boat are just below the waterline, but it seems that the bottom of the boat is almost touching the bottom of the sea.  As we circled around the area, it almost feels impossible that we were able to maneuver around the corals without touching them.  With the crystal clear water, we could see surprisingly well of everything in the water.  The guide pointed out the different variety of the fish that we were seeing as they passed by the window.  Most were small tropical fish.  Some seems to be swimming right along the windows of the boat.

We circled the Marine Park for about 20 minutes or so before returning back to the Catamaran.   Once we were back, the crew began getting ready to take the group for some swimming and snorkeling.  The crew provided everyone with a life jacket, mask, fins and snorkel equipment.  Most of people did go into the water.  Some didn’t venture very far, including James who couldn’t really let go of the ladder from the boat, but did puddle around a bit and got his head under the water.  Jessica enjoyed her swim.

After everyone got back to the boat, the crew put out the lunch spread for the group, which contain many of the local favors, like Creole chicken and fish, along with standard complements like potato salads, rice, bread, etc.  Most of the base dishes were made to be mild; they put the ‘sauce’ on the side for those who want to spice up their dish.   The crew also served up a bit of local punch, made with mix of local juice and liquor.  James and Jessica didn’t try to overindulge on the food to prevent untimely accidents on the boat.   After lunch, some of us went to the side of the boat to feed the fishes.  Jessica particularly liked this activity; she even went down to the water to feed and play with them.

Our major excursion in the afternoon was going over to the Moyenne Island, one of the smaller islands in the harbor. This island is owned by British expat Brendon Grimshaw since the 1960s.  It is operated as a National Park, with the expat the sole residence on the island.  He has tried to keep the island as a nature preserve by planting trees, building nature paths, maintain the variety of plants, as well as bringing and breeding giant land tortoises.  There are over one hundred of them in the island.  This is one of the main attractions of the visit to the island.  Along with a bunch of others in the group, we feed the tortoise leafs they seemed to really enjoy.  One of person in our group is a marine biologist and was especially interested in looking at the tortoises and gave us some interesting general background.  We also were able to chat with the proprietor of the island, who also provided us with interesting tidbits on the tortoises and other things on the island.  Another thing that piqued our interest was the owl he had rescued that sits near by the restaurant on the island.  He cautioned us against touching the bird as Owls doesn’t like to be touched by strangers, as well as talking about its long wingspan and also how its wing was damaged when it was found.

We walked about half way around the island and then headed down to the beach.  Some of the people in our group was now playing in the water or resting on the beach.  Jessica went around searching for sea shells and rocks and also played with the small white translucent sand crabs, trying to grab them before they dive into holes in the sand.  We stayed on the island for about a couple of hours before returning to the boat.  Before heading back to the harbor, the captain took the boat for one more tour around the entire St. Anne Marine Park area.

By the time we returned to the hotel it was past 5PM.  We decided to wash up and rest a bit before our dinner at the La Bourgeois restaurant at 7:30PM.  We decided to dress up a bit – not too much, but at least a nice shirt and slacks for James.  The restaurant offers a simple menu, a few appetizers, salads, soups, pasta and main dishes.  We both ordered the seafood bisque; Jessica ordered a foie gras with her grill sea bass, while James ordered a small mushroom risotto with a steam local fish.  All the dishes turned out nicely done.   We both thought the mushroom risotto was especially well done.

The following day was a free day for us.  We had planned to walk to a beach located about 4KM away that seemed not to be a stretched goal.  It was supposed to be a reasonable mild hike around the coast.  We had a late breakfast and started trekking down the road soon afterwards.  The first part of the road we were on has a nice and serene sense that you get in a tropical island.  There were all kinds of flowers and plants along the road and with a beautiful mountain backdrop.  There weren’t too many others on the road nor were there many cars.  An eclectic mix of building and houses also line the streets; there were convenience stores, shops, business offices, and homes.  As we came up near the end of the public road, there was a small harbor with a few small boats. There was also a restaurant right at the end of the road, which I had thought of maybe having a late lunch on our way back in the afternoon, but saw a sign that it only opened for dinner.

Beyond the ‘main road’ was a small lane that went uphill.  After a few hundred yards, there was a sign pointing the way to the beach.  We had hoped that the walk would be a nice quiet, picturesque trek.  But as we started to walk around, we found the roads didn’t exactly hug the coast; instead, it mostly went through housing area – and many construction jobs were in the works.  After walking another half kilometer and upon another hill, we decided to turn back. We did felt a bit unfulfilled, but it turned out not to be a bad decision as soon after we got back to the hotel, it started to rain fairly hard and through the rest of the afternoon.  If we had gone to the beach, we probably would have been soaked pretty good.

We end up staying in the hotel lobby the rest of the afternoon, just reading and taking naps while looking out the picturesque sea view.   In some ways, this is the kind of laid-back, idyllic island lifestyle that one expects to have on a tropical paradise.  Just relax and enjoy the serene the surrounding as time passes by.

 

 

By dusk, we decided to head over to Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort for dinner.  We walked over by the beach.  The tide was rising, leaving a narrow stretch of beach we can walk on; we figured that likely we would not be able to return this way after dinner.  When we reached the resort, we discovered that most of the power was out, and the restaurant we want to eat could not cook anything.  Disappointed, we headed back to our hotel; still able to use the beach route.  Not enthused with the day’s buffet menu, we decided to order some room service again while watch some movies on TV, while packing our stuff to get ready for our next day’s departure for La Digue Island.