Dea Birkett's Destination of the Month: Seychelles
by Dea Birkett
31 May 2007
Last month I admitted I didn’t enjoy skiing, and neither do my family.
This month I’ve another confession – I don’t much enjoy diving
and beaches, either. So when someone suggested we went to the Seychelles,
I shook my head. I imagined a week of sand, suntan and sloth. My family would
go bonkers faced with so much free time.
But a good friend insisted we would find these coral islands a pleasant surprise.
So I forced a reluctant boyfriend and three kids, aged from six to 14, on board
a 12-hour flight to discover the truth about the Seychelles. We returned 10
days later, boasting we’d never had such a good break.
The secret was we didn’t immediately scuttle off to one of the outlying
islands, where white beaches may stretch on or ever, but few people live and
most of the buildings are big hotels. We settled down on Mahe, the main island,
where the waterfront was mostly rocky inlets carpeted with withered palm tree
fronds.
We also went self-catering in a chalet. Cooking for ourselves was a challenge
on a small island, where almost everything is imported at great expense. For
the first two days, we ate bananas and tinned corned beef. Then we discovered
that you don’t actually go to a shop to buy food. You ask around, find
someone with a cousin who’s going out in a boat, and buy fish fresh from
him each morning. The same applies to your fruit and veg. A neighbour will have
an auntie with a garden and be delighted to deliver you a basket of star fruit.
Coconuts fell from the trees in front of our door.
The Seychelles can be pricey, but our chalet was simple so cheap. We took the
local bus into nearby Victoria, a pocket-sized colonial capital city, more Graham
Greene than Gauguin. Here, imports were so precious that one shop announced
on a big billboard, ‘We have Dettol this week!’
So, we ended up in the Seychelles without any lazing around and without indulging
in any underwater activities other than the odd accidental dip beneath a warm
wave. And the beach? Well, it was lovely, but we mostly used it to gut and filet
our parrot fish on, throwing their skeletons into the sea.
Dea Birkett
June 2007
See Take the Family's
Seychelles
destination guide.
Other feature articles by Dea
- Museums (25 April 2008)
- Edinburgh (1 April 2008)
- Washington DC (14 March 2008)
- New York (29 January 2008)
- Krakow (7 December 2007)
- Paris (5 November 2007)
- Brighton (1 October 2007)
- Kent (31 August 2007)
- London (31 July 2007)
- Malaysia (30 June 2007)
- St Moritz (30 April 2007)
- Savannah (1 April 2007)
