Today was a very short visit to the Island of Mahé which is the largest of the 115 islands that make up the Seychelle Archapeligo and the country of Seychelles. As the first few photos below show we arrived in the port of Victoria at sunrise to find a mountainous island that was a spectacular contrast to the Maldives of a few days ago. A quick look around the port revealed that fishing is a major commercial activity. See photo 2 for the ocean fishing ship that passed by while we were docking.

Our stay in Mahé was short as our ship departed about 16:30, but in that short interval we got an interesting tour of the island with its heavy tropical vegetation, twisting mountain roads, lovely white sand beaches, and the islands Botanical Garden with Coco De Mer, fruit bats and Giant Tortoises.

This was our first time seeing Coco de Mer (Lodicea) and it was an interesting topic, with way too much information to absorb on a single visit. They look superficially like an "ordinary coconut" but under the outer husk, they look quite different (see the photo of Nina holding one without the husk). They are filled with a jelly like substance rather than water and the white flesh of a normal coconut. They are only produced by the female tree which has to be fertilized by a male tree which can only happen when the female tree is ovulating. Wow, what a story.

The unexpected highlight of the Botanical Gardens was a visit with the Giant Tortoises and a chance to interact with them and feed them.

At the end of our tour we got dropped off in the city/town center rather than going back to the ship with the tour, and walked around for a while shopping for a few essentials like super glue for Nina's shoes before heading back to the ship.

The Seychelles have a shortish and complicated history having been known to Arab and Swahili traders before Europeans discovered the area but with no evidence of a settlement before the 18th century. Vasco Da Gamma discovered the islands for Europeans in 1503 but it seems that the earliest settlement was started in 1770 by the French. The British took control of the islands in 1810 and their possession was formalized in the Treaty of Paris in 1814. This very brief history explains why the country is The Seychelles and their capital is Victoria.

The country has three languages, French, Creole (a form of pigoen French) and English. With both French and English taught in the schools.