A trip to the Seychelles!

 Since my Mom and Karetha came for 2 months, they had enough time to acclimate to a new culture, learn how to drive on the wrong side of the road, and figure out the kid's school schedule. They let Jeff and I escape to the Seychelles for a week. WITH NO KIDS!!!
Now we have gone on a kid-free trip before. When we lived in SK our buddies took the kids for a few days so I could tag along with Jeff and go to Singapore. But that was a long weekend, and a business trip so we only had a few dinners and one day together and the rest of time Jeff was working. This was a real vacation!

We flew from Port Elizabeth to JoBerg and then to the Island of Mahe in the Seychelles. To get out to our island we had to take a tiny puddle-jumper and Jeff was in heaven!

We checked into our resort. It was beautiful! We got in pretty late so we missed dinner but we found this all laid out in our room for us. What a nice welcome for tired (and hungry!) travellers!

We had 6 incredible days of doing a whole lot of nothin'. Which suited us both just fine! When I wasn't reading (entire chapters at a time!!! With no interrutions! No phones or vomiting animals or people yelling my name!) I was pretty much in a stupor of bliss staring up at this:

Once in a while I would go through the supreme effort of lifting my head off the chair though so I could look at this:

Ok, Ok, those of you that know me well know that my ability to sit in a beach chair is maybe an hour or less but I did give it a "red hot go" as my Aussie friends would say. We DID get in some awesome relaxation and I did get to read 2 books which was heaven. I had totally forgotten what it's like to read more than 1 page at time, re-reading the same paragraph over and over because you keep getting interrupted. We also did a whole bunch of diving. It was INCREDIBLE and we saw sharks and schools of rays and millions of fish and it was the best diving either of us has ever done.

At night the beach restaurant was fabulous, with differently themed buffet nights. Eating Paleo is great at a buffet because it helps you eliminate 50% of the options and just go straight for the good stuff, so while other people were wasting valuable stomach real estate on stupid stuff like rice and bread I was going back for 3rds on grilled shrimp, lamb chops and fresh caught fish with TONS of yummy veggies!

We also had a vacation dog. She learned on the first night that M = huge sucker and basically took up a position in the sand right next to our table. Of course I can't eat a meal with a sad pup looking at me so this dog got HOOKED UP our entire vaycay with steak, chicken, chops, you name it. Somewhere in the Seychelles a dog is still lamenting my departure....

On Wed night the resort took a bunch of us on a nice big boat to the most gorgeous beach on Praslin (like how is OUR beach not the most gorgeous right?) The water was incredibly deep and blue and the beach was pretty fine. They let us jump off the roof of the boat! We found out later than 2 people got eaten by sharks off this beach 2 years ago but hey, no harm, no foul right?

 Sunset cruise fo sho!

 Lovin' it!

 We had a huge mango tree right outside our room. We got soooo many mangoes off that tree and they were YUM! We were on a half-board basis which means breakfast and dinner included. Lunch for 2 anywhere in the Seychelles will run you about 80$. (Upside- makes Disney Dining prices seem like a bargain!) There was also free snacks at 4pm but it was all wheat-based cookies ect. I had brought nuts and biltong and some other Paleo treats so on most days we literally got coconut and mango out of the trees and then just filled in with nuts, biltong and hardboiled eggs that I swiped at breakfast!

One day the guys were even harvesting Mangoes out of the tree so they just gave me a bunch!

 Another day we took a cab to a National Park: The Vallee De Mai. This is home to some wiiiiild vegetation and the Coco de Mer nut. Check out those leaves! If Survivor ever did a Seychelles edition shelter building would be no problem!

Some strange nut casing with another nut inside:

But 6 days go quick and before we knew it our last day had come. We did one more dive and saw some really cool things. I swiped pics off a guy that dove with us and brought his underwater camera. Cute little fish all living in coral:

White-tipped shark:

We made the most of the rest of the day, just enjoying the sun and the quiet. And I got a coconut with a rum shot in it. Oh yeah baby!

We were just about to leave the beach when we saw this perfect rainbow streaming into the water. Pic does not do it justice... it was so vibrant and clear!

Finally the sun set and the moon rose and we headed to dinner on our last night. We had to get up at 4am the next morning to fly all the way back to PE but it was a wonderful relaxing vacation. So many of our vacations have been trips where we try to visit a country and see and experience as much as possible. We don't want to waste the experience of being expats so in Asia we tried to see Australia and China ect. Those trips are incredible and educational and inspiring, but not at all relaxing as you are always on the move and trying to negotiate language, safety, culture, sanitation and fatigue. THIS vacation was totally different. Just a chance to stop. And sit. And breathe. I'll always remember it, and I'll always have a special place in my heart for the Seychelles. Even though there's waaaaay too many French people there....