I have always wanted to come to this island and I am so glad I did. The beaches and scenery is definitely better than Mauritius. It reminds me a little of the Polynesian islands. All the beaches we visited had soft white sand, turquoise blue green waters and no sign of dead coral or rubbish. It was a super hot day almost 33 degrees.
I was invited to share a taxi with 4 other French people and yes one of them was my new friend Phillipe, for only 40 euros per person for a tour of the whole island. Plus Phillipe was not driving and he would be preoccupied with translating for his French companions. So win win for me. We headed inland first to the Venn Town to visit the old ruins of the church and school which helped and supported the freed slaves. The entrance fee became an issue as it was either 100 rupees or 10 euros. Nobody had rupees and I was jot willing to pay the 10 euros. The lovely guy selling tickets had an accent I recognised. We started chatting mainly about the price discrepancies and his London accent when he told me to go for the visit and we could discuss it later. I did as I was told and learned about the history of the place and enjoyed the amazing views from the top. When I came back to the ticket office, I asked the guy if we could negotiate a price when he handed me a leaflet and ticket and told me to have a nice day. He didn't need to tell me twice and as I left I told him he had beautiful eyes. He blushed!
The next stop was the tea shop with even more amazing views of Praslin and La Digue islands. We headed to our first beach stop at Loarnay Port. It was a small fishing village with a beautiful beach. I went for a swim as it was so hot. Then we headed towards the south of the island stopping each time at a beach. The locals favourite beach was Anse Incidente. It was beautiful but it only had a tiny tiki bar and no ther facilities expect for a car park in an old mangrove type area which is being turned into a building site. It was full of mosquitoes. I walked superfast through this to get to the most awesome beach. It was almost a sand dune which lead into the deep blue sea with crashing waves. The sun was at its highest and there was no shade for the others but I didn't care. I love the sun. What was even great was all the dogs relaxing on the edges of the beach where they found the only shade. Funny enough a few tourists sunbathed in the same place too. On my way out a group of seven dogs were walking towards the beach no doubt to relax after a hot day in the sun.
My favourite beach was Takamaka because of the boulders and palm trees which made it much more picturesque. The beach also had giant tortoises which I am still confused about why they weren't free and behind gates. Apparently they will run away or people will steal them.
After numerous beaches or Anses we headed back east to the cruise ship but not before stopping at the rum factory. I will say this everytime, coconut rum is the best.
The next day I headed to the yacht club for free wifi. There was a tiny marina and a park nearby. I walked nearly an hour to the mainmade eden island. This was a resort and or shopping compex plus residential area for the rich. Properties started at 1.5 million dollars. The marina was huge and filled with yachts and super yachts. The complex had expensive restaurants and cafes and the only supermarket was a Spar. This made me chuckle as it is a low cost low quality corner shop type place in council estates where I grew up. Here the super rich did their shopping here. Just don't buy the sandwiches!!!!
