Seychelles

SEYCHELLES SAILING / CRUISING NOTES

Ketoro December 2009 – February 2010

 CONTACT DETAILS

VHF Channel 16 and 69 to 71 (Coast Guard)

Emergency Numbers

UKMTO (UK Maritime Trade Organisation) (RN) Dubai ukmto@eim.ae +971 50 552 3215
Fax +971 4 306 5710 Telex (51) 210473 (24 hour watch)

US flagged vessels MARLO (MaritimeLiaison Office) (USN) Bahrain marlo.bahrain@me.navy.mil
+973 3940 1395 (24 hour watch)

Seychelles Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Centre 00248224411/224616/610293
Sat phone 8816315119185; fax 00248323288; mail mrcc.seycoast@email.sc

Coast Guard and Seychelles Radio monitor (HF) 2182 / 7696

 PROCEDURES  AND  PLACES

Arrival and clearing in

Anchor off lighthouse at about 04:37.31S 55:28.52E (Q flag)
Immigration, customs, police, coast guard, port authority and health will all come to the boat. Very friendly and helpful. Later go to Port control to finalise and get all permits from here. Process not onerous (and our permits were never checked!).

 

MAHE ISLAND

Victoria               

Poor holding in the harbour at Yacht Club. Mooring buoys owned privately but we befriended Antoine (Island Star) who let us use one of his.

Yacht Club nice; reasonable food at reasonable prices; beers cheapest on the islands.

Friday evenings: food market (good Creole food and cheap)and stalls with music opposite yacht club at Marine Charter Ass… great atmosphere.

Restaurants: all expensive; Pirates Arms disappointing; Le Rendez Vous horribly expensive; News Café pleasant; Market restaurant fine; Marie Antoinette good Creole food, (have 11 huge tortoises with broken shells that were rescued when small, and love a scratch now).

Local take-aways good and cheap.

Internet café near Pirates Arms but you can get Kokozone card at Yacht Club to use there.

Provisioning: you have to go to many shops to get all your requirements; Krishnamart good;

Continental stores ok; Docklands ok; Citimart expensive. The best general stores are down SW of Mahe.

Freshcuts supplies excellent meat, cheese, chicken but latter can also be bought from Docklands supermarket. Local market great to visit, excellent fish, veg variable but much is imported and horribly expensive or not available.

Marine services etc: all info provided to you in a useful document on clearing in. Philip Albert at Adesho Marine (Latanier Road, near Port Control) very helpful.

Transport round the island: taxis (expensive, can maybe be talked down but unlikely for a tourist); buses plentiful and reliable (only 7Scr to go anywhere). Easy to hitch a ride with the locals.

Hire a car to tour the island…. Very good day’s activity, particularly as you get to find all the better supermarkets in the South.

Eden Island and Wharf Marina

Expensive to berth (Wharf Marina less so and will give long-stay discount), expensive to eat, but worth a look.

Baie Beau Vallon (Bay)

Pretty, very touristy, limited anchorage between 2 sets of marker buoys, bad in NW winds.

Port Launay

Good anchoring in 8m sand; 04:39.13S; 55:23.91E
Snorkelling great near the rocks, sea-ward of anchorage place.

Lazare Bay

Anchoring good at Anse Gaulettes 04:45.73S 55:28.98E; sand, 8m.
Snorkelling great near the rocks, sea-ward of anchorage place.

Anse Royale

Nice pretty bay, snorkel from the boat; 04:44.65S; 55:31.18E in 13m sand.

 

PRASLIN ISLAND

Baie St Anne

Easy moorings; plentiful, but apparently are intended for charter boats and only allowed to private boats for some hours’ shopping. We did stay overnight with no problem however.

The area is worth one visit; go to OrganiBar for a Creole meal; some supermarkets further along the road. Take dinghy round the reclaimed island to orientate yourself.

 Anse Volbert / Cote d’Or

Big bay, beautiful from the sea, private island Chauve Souris. Whole bay offers expensive upmarket restaurants; food at Le Village Pecheur very good; all expensive.

Small shops one road back, and road-side fruit sellers.

Anchorage has good sand holding but careful of reef; snorkelling from boat near the 4 rocks is good at 04:18.54S 55:44.63E.

We also anchored at  but found that this was in Marine Reserve so they come to you for fees.

St Pierre

Famous from the Sey guides; beautiful tiny island, wonderful snorkelling.
   
Curieuse Island: Laria Bay

Wonderfully protected bay, calm in all but SE winds, good snorkelling. 3 mooring buoys, also plenty of good anchoring (sand, 8m)

Marine Reserve fees (2009) 250 rupees ($1 = 11 Scr) for boat overnight then 200Scr per person going on land.

Anse Lazio

Beautiful, famous beach; we anchored off for lunch 04:17.56S 55:41.93E
Good swimming from beach. Long dinghy ride from Curieuse!

 

LA DIGUE ISLAND

Very small shallow harbour; they somehow squeeze in many more boats than it can really take (about 12); drop anchor then stern in and tie to tree. Bit of a tense process if crowded!

Pretty little centre and beautiful island for cycling; hire bikes for 200Scr per day. Going north, over the top then down the E side you will come to a wonderful roadside stall selling great fresh-fruit smoothies: recommended. Cycle further and look for giant tortoises on the road.

Go up to the view point… but leave your bike at the bottom to collect later!

Shopping: Gregoire’s is good.

PETITE SOEUR ISLAND

Really beautiful beach SW side; anchored in 13m sand 04:17.41S 55:51.23E; nice snorkelling.
Many day-trippers seen at Grande Soeur; we did not venture there… payment required.

 

FELICITE ISLAND

Cocos Island (day trippers favourite) is at the tip of Felicite; we anchored off at 04:19.224S 55:51.888E and took dinghy across to Cocos to snorkel (Parks people will charge you if you are there at an unfortunate time! Wear shoes to walk… we saw stonefish).

Anchorage SW side of Felicite 04:20.17S 55:52.48E; we anchored overnight but it was not great holding.

Departure and clearing out

Give passport to immigration 2 days before, sort out payment with Port Authorities and collect ship’s papers. On departure day call Port Control an hour before to inform them what time you leaving, then sail to alongside Coast Guard jetty; they finalise everything on the boat.