Seychelles were a mixed bag. The Seychelles comprise 155 islands with the three main islands being Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. Populations are about 100,000; 8,000 and 3,500 respectively.
We spend five nights on Mahe. The first two nights were at the Liala Tribute hotel and the next three nights at the SLH L’Escale hotel. Liala Tribute would have cost us $1,088 had we paid cash. Instead we used one Marriott 85K Free Night Certificate and we transferred 62,000 Amex points to Marriott (with a 30% transfer bonus in effect) for the second night.
For L’Escale, it would have cost $3,954 if we had paid cash. Instead we used 220,000 Hilton points plus one Hilton Free Night Certificate.
While we were at L’Escale, we went scuba diving in the marine park. It was probably the best dive I’ve ever had. We saw several schools of fish that each had thousands of fish. Many turtles, eels, a couple rays and a white tip shark.
The island was beautiful, the food was great (but expensive). The mosquitos and humidity were bearable.
Next, we went to Praslin. We spent three nights in an apartment that we booked through Expedia for $615 (there weren’t any point redemption options available). We did a run/hike across the island and we went to a museum where we hung out with some fruit bats. We saw lots of large crabs. The island was beautiful, but the mosquitos, humidity and lack of wifi (hey, when you’re just staying inside because the mosquitos and humidity are unbearable, it would really help to have wifi) that it was mostly miserable for me. Frankly, I wouldn’t go back if they paid me.
Finally, we went to La Digue. La Digue is the most beautiful of the three islands. It’s smaller and keeps a breeze so the humidity isn’t as bad. Lots of mosquitos, but at a bearable level. There were again no point options here, so we booked a guest house which cost us $383 for two nights.
La digue is a little like Catalina in that there are only fifty vehicles on the island and everyone just rides bikes to get around. We snorkled at Cocos Island, Big Sister Island and Felicity Island. The Felicity island snorkeling was outstanding and we saw two turtles.
There are lots of giant tortoises roaming on the island. We saw a couple in the wild. Later, we went to L’Union Estate. In one area they had 41 tortoises.
Next up: Mt Kenya