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Getting to La Digue
La Digue island lies forty miles north-east of Mahé.
The common way to get to La Digue from Mahé is by taking
the Cat Coco catamaran: first to Praslin and
then to La Digue by schooner. The Cat Coco only takes an hour
and costs about a hundred US dollars each way. 2,000 people
live in La Digue and they make their living leisurely - a
bit of fishing, some farming and a lot of enjoying the fruits
of a very good tourist trade. With coasts of sugar-white sand
and dazzling emerald waters, La Digue is an indisputable paradise
on earth.
L'Anse Source D'Argent - a Garden of Eden
Life here is so relaxed; it's as slow as an ox-cart which
is the traditional public transport. There's usually a few
waiting by the pier and they cost around 300 rupees ($56 US)
to rent for half a day. But it's not the slow pace that tourists
throng here for: according to the Travel Channel and
a heap of celebrity tourists, L'Anse Source D'Argent is
the best beach in the world, with its huge pink granite boulders
(which appear to change colour throughout the day), pretty
coves, forty foot high palm trees, and white sandy beach.
It's been called a Garden of Eden by journalists and
travel brochures and it's the most photographed beach in the
world. L'Anse is where the Bounty chocolate and Bacardi
adverts were filmed; in fact, it's also one of the most filmed
beaches in the world. There's a segment of the beach which
is used to perform weddings and it's as gorgeous as a film
set.
Beach activities
Although it's a public beach, you have to go through a National
Park to reach it, which costs five euros per person. There
is no hotel on the beach as it's a protected site, however
you can sunbathe (no topless or nude bathing, though), have
a picnic, or go snorkelling. The waters are so transparent
you don't need a snorkel mask to see the fish swimming over
the coral.
Go game fishing in the Seychelles
If all that luxurious gets to much, try a more active day
out on the ocean waves. Because of the superb visibility,
this is a fantastic place to do a tour by glass-bottomed boat.
Or for a taste of working island life, take a trip on a fishing
boat. Game fishing is big in the Seychelles because
the deep seas of the Indian Ocean are bountiful with tuna,
sailfish, and that much lauded Ernest Hemingway catch - the
Blue Marlin. The best fishing grounds are at the drop
off point on the edge of the Seychelles Plateau, some twenty
miles offshore.
Fish is the staple diet of the Seychellois and the tuna canning
industry makes more money than tourism. On average, fishermen
guys can catch 50 to 55 fish a day, but the waters are so
good around here that even a novice can notch up about 20.
You can expect to net bigeye, dogfish, yellow eye tuna,
dorados, and sailfish thrive in the post-monsoon
season. But the marlin is the fabled catch; they are awesome
and can weigh up to as much as 330 pounds. |
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