Country Focus: Seychelles

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The Seychelles is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. The country lies about 1500 km (about 937 miles) south-east of the African continent. Languages widely spoken in the Seychelles are French, Creole and English.

The climate in the Seychelles is typically hot and humid throughout the year. The months of July and August are the best time to visit.

The Seychelles International Airport (IATA: SEZ, ICAO: FSIA) a.k.a Aéroport de la pointe Laure is located on the main island of Mahé. 

Beach at the Sunset Bay Resort in the north of Mahé, Seychelles (2000)

Between 1998 and 2000, I was fixated on the idea of going for a big game fishing trip to some far flung islands in the Indian Ocean. Initially, the places that I had in mind for such a trip were Mauritius, the Maldives and Northern Australia. Finally, I sort of settled on going to the Maldives sometime in April or May of 2000. With the location of my proposed big game fishing expedition decided, I started to gather information on the Maldives.

But things were to turn out otherwise. While I was visiting a Travel Fair held locally in Singapore in March 2000, I chanced upon the booth of Air Seychelles. The friendly staff at the counter gave me some brochures and I noticed that these beautiful tiny islands in the Indian Ocean near to Africa may also have something to offer with regards to fishing. I sent them an email requesting for more information. At the same time, I also sent emails to resorts in the Maldives and Australia enquiring on the same topic. I now have a choice.

Somehow, I did not receive any replies from the resorts in the Maldives and Australia but Air Seychelles replied to my email message. They provided detailed information regarding the scheduled flights, possible accommodation and the estimated costs of chartering boats for big game fishing. 

I held several rounds of discussions with my normal fishing buddies and one of them, Kenneth was also keen on the idea of such a trip. We agreed that this will be a holiday break as well as a fishing expedition. Expedition Marlin was "approved" and I called up Air Seychelles' local representatives in Singapore to book the flights. At the same time, I also booked the our accommodation based on information gathered from the Internet .

A month later on 12 May 2000, I was on an Air Seychelles flight from Singapore to Mahé.

And I was all set to discover the "jewels of the sea" which are the many amazing islands that make up the beautiful Seychelles.

Note to Readers: Air Seychelles no longer fly from Singapore to Mahé. Currently, the shortest air route from Singapore to Mahé (IATA: SEZ, ICAO: FSIA) is to fly by Emirates via Dubai (IATA: DXB, ICAO: OMDB).
Travelogue Map: Seychelles

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Articles on the Seychelles in this Blog

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