Day 92

Mahe’, Seychelles

We arrived in Seychelles and were cleared to get off the ship at 8am. Today we are taking a ferry from Mahe’ to Praslin (praw-lin) to play golf at the Constance Lemuria resort. We have a tee time of 2 pm and the ferry ride is 75 mins. I have hired a cab driver on Praslin and we have been chatting for over a month. He will meet us at the pier when the ferry comes in at 11:45am. Our ferry leaves at 10:30am but it is suggested that we arrive 45 mins before departure time.

We decided to play it safe and we left the ship about 8:15am. We had our clubs and one suitcase. It is just over a mile to the ferry pier and I can see the ferry from the ship. We started on our way and found a walkway through the container port. No taxi’s allowed in the port. By the time we reached the port entrance, we realized we already walked about a third of the way to the ferry. The taxi was 10 euro for less than a mile. We decided to walk the entire way.

We arrived at the ferry about 9:15am and checked the clubs at the ferry office. At 10am a line started to form. A gentlemen was checking tickets and passports as we stood in line. Our passports are on the ship and will not be ready to be picked up until 11am. Seychelles immigration are busy stamping passport books and having muffins. I carried a photocopy of our passports and was happy to see the gentlemen accepted that. I learned long ago that government is only interested in the appearance of following protocol. The ferry couldn’t care less if someone had a valid id. They are interested in the paid ticket that I had. The government official is only interested in perpetuating the job they have.

The ferry left right on time. Contrary to all of the reviews I read on Trip Advisor, the ferry operated very professionally. The many reviews about vomit didn’t happen on this ride. It was very smooth. I am sure there are days with rough water. I’m not sure what the ferry can do about that.

The ferry arrived right on time. It was 11:45 and Fredel was waiting for us at the pier. He held a sign with my name on it. 30 minutes to the course. It was already in the upper 80s and very humid. The island has a population of about 7500. There appears to be very few roads and they are all near the water. The island is very mountainous and there is one road that is the middle of the island. We took this road.

We arrived about 12:30 and the resort was beautiful. We asked about having lunch. A gentlemen in the pro shop said he would take us to a restaurant that served lunch.

Our view from one restaurant in the resort. This is a top-notch resort and rooms start at $1000 euro per night.

The food was fantastic and the club pro said we can tee off early. We went back to the clubhouse, loaded up our clubs and it started to rain. We waited about 30 mins and then went to the first tee. After letting up some, it started to rain even harder. We waited at the tee. Maybe another 20 mins and then decided to tee off. The rain was on and off for the first three holes and we were soaked. The sun finally came out but there was little luck of our clothes drying out in the high humidity.

We had the course to ourselves for the entire afternoon. The views were incredible and the course was very challenging. Lots of opportunity to lose balls.

I am standing on the tee of this par 3. I am even with the hilltop across. Nothing but mountain between the tee and the green.

The course closed at 6 pm and it was already 6:10pm when we are on the 17th tee. The course manager came by and told us they were closed. No 18th hole for us but we were out of balls anyway.

We called Fred and he picked us up to take us to the hotel. We had already agreed on a price last week and he didn’t expect any payment until tomorrow morning.

The ride to the hotel was 30 mins as it way only a mile or so from the ferry. The Colibri hotel was our destination. Terri grabbed some local medicine for the ride.

Fred dropped us off and Bikesh took care of checking us in. Dinner would be served at 7:00. Pork Cordon Bleu or Octopus. We chose the pork. Dinner was delicious.

Since we are leaving tomorrow before breakfast is served, Bikesh had the staff assemble a basket full of breakfast goodies that we took back to our room with us.

8am ferry back tomorrow. Fred will pick us up at 7 am.