La Digue is only 15 minutes from Praslin by ferry, and we had chosen one that left at 11.45. We had asked for a cab by 10.45, giving us a half an hour buffer. We grew fidgety when our clocks showed us 11.10 and the driver still hadn’t arrived. We reminded the hotel owner and she asked us not to fret. He arrived at 11.15 and we got to the ferry in 20 minutes. The boat was docked but we left only half an hour after the departure time. We got time to exchange some currency, and comment on the guts of an Indian couple who arrived 20 minutes after the scheduled departure.
Our cab driver from the Anse Lazio trip had told us that La Digue had all of 4 cars, though the Palm Beach hotel owner said it was slightly more now. But the driver hadn’t exaggerated much – this was cycle country! Made sense, the place is tiny. We walked along the main road to Le Repaire, our destination.
Le Repaire was impressive despite the paper pusher at the reception, who excelled at delaying the inevitable – us (and the queue forming quickly behind us) checking in! The room was bright and just the right size. The beach was right outside, and had lots of seating options to lounge around.
Lunch was planned at Fish Trap. We had seen it on our way to Le Repaire as well. It was already 1.30 but found a table easily. There’s some Seychelles policy of not serving food on the beach (tables) so we ordered a beer and a cider. That took about half an hour, courtesy one Indian looking guy who didn’t fancy us much. By then we had shifted inside, and the place started to fill up. Seemed folks started lunch only after 2 PM. Our friend got the ‘complex’ order wrong as well. The fish and the beef we ordered was tasty and the latter reminded of an unrelated (veg) Kerala dish. However it also handed us our first bill greater than 1000 SCR. (slightly under Rs.5000)
Our original plan was to go to Anse Source D’Argent after lunch, but our paper pusher receptionist had told us it would take us 45 minutes one way. (walk) So we had decided to ditch that. Now, especially after that bill, I wanted to immediately lie down. However, never one to turn down a taxing opportunity, D decided to rent a cycle. After a while, I was worried enough to go check on her, and we ended up having a very enjoyable ride/walk, doing some shopping, and some vista watching. During our walk, we realised that the beach we wanted to go to was at best 30 minutes away! La Digue is a tiny, beautiful island, and needs to be visited.
We had reserved a table at the restaurant in our hotel, and walked in after trying in vain to catch the sunset again! The cocktails were just about decent, the service was excellent, and the pasta delicious, and deceptive in terms of quantity – that plate runs deep!
After a brief conversation with what was a welcome change at the reception – a nice lady who seemed like the owner – we sat on the huge, amazing balcony for quite a while, and saw the lights shimmer in Praslin. Lovely night.
Our boat to Mahe was at 8.15, so we got up early and went over to the restaurant 20 minutes after its scheduled opening time – 7 AM. We noticed people were still busy prepping the place, and were informed that we were 10 minutes early. Many pennies dropped when I confirmed the time with them. “Delayed” ferries, lunches and so on! We had assumed Seychelles time = Colombo time. Turns out it was Dubai time we needed to be on! Oh well, at least we were early for the ferry!