Seychelles sea shells by the sea shore

The goal of the day was simple, get out early and explore the island. Of course I made the mistake of giving the girls a window and said we would leave between 11-11.30. They of course took this to mean they should aim for 11.29 while Jess understood me completely and was ready by 11. So a bit of time was spent with us trying to hurry them up while they were very affronted to be hurried when they felt like they were already doing as they were told.
Within the allocated time we were all ready to go. A quick pit stop at the local bakery to make sure we didn’t repeat our mistake of yesterday and we bought a selection of cheese slices for our lunch. Then it was into the car to navigate far windier roads than we had to deal with yesterday. We were heading for the south side of the island which meant crossing the large hills in the middle, seemingly climbing forever. We were almost at the other side before the descent started, and it was a twisting, turning road most of the way back down, often on the edge of a cliff. We reached the car park of our destination, Seychelles beach. It then required a bit of further descent on foot, mostly on a rough path but at the end clambering over rocks with a stop into the sea if we fell. The beach itself was very nice, especially for the Instagram generation, with clear water and a stunning setting. The beach had been formed by a landslide at some point and where we were sitting you could look up and there was an overhang of some fairly unstable looking rocks. They managed to remain in place for the time we were there, so that was positive. Ruby’s opinion of the beach was shared by most of us, it was worth the walk down but not worth the walk back up. But unfortunately whether it was worth it or not that was what we needed to do and we did manage to get back to our car with a minimum of fuss.
We all got in to the car ready to move on, with Ruby putting her handbag into the side of the car door. Then just before we took off Ruby noticed a wasp in the car and got Tate to open the door to let it out, problem solved and off we went. A hundred metres or so up the road Ruby asked if her bag was there because she needed her phone, but it was not, it had fallen out when the door was opened. We stopped and Jess got out and ran back down to get it, impressive considering the heat, and that she was wearing a swimsuit and a sarong. I didn’t want her to have to run back up the hill so I reversed back down to pick her up, my first but by no means my most impressive reversing feat if the day. Bag was rescued, with phone, kindle and portable battery all inside, what a relief. Until the dirty tyre mark was noticed and Ruby looked a little closer, her phone had not survived. It seems that I had reversed over her bag when leaving the car park. Everything else was still in working order though, but she was most upset about her phone.
We set back off in the car for our next stop and the drive along the coast was even more hair raising than the first leg as there was some very sheer drops in places but luckily, as with yesterday, it is just not possible to drive very fast so it felt mostly safe. Our next stop was a village called Therma and as we were driving through and looking for a parking spot, the road formed a figure 8 coming back underneath itself. I followed the narrow road between parked cars only to see that there was not much headroom going back under the road and I wasn’t sure we were going to make it as the car we have has a large roof rack on it for some reason. I asked someone to jump out and see if I had room and helpful Tate volunteered. When I asked if I would make it under she replied either a ‘maybe’, exactly the sort of resounding confidence I was looking for. Jess got out and determined that no, I would not get through. There was no way to turn and luckily nothing behind me so the only option was to reverse back down the narrow street between all the parked cars. With Jess guiding me from behind (oo er) and using all three mirrors plus the natural reversing skills bequeathed to me upon being born a man, I navigated this challenge without a problem. When I got out of the car to take a bow, the round of applause from the crowd that had gathered brought tears to my eyes.
Therma is named for its hot springs so this why we were here. There is a spot next to the port where a hot spring enters the sea and you can just sit and enjoy the mix of the hot and cold waters. It was very unlike any other springs we have encountered, completely free for a start and also fairly minimally touristy. So we had a little chill and then needed to find somewhere to have a drink, a local cafe doing the trick. Some refreshing drinks and some shared cakes rounded the day off nicely, we had done Ikaria proud today.
All that was left was a last crazy drive home but there was virtually no traffic so it was not too stressful. A dinner was whipped up by me while Jess got stuck into the packing, it’s our last day here so moving on again tomorrow. At the moment though most of our clothes are hanging up drying so it seems like there will be last minute morning packing to be done.Baca lagi