La Réunion

New-to-us port #38.

Mui woke up feeling really under the weather. That same non-COVID crud that laid me down for a day or two last week. A day of rest was in order.

We scrapped our plans to go to Anse Patates. Instead, he went to bed and I went to Destinations to see if they could accommodate me on the 9:45a departure of the La Digue Highlights Tour. The answer was yes.

The tour started with a ride from the tender pier through the small town of La Passe on a camionette … think open air truck with benches in the truck bed for passengers. The tour escort pointed out the hospital, the school, the Catholic Church, and the site where a new, more modern hospital is being constructed. No stops. Nothing to really see anyway.

At the southern end of La Digue is L’Union Estate Park. Formerly a coconut and vanilla plantation, this was our destination. Our escort led us to two young ladies and explained that they would be taking us on a tour of the plantation, starting with a coconut husking demonstration. This is where things became weird.

Upon learning that we’d be walking for about 30-40 minutes around the plantation, two or three people said that they did not want to do the tour. Instead, they wanted to go to the beach that was mentioned in the description. The beach was on the plantation property, so one of the young ladies started to escort those people to a small truck that would take them to the beach. The next thing we knew, only four of us were left behind to do the tour with Zoe!!! Alrighty then.

As we wandered around the plantation, we followed the various steps in the production of coprah … the dried white flesh of the coconut. Once the husk is removed, the nut is broken open and placed in the kiln to dry. During the process, the flesh shrinks, making it very easy to remove it from the nut. Next, the flesh is milled to produce coconut oil. We saw the original mill, which was operated by an ox, but the process has been replaced by a modern mill that is operated by a motor. I later read that to make one pail of coconut oil 35 kilos of coprah must be milled, a process that takes two hours.

The plantation house was our final stop here. The house is considered to be a symbol of La Digue. One of the oldest examples of French colonial architecture in Seychelles, it was once the home of a Mauritian family. Zoe said that nine different types of wood were used in the construction, but that the most popular woods are coconut, mahogany, and takamaka.

We wrapped up the tour by going to see the giant Aldabra tortoises in their outdoor pen. These long-lived tortoises are legally protected in Seychelles. It is estimated that they can live up to 250 years, though that is hard to prove since no one person has lived that long to verify it. Zoe said that the ones in the pen were around 90 years old.

Hopping back in a camionette, we were then taken to Anse Source D’Argent, an amazingly beautiful beach where massive granite boulders add character to the scenery. A band of lush vegetation provides shade along the edge of the white sand beach … the water is pristine and warm. The best scenery is from the water looking back towards land. Alas, I wasn’t willing to risk walking out with my phone in hand, so my photos are from the beach looking out (with one exception).

We had almost two hours at the beach. It was comfortable enough in the shade, but under the sun it was brutally hot. I found a spot to leave my bag and went in for a dip a few times to cool off. All too soon, it was time to return to where the camionettes were waiting to take us back to the tender pier.

This was a beach Mui would have loved. I’m sorry he wasn’t able to enjoy it today. Perhaps someday we will return to enjoy more of Seychelles on a land-based trip.Read more