So the Pirate begins choosing the perfect ship to land in Mahe, Seychelles. There were two options, either to ship via Lanka, using Mihin Lanka Airlines (budget option) or through the shores of Dubai using Etihad Airways (Better option). Mihin Lanka had a decent stop over time in Colombo. The end to end time using Etihad Airways, including stopver at Abu Dhabi, Int’l Airport or Dubai Int’l Airport, UAE from India is 11 Hours.
There is no direct flight to Seychelles from most of the countries. All flights are generally connected through Abu Dhabi, Int’l Airport, UAE or Dubai Int’l Airport, UAE. The connecting flight is operated by their National Airline “Air Seychelles”.
Time Difference in Abu Dhabi from New Delhi: Clock is 1 Hour 30 Minutes behind
The Duty free shops at Abu Dhabi, Int’l Airport are really good and you can fetch some really great Electronic/Fragrances/ confectionary deals here.
Our connecting flight was at 2:00 AM landing us at Mahe, Seychelles 6:35 AM in the morning.
You can get the first feel of Creole culture through the language of Flight attendants, the in-flight Creole’meals and their courtesy. On board, you may also try the vanilla tea, one of the Seychelles’ speciality.
I was sleeping through the flight mostly, until the flight attendant made the announcement for Flight Descent to the Mahe Airport. As I opened my Window cover ups, my eyes got lit up on the morning sunshine rays spreading over the clouds. It was really quite a sight. We were still above the clouds and slowly beginning our descent.
Mahe Airport, Seychelles
This is a picture of Mahe Airport, Seychelles. As you can see the strip was right by the side of Ocean. While the flight was landing – Run way appeared very small in length than regular Run Way strips and from the other side of the plane, it almost seemed like we are landing right into the Ocean.
Though it only appeared scary, the Pilots landed us very safely onto the Airport. 
Air Seychelles at the Airport
You will be required to show your Hotel Stay Vouchers along with return tickets at the Immigration Desk. The peculiar thing was the immigration stamp, which was the shape of "Coco-de-Mer". One understands the importance of this tree to the Seychelles Islands, but protecting the heritage by inscribing into every detail was something I had not expected.
As soon as you come out of immigration checks, you will see a number of Hotel Desks (ranging from 3 star resorts to 5 stars). Also, there will be Stalls with multiple members of two of the bigger travel agencies:
- Mason’s Travel
- Creole Travel Services
The reason I have quoted them here is, because even though you may have booked your Hotel Stay and other sightseeing options with any of the Tour Operators in your countries. It is almost sure that they would refer you to meet one of their agents only as your Tour Manager/guides. Everywhere I moved around Seychelles, I found the cabs/bus/yachts/agents of both these travel agencies.
This is to say, both of them were pretty awesome in their services. Always came on time, offered complete package from food/water/pick up and drop facility for each of their sightseeing tours. They had very courteous and polite staff too.
Initially, I had only booked Hotels and Airport Pick up – Drops from Mason Travels. So, one of their members holding my placard directed me to Mason’s stall. They handed me a Traveler’s Kit, containing the MAP of all three islands, Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, Sightseeing options they offered, a travel itinerary, Hotel Details, manager details and a few face wipes.
After that, we headed towards the Jetty from where we will be taking a ferry to Praslin Island, 2nd Largest Island of Seychelles and home to the World heritage “Valle’-de-Mai”. The route from Airport to Mahe, Jetty was a beautiful boulevard with fountains and palm trees. It took us about 20 minutes to cover the distance.
We reached the Mahe, Jetty around 9 AM. However, the first ferry to Praslin leaves at around 10 AM in the morning. So, we had 1 hour at our disposal, which we utilized by sitting in Mason’s Office, right next to the Ticket Counter and inquiring about charges of various sightseeing tours offered by them. There is also a restro-pub in the jetty area, where we bought some bottles of Mineral Water and had our breakfast. There are two snack joints right behind the Ticket counter complex, in case you’re looking for a quick bite.
Cat Cocos is the primary Inter Island Operator in the Seychelles traversing frequently between the three major islands i.e Mahe, Praslin and La Digue.
Time Taken from Mahe to Praslin: Approx 1 Hours
Time Taken from Praslin to La Digue: Approx 30 Minutes
You can see their complete schedule here.
Cat Cocos Boat
Just besides the Ticket Counter, at Mahe, Jetty, Cat Cocos has a baggage collection/Check-IN counter. You can deposit your luggage at the counter and roam around the Jetty Area freely; they will take care of the loading/unloading part.
Inside Cat Cocos- “Coco de Mer” Class
The Boat dropped us to the Praslin Island at around 11:30 AM. The sitting area was centrally Air Conditioned with an on-board snack shop. Journey started with a brief Seychelles Tourism video, after which they played a short comedy movie to last the trip. As soon as we arrived on the Praslin Jetty (Baie St Anne Jetty), there was a bus of Mason’s Travel waiting for us and their other clients, to drop us one by one to our respective Hotels. We were staying at Berjaya Praslin Beach Resort. More about the resort, is detailed here.
We have been travelling since yesterday, so we decided a peaceful sleep is all we need to rejuvenate ourselves for the days ahead. After a quick lunch, we crashed on to our bed and slept sound till late eve.
In the evening, we went to buy some stuff like Mineral Water Cans, some Energy Bars and other small grocery items. There was a farish shop -”a small Mini-Market” right next to the resort. So we didn’t have to move any bit to buy daily stuff. Since, we were staying at the same resort for 5 days, we decided to try other places in subsequent nights and test out our resort for the night.
The first night we went to the “Pizzeria”, our resort’s dining restaurant, which is right on the beach. It had some floodlights lighting up the white sand beach. It has a decent spread with reasonable pricing, but the food wasn't exciting. We had a pizza and seafood salad.
After the meal, we had a nice walk around the beach, with waves slowly licking out feet and returning back to ocean. We also saw a few white hermit crabs peeking out to us in the darker regions of the beach, so we decided not to disturb them and return for sleep.
After the meal, we had a nice walk around the beach, with waves slowly licking out feet and returning back to ocean. We also saw a few white hermit crabs peeking out to us in the darker regions of the beach, so we decided not to disturb them and return for sleep.
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