Saturday April 25, 2026
Hi All! We’re in Africa! Well, sorta. Today we are in The Seychelles. It is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean off East Africa. It’s home to numerous beaches, coral reefs and nature preserves as well as rare animals such as the giant Aldabra tortoises. It is officially The Republic of Seychelles and is the smallest country in Africa with a population of 120,000. Despite being part of Africa, it has a distinct Creole culture with strong African, European, and Asian influences.
Today we were actually at two different islands in The Seychelles. At 7 AM we anchored off the island of Praslin and did an excursion from there. Then at 3 PM the boat moved and docked at Port Victoria on the Seychelles island of Mahe and we’ll stay overnight there and do an excursion tomorrow.
Our excursion today from Praslin was called “La Digue Highlights”. We started with a tender boat ride to Praslin then took a ferry to the island of La Digue which is the 4th largest island of The Seychelles. We took an open air truck to L’Union Estate for a glimpse into the by gone days of plantation life. They showed how they use coconuts to make coconut milk and oil.
We then got to see many giant Aldabra tortoises. Kathy even got to feed them! They are huge and can live to be 120 years old. The ones we saw were mostly 60-80 years old (mere youngsters!) but we also saw some 1-2 year old babies. They were so ugly they were cute!
We then walked to the Anse Source D’Argent beach. It had huge boulders all around it and the views were spectacular. We could have swam but decided to just chill and take in the views. We then returned to the boat around 1 PM and grabbed a light lunch.
We chilled for the afternoon while the boat moved to dock at Port Victoria on the island of Mahe. Victoria is the capital of The Seychelles. We then got ready for dinner and met Colleen, Steve, Phyllis and Rick at La Veranda. Regent was supposed to have a big outdoor BBQ around the pool but due to inclement weather they moved it inside to La Veranda.
They had the tons of food they normally have at the deck BBQ so we chowed down big time. And had a great time chatting thru dinner. They are all from Dallas so they were able to connect and compare hometown notes. Both couples will also be on the 2028 World Cruise together so they had fun discussing that! Uh-oh… we’re getting FOMO!!! Should we do the 2028 WC????? Lol
After dinner we went to the show. They originally did not have a show planned tonight due to the deck party but when that got cancelled, they asked the two guys from last night (the This Ones For You group) to do one more show. So they sang songs from Jersey Boys and some Elton John. They also had a surprise guest and brought Elaine Gray on and they sang songs from Phantom of the Opera. They all put on a great show!
Since we got up so early today and have to get up early again tomorrow for an excursion, we crashed after the show. Tomorrow we are still in the Seychelles on the island of Mahe. Hope everybody had a great day!
PS: We also got to Face Time the grandkids so that made the day extra special. They loved the big turtle videos!
The Wandering Italian 