Port Victoria, Island of Mahe, Seychelles

For those who love beaches in extremely hot climates with excessively high humidity then this will be the place for you.  For myself a day at the beach is never a considered option as I would burn up in a matter of seconds. All of P&O excursions at this location entailed many hours in the sun either on a catamaran or on a beach so I decided to save my money and have a wander around the very petite city of Port Victoria by myself.

We were told that it was a 10 minute walk from the ship into the city centre.  Walking an average of 4 miles per day back home I consider myself to be pretty fit but the walk took me 20 minutes and by the time I arrived at the silver Clock Tower I was dripping with perspiration.

I took a few moments rest beside the beautiful water fountain graced by a very small statue of none other than Queen Victoria.

Apparently the original fountain was donated in 1900 to celebrate the 60th. anniversary of Victoria's reign.  The current statue is a replacement dating from 1993 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 40 year reign.  I might add that I had my own bottle of water so did not have to test whether the rather cracked structure did actually dispense crystal liquid refreshment.

Rested and refreshed I set off to explore the town. 

Stagnet nullah's everywhere:

A colourful Hindu Shrine here;

Statues of creatures great and small there:

But most of all nature at it's best, producing wonderful colourful blooms:

Not to mention a ?heron relaxing in the waterways (forgive me but recognising birds is not a speciality!)

I did venture into a few local shops but inside they were dark, dank and dismal and none tempted me to part with my hard earned cash. However, a few stalls set up beside the ship did provide some vibrant cotton sarongs:

The local people did not have any desire to serve the "people off the ship" and the whole town had an air of delapidation.  This could not come close to the S.E. Asian ports that we had visited and of the lovely people we had met to date.

The overriding memory of the day will be of the smell of fish, fish and more fish.  When I returned to the ship the smell had even pervaded the air-conditioning system so that all I could smell within the cool cabin was MORE FISH! 

To say that I was relieved when we pushed off from the berth at 5.30 pm to the strains of "Rule Brittania" at the sailaway party is an understatement.  Everyone looks for something different in a port.  For myself I have no desires to visit the Seychelles ever again.

I wonder what Mauritius will have to offer.