Location: Baie Beau Vallon, Seychelles
Another rough 4:30 wakeup today for the other half of the crew today. I was woken up by Cait, and my response was an angry “no, I had watch last night let me sleep,” until I realized we were going surfing. Lots of tired faces on the dark dinghy ride to the beach and the taxi ride to the beach, but all was resolved once we hit the beach. The second surf team was greeted with smaller waves today, but they were perfect for beginners. We surfed the morning away until 10 when the tide was too low. We stopped at a little restaurant by the beach for milkshakes, and a pick me up after a morning in the sun. Everyone was super tired but pushed through, carried by the excitement for snack buying.
After the hour-long taxi ride with incredible views of the Seychelles (and real plants!! haven’t seen those in a while), we arrived in Eden and were let loose. We had the freedom to go where we wanted and, most importantly, eat where we wanted. All of us were shocked when we were actually served our food and had a whole menu of options. Boat life is amazing, but everything on land seems like a luxury now. Parents, you will be getting back some grateful kids. After souvenir shopping, we all headed back to Beau Vallon for groceries and, shocker, more food. We shopped the afternoon away, buying oodles of snacks in preparation for passage.
While waiting for Tom and our trusty dinghy Tia, we met a couple of the locals–two dogs we played with for about an hour. They played fetch with us and kept us company until we had to leave, giving us all our dog fix of the day. When we arrived back on Vela, the groups swapped stories of their days. The divers told us all about what they got to do diving-wise and their chill time on the boat, and we shared stories of our land adventures and showed off our new goods (except the snacks, which were hidden immediately). It was a good day for all of us here in paradise! Everyone has a free night to go to bed “early” to catch up on sleep for a day of diving tomorrow.
-Emily
Photo;
1. Aerial of surfing
2. Surf beach
3. Our local friends