Adventure!

I am currently on Praslin (once again) after a few short but wonderful days on Curieuse Island and National Park where I spent my time helping out trying to build up the other GVI base. Mostly this involved schlepping things to and from the ranger station to "Our House" -- pretty much heaven.

Our house (on Cureiuse) is on a long sandy beach called Anse Jose and faces Praslin. The water is clear blue and the bottom sandy with an occasional rock which is a beacon for any sort of marine life.

How do you describe three wonderfully perfect days? I don't even know where to begin... First of all, Curieuse is both a terrestrial and a marine national park. Second of all, very few people get to stay there. Pretty much just the rangers, us, and the Giant Tortoises (who, by the way, love being scratched under the neck)...

We spent the days working, pulling apart a-frames, moving wood, and trying to escape the endless summer sun that was beating down upon us. Our nights were spent (mind you there were only six of us) playing Oh Hell and drinking beers and wine..l

The atmosphere was really peacefully and I have to say that it was by far my favorite part of the trip so far. I also did this pretty neat rock scramble / climb / boulder near the ranger station and got to the top of this really cool rock formation.

We snorkeled one day in supposedly shark infested water, despite the visibility being crap, the waves being huge, and well my enormous fear of sharks... Before we set off the rangers said "watch out, the monsoon weather has brought up the big ones..." but we weren't really sure if they were joking or not. At one point I got really far away from the group... In the past I would have bee-lined it for the nearest shore but now I was able to remain relatively calm. (Despite knowing there were, perhaps, 4 meter lemon sharks -- 4th most dangerous in the world -- swimming with or around or perhaps nowhere near me.

Curieuse is a pretty neat island. Besides the giant tortoises it used to be a Leper colony so there are a ton of abandoned buildings from the turn of the century. While it should feel creepy, I think its impossible for it to: especially when compared to the torn apart school ground that we're used to...

The most frustrating aspects have been the water shortages, the lack of anything decent to eat, and, well, the inescapable heat. It gets so muggy at night you feel like you are suffocating. I sleep next to the window and waited patiently for three hours before even a breath of wind came to cool me down.

On our way back today, the skies opened up and we got absolutely drenched. But so it goes... Now, I am in an internet cafe trying to get warm but failing at it. Curieuse was great and I think I have finally cured my fear of sharks...maybe...possibly...

Currently reading: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Just Read: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad....

Well its raining once again, my thoughts are scattered with all the mad dashing to-and-fro and trying to stay dry syndrome...

***

Note: I lost my cellphone over here. Whoops. My bad. (about time, isn't that what you are thinking?) So, sorry to my family but I don't know when I'll get to ringing you again...

And a late shout-out to Julie Blue for being awesome and watching my canary yellow upside down backpack.

Leigh Leigh, I can't believe you bought your wedding dress without me! Gah! Scary! Crazy! I want to see it!

Hearts, hugs, and all other things good.
- Sazz

P.s. for those of you interested, I will be getting into Boston at 11 am on August 5. Yeehaw.

Wow! What a weekend full of adventure! La Digue and Praslin were absolutely incredible.

La Digue
It felt as though I stepped back in time... Ox cart taxis and only a few scattered trucks running about streets that were simply overtaken with bicycles (amazing). Everyone road bikes.

After settling into our guest house, we took out bicycles and literally road down every road possible. It was fantastic riding up and down hills and visiting beach after beach. We saw all the "post card" beaches that are famously displayed whenever you google image the Seychelles. We also had a simply marvelous time going around by bike. I missed having pedals beneath my feet! La Digue is a very small island and we covered it in an entire day. For lunch we had hamburgers on the beach followed by a snorkel and a book reading session. I saw a moray eel and a couple of surgeon fish...nothing too exciting though I did manage to snap a nice shot of the eel!

After, we continued our trip down the edge of the coast stopping here and there for pictures and to wipe away the heaps of sweat that layered on. (Disgusting). For the most part it was a very relaxed day...

The night we went to a restaurant overlooking Praslin and Curie use island and watched the sunset (beautiful) while drinking cocktails. The night sky unfolded as if an artist were painstakingly choosing just the right golden hues. Our night continued by watching the constellations unveil themselves...really just the southern cross and the big dipper (which I didn't know you could see in the southern hemisphere!).

All and all it was a lovely day!

Praslin
Before we left for Praslin we were treated to a very elegant breakfast of egg, toast, and fresh fruit juice. We walked back to the ferry terminal and on the way stopped to admire a farmers "new-age scare crows" which were these super creepy manikins looking at computers and playing with telephones. For some reason, it reminded me of Fahrenheit 451, though I am not quite sure why...

We then stopped and chatted with a local man who was selling souvenirs and I ended up walking away with necklace. The ferry ride back to Praslin was short but beautiful. The wind let-up so there were no waves and it was a smooth, peaceful ride.

We got to Praslin and randomly decided to rent a car because it was CHEAPER than taking a taxi to our first destination and gave us greater flexibility as well. Emma drove (props to her for handling left-lane) and I navigated. Raph and Sam provided their UK and Australlian wisdom throughout our journey...

Our first stop was Vallee de Mai, which had been my one goal on this trip as it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I cannot explain the happiness I felt at having done what I set out to do. We paid an outrageous park entrance fee and then hiked around for an hour and a half covering all of the parks trails. It was really exciting to be there and to see the Coco de Mer trees. While there was nothing truly "spectacular" about the site (I knew I would see the Coco De Mers on Curieuse when I go there on Wednesday for four days), there was something tremendously wonderful about having done what I set out to do -- and to simply see that the Seychellois recognize the importance of having something "unique" to their country and that it is worth protecting. This was, without a doubt, one of my favorite stops for the day.

We then drove up the coast and stopped at Le Monde Cafe and had wonderful sandwiches. I had the Praslin Club which was bacon, chicken, and fried egg -- basically amazing before continuing on our journey. We did as much "circumnavigation" as possible and drove as far as the roads would take us.

Our end destination was Anse Lazoir (sp?) the beach rated the number 1 beach in the world... It was amazing: Sand, waves, a few large granitic boulders, sailboats, and deep water.

I got in the water and didn't get out till it was time to go. The first part I spent snorkeling (though there wasn't really anything to see, except look for shells). The rest of it I spent body-surfing. I must have body-surfed for about 1.5 hours with Raph. It was incredible though you had to be careful not to lose your top and after every wave you had sand pretty much every-where.

On my second wave my feet literally went over my head and I washed all the way up the beach -- in short, it was amazing. We stayed at this marvelous place for the remainder of the afternoon until we had to catch our ferry home, back to Mahe. Our ride back was quite enjoyable as we got to have a sunset cruise...

Anyways that takes me to this very moment and I have to jet!

Have a good week everyone.
<3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Sazz

Just a quick little update, nothing to long.

Current Location: La Digue

This week has flown by, partyly because we moved our weekend to be Friday-Saturday rather than Saturday-Sunday due to the tides here. Plus it has actually been SUNNY. What a relief! Last night we threw a halloween party (random, but awesome) and everyone dressed up in their best effort...it was amazing seeing what people could do with a little bit of creativity and the surrounding resources (including but certainly not limited to palm trees and coconut husks...)

I spent a lot of time this week making a garden for base because I need to stay active and can't stand sitting still for too long. Emma and I did our second solo dive together (The first was last week and was....interesting). This time it went amazingly well (I navigated) and we found a turtle (our goal) and followed it for seven minutes while recording its behavior: what it was doing, eating, and why...we are involved in helping try to figure out what happens to turtles during t heir "lost years" (the years between when they are boirn and become adults). Pretty Cool Stuff.

I also went and scoped out this huge granatic spire behind our kitchen one afternoon and decided that I would like to try and climb part of it. Two of the guys here are climbers so I think we are going to have a go at it next week...who knows! But it looks pretty sick (minus the fact that it's surround in coconut spiders which are big, scary, and creepy).

The diving has been pretty fantastic this last week as visibility is finally getting better. 25 meters vs. 2-5 meters makes a huge different. We also went to a better divesite (LIght house vs. Bay Ternae Central) and there were a lot of huge fish (snappers, emporers, bat fish, sharks ect.)

I helped in a Plankton tow this week to detemine how much plankton is in the water and to determine what types (I feel ignorant not knowing that different types existed) and trying to determine correlations between that and whale shark activity... so far no one has seen any. But we did have the "world expert" (no joke) on whale sharks come in and give us a presentation on whale sharks and on the grou p that lives here. There are about 355-480 resident whale sharks (juveniles) that come into the Seychelles from about June-October. They haven't gotten here yet and I am beginning to doubt I will see them -- but that's ok because I've seen a ton of other cool stuff.

On the Plankton tow, we did not see any sharks but I did specifically jump in the water to go looking for them. What on earth is WRONG with me! ( Don't worry, I was as weirded out and scared as ever! especially bewcause the vis was so poor!)

This weekend I am spending on La Digue and Praslin, two other islands that are apart of the Seychelles. On Wednesday, I am going to Curieuse Island for four nights...I am really excited about that because I get to see the Giant Tortoises and there are a lot of sharks and turtles in the water when you go snorkeling. (Yes, I am excited about seing sharks!)

The ferry over to Praslin and then to La Digue was AWESOME. Man I love the ocean. Huge roller coaster waves...I guess the fetch for the waves was the entire Indian Ocean so...makes sense!

Anyways, I got to jet... I am sure the internet here is costing me an arm and a leg.

XOXO.
- Sazzle << my UK nickname.