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CORALREPUBLIC Seychelles
2004
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Trip
dates: |
17 – 20 July 2004 |
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Boat
/ resort: |
Berjaya Mahe Beach Resort in Mahe (I
don’t think this hotel is open any more?, it is not
listed in the Berjaya chain website), B&Bs in La Digue
and Praslin Islands, found on the go |
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Dive
centre: |
Big Blue Divers in Mahe, La Digue Island Lodge Dive Centre in La Digue |
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Photo-friendly?: |
Day boats with
basic facilities. |
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Number
of dives: |
2 dives in Mahe, 2 dives in La Digue. |
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Diving
conditions: |
Variable weather,
windy, choppy seas. No currents. Water temperature 26°C. Visibility was not
great, a bit better in La Digue than in Mahe. |
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Comments: |
I only did four
dives in the Seychelles around a week of meetings there. Seychelles is where
the headquarters of the Indian Ocean Tuna Comission
is, and I went there to negotiate a new fisheries arrangement. July is probably
not the right diving season in Seychelles. Choppy seas stirred up a lot of
fine sediment. Probably, this has something to do with the fact that the
reefs were not very healthy. I was told that the corals had been hit hard by
the Indian Ocean Nino event of 1998, and had not recovered. Even so, there
were critters around and I got some decent shots. The dive centres I went
with had good enough boats for day dives. The sites were really close and the
diving logistics were simple to handle. I note though that when I went diving
in Mahe, the dive guide came to fetch me up at my
hotel in the Eastern coast, drove me across the island and then drove me back
after the dives, he even stopped to show me a few places and views. Nice. I don’t think the
Seychelles are a good dive destination as such, even if they advertise as a
hot point for whale sharks in the right season (September). Their tourism
policy is to attract the kind of clientele interested in extremely luxurious
and therefore expensive resorts. Hard core divers don’t generally go for
this, and certainly will not pay such a price for so-so diving quality. A
cruise to the Aldabra Atoll, however, sounds like a dream dive trip, but the
season is very short, the place very remote, and therefore the cruise is long
and costs a fortune. Maybe some day. Pictures taken
with my Olympus C-5040Z and its internal strobe. |
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