SATURDAY, APR 3RD--PRASLIN, SEYCHELLES

Early this morning we moved 25 miles to the island of Praslin. This time there was no dock so had to take tenders ashore. Rebecca had enough of the heat yesterday so I went on the tour with Barry, who we dined with last night. John & Cynthia, our neighbors, and Barbara was also part of our group. When we got ashore we transferred to a very nice air conditioned ferry for a 15 minute ride to the small but picturesque island of La Digue for our tour. Once there our taxis awaited us! Well, ok, our ox carts awaited us. They each held about 10 people and took us for a 30 minute ride to an old place where coconuts were baked then ground to yield coconut oil. No mechanization here as you will see in the pictures. Then another short ox cart ride past a vanilla bean plantation to one of the finest beaches in the world. It was a photographer’s dream. The granite rocks seemed to be lifted out of the beach area and made for some interesting photos. I even found one that thousands of years ago had been on the ocean floor, as very old coral was on it. Barry and I walked quite a ways taking lots of photos and enjoying the white sand beaches, about 200 yards of coral reef, and then the deep blue waters of the Indian Ocean surrounding the island. It was soooooo hot again today and very little breeze to get cool. Some of our group went swimming but I don’t like to go where fish are. We were all glad to get back to the ferry for the return ride to the pier and then take the tender back to the ship. It was so hot and humid that I did not feel some of the older passengers should have been on this tour. Oh, well! I was very glad to get back to the suite and hit the shower. The internet was back working so I wanted to get busy uploading the pictures that I took the past few days here in the Seychelles onto the blog. As I am writing this, 166 photos are uploading onto “The Seychelles” album on this blog. I hope you enjoy them. This evening at 7pm we will pull the anchor and sail almost due west to Mombasa, Kenya in Africa. So we will be at sea for two days through ocean waters that are also plied by Somali pirates. You may have read a couple days ago that the Navy caught 5 pirates here in the Seychelles as they were attacking a large fishing boat from these islands. I have a feeling our ship may have a naval escort but just my feeling. Today some locals were saying that drones are being used by the military to patrol the waters as well as satellites. When we get to Mombasa I will tell you what other security measure we have with us. So please do not worry about our safety. Also the internet is up and down a lot in this area, so if you don’t hear from me, that is the reason. Ok, tonight we have been invited to join the hotel director, Michael, and his wife, Stephanie, at their table in the Compass Rose. On Regent, the Hotel Director is big boss on the ship. The Captain even reports to him. Interesting?? Michael and Stephanie are really nice so we are excited about tonight. Regent singers and orchestra are doing “Beatles Night” show tonight. Photos are loading slowly. Last one is pic of back end of our ship so if you don't see it try again later.