The mosquito nets are pulled back just before sunrise. Coffee is made and we take our places at the table under the eaves – we meet the day quietly. The weather is always a little different but beautiful, even in the rain. Our bungalow sits about ten stories above the beach on a steep ridge that faces north – our view is across the rolling waves of Petite Anse, also known as Anse La Liberte. The sun rises slowly over the hills from our right – painting the clouds in that warm light that only seems to exist in the tropics. As we open our journals to write what needs to be written each morning, the sound of morning birds and breaking waves is the soundtrack. Screens are off – anything outside of our current vision does not exist.
After a second cup we head out onto the trails for the morning exercise. The hilly paths provide us with a heart racing workout as well as the best morning views. We meet few people on the hills – we have the mornings to ourselves. Sweating, we arrive back and cool off in the pool. The neighbors start to stir – we dress and go to breakfast.
Few people are at breakfast at the open-air restaurant, but there are a lot of birds who are only interested in stealing my croissant. One person must always wait at the table to fend off the mynas, the fodys, and the little doves that we only see at breakfast. The small red Madagascar Fody is the most aggressive – we have nicknamed him Butch – he is a dick. The mynas are the loudest. They swoop in and perch on the rafters then scream their heads off. The doves are always quietly underfoot waiting for crumbs.
Daytime on Petite Anse is active. The beaches in the Seychelles are all public to the high-water line so there are fresh faces each day. For half of our stay an offshore storm was bringing in rain and big waves that were fun to splash around in. On calm days, the reef just offshore is teeming with sea life, snorkelers, kayakers, and the occasional fishing boat. It is the cold season so in the afternoons whale sharks are often seen further out in the bay. We spotted one from our bungalow – you know it is a big shark when you can see it from ten stories up and four hundred meters away.
Afternoons are for rest and meditation. Adjacent to our bungalow is a small open-sided pagoda with a large comfortable daybed perched out over the trees below. We spent most of our afternoons reading and meditating and shooting landscape photos from our pagoda – the landscape seemed to change so much depending on the weather. It is also a great location to see one of the most interesting wildlife specimens of the Seychelles – the Flying Fox. We have been to places in the past that boasted a large population of bats (Fiji, India, SE Asia), but the flying fox in the Seychelles has few predators so it is out during the day.
Cocktail hour is promptly at 18:00 each evening. My martini and Blondie’s glass of wine are served before we get settled into our chairs. One evening the bartender let me make my own martini so he would make it exactly the way I like it from then on. As we sip, the sun goes down over the bay. Our fellow imbibers speak many different languages – mostly French, Russian, and Arabic. It is nice to not know what people are saying. We are all alone together.
Dinner is served in one of the three open-air restaurants. My favorite is the Steak Shack on the beach. White picnic tables on the sugar sand beach – waves breaking just a few yards away – a nice breeze – the stars above – and a wagyu ribeye as big as my head served just the way it should be.
After dinner we finish our wine then climb back up the hill for one last dip in the pool where we float and look at the stars. The mosquito nets are pulled shut – the little lizards and frogs sing us to sleep…
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