Final Proper Honeymoon Dinner, Mahe Seychelles
I slept an anxious sleep last night thinking about having to leave this ship, this lifestyle and having to return to work and the bitter cold of NYC. We had to vacate our cabin by 8am and the ship by 10am, so the time between was spent eating and acting sad. At 10am we reluctantly headed down the gangway and into the final 3 days of our honeymoon.
Finding a taxi took a few minutes but eventually we were all packed up and driving to the other side of the island. This included driving on narrow roads over a mountain, which was scary at times but afforded us beautiful views of Mahe – what an amazing place – 1,000 miles from anywhere to be sure. Dave had arranged for us to stay at Le Meridian, which turned out to be absolutely perfect. The hotel itself blended into the landscape; it didn’t have any walls and was literally ON the beach. There were palm trees in the lobby and they weren’t planted or fake – outside was inside at this hotel.
After lunch of chicken curry, fish, octopus, skewers (chicken and beef) and Creole tapas (which included pickled octopus and other tasty food that I never would have ordered but was glad I did), we set out on a very honeymoon-ish, romantic beach walk. It wasn’t really billed as such of course, neither of us being the sappy type, but that is what it evolved into. The weather was very warm but soon it grew slightly cloudy so we were both very comfortable. Being the Seychelles, the beach was absolutely vacant. We walked hand in hand for nearly the entire length of the beach and only saw 2 people in the distance the whole time. We explored the water, found many crab holes and their sand-white inhabitants darting across the sand and generally took our time picking up coral and shells and looking at the sky. We spotted an area of the ocean that seemed shallow so we began walking out. We managed to walk out very far yet the water was at our knees. Tiny fish circled. We stood there in complete isolation and just took everything in. Everything was still and silent. We stared at the water and at each other and realized for the first time maybe that it was just us. It will always be the two of us.
Soon it began to ran and we darted under a tree and then “into” the hotel to take cover. We sat under an overhang and had a drink just watching it rain. I almost liked it better than the sun. In about 20 minutes it had stopped and I managed to convince Dave to come in the pool. The water was completely flat and it too was empty (we carefully avoided the trees that contained the spiders the side of my hand). Dave and I had a lot of fun enjoying the water and having a little swimming lesson. I actually think we made progress!! I noticed Dave REALLY tries to keep himself out of the water when he’s swimming, as if he’s trying to levitate out of the water. Once I told him that this is impossible, and that its normal for the water to almost come up to your mouth, he seemed to calm down and everything was easier for him. He still can’t do the arm motions and leg motions at the same time, and he still believes that treading water is impossible despite my showing him, but I think maybe if he was dropped in the ocean he wouldn’t die!
After swimming we showered and got ready for dinner. Dinner was honeymoon-ish event #2 for the day. We had asked for a table in total isolation on the beach and had pre-ordered lobsters with awesome shrimp and scallop appetizers. It was going to be extravagant and amazing. Because of the threat of rain, they moved us under an overhang, but we were still on the beach and we were still alone. They had put beautiful flowers on the table and we had no need to even order anything as we had done everything beforehand. The Thai shrimp appetizer was amazing, as was the shrimp and scallop in butter and garlic. Next were the lobsters. These lobsters were some of the tastiest I’ve ever had. They were grilled with spices and filled with delicious meat that we then dipped in butter and garlic sauce. It was the most over the top meal I’d ever had, just sitting on the beach in the darkness next to my fantastic husband. We were both giddy with how perfect everything was. We looked up and I’ve never seen so many stars in my life. I never knew so many existed! There wasn’t a spot of black on the entire sky – just stars and the crashing waves next to us.
Well, this would be hard to top but we were certainly going out on a high note. Next we packed, I took an hour nap, and then it was 12:30 and time to go to the airport. The taxi didn’t show, so the hotel tried to call another. This guy wanted to charge us 5 euros extra because he had been sleeping. Tough. Seriously, then don’t get up and make 35 euro for 40 minutes of work. The hotel argued for us in Creole and we sorted it all out. The mountain that we had to drive over scared me though, because this driver was now pissed and out 5 euros and was driving like a crazy person up a mountain. It was ok though as the road was pretty isolated. We began the decent down the other side of the mountain and saw the Silver Wind through the trees in the harbor. We both looked at each other and for a moment were very sad. Well, no time for that though….time for flying to Qatar.
:-*