What We Did in La Digue (Seychelles)

La Digue is the fourth largest and third most populated of the Seychelles, with over 2,000 inhabitants.

Getting here from Praslin is quite easy. There is a Inter-Island Ferry that runs a couple times a day, takes about 20 minutes, and costs 10 Euros per person one-way.

We spent two days in La Digue and I would have to say that it is my favorite of the three islands we visited. It was very very laid-back, hardly any traffic, and lovely beaches. Here are some of our photos…

Sunshine Guesthouse – we stayed here for 80 Euro per night including breakfast. The guesthouse is just a 10 minute leisurely walk from the jetty. Diana thinks it looks like the Polyanna house from the outside:

Sunshine Guesthouse

We had a room right in front of the beach (not swimmable due to high waves and it didn’t look particularly clean) but we it was lovely to have the sound of the crashing waves lull us to sleep.

La Digue is pretty small and except for a few taxis and lorries, no other vehicles are allowed on the island. Everyone gets around on bicycles. As the weather had cleared up a bit (but not enough to go to the beach) we decided to hire bikes as well (10 Euros per day each):

Biking in La Digue

We biked the 10 or so minutes to the center of the island, and when the path got too steep, we pushed our bikes as far uphill as we could humanly manage, and then abandoned them altogether and just hiked up, aiming for Nid Aigle, the highest point in La Digue:

Hiking Up to Nid Aigle

We made it as far as the bar:

Belle Vue Snack Bar

Nothing like a nice cold beer after a strenuously steep uphill hike nor a nice fresh and tasty mango juice:

Belle Vue Snack Bar

We did try to make it to the top of the mountain. We maybe had 20-30 more minutes to climb. But then we got distracted by this not-so-little guy, a baby giant tortoise, that looks like it got stuck in the mud during the rainstorm:

Giant Tortoise

And because of the heavy rains, the trail was no longer visible and I decided not to risk it in case Diana fell off the mountain (which she’s prone too…it runs in the family so I guess I’m prone to as well) and no one would hear our cries for help. We headed down the mountain, back onto our bikes, and pedaled over to Grand Anse for some sunbathing.

The next day, we headed out after breakfast to do some more diving. We had made arrangements with Octopus Divers in Praslin to pick us up at the La Digue jetty as the one and only dive operator in La Digue had shut down operations a few months ago. Sadly, White Tip Divers (the op we had dived with in Praslin) did not do the La Digue run.

When the boat from Octopus Divers showed up at our jetty, we discovered that they had not brought full dive equipment for Diana (no fins!) – they then blamed it on us not making reservations. I promptly told them that I spoke to someone personally and that that someone was standing right next to me. By the time a passerby had offered to find Diana some fins, she was pissed off enough and passed on the whole dive trip. I told her I’d meet her at the next beach and off I went diving. The seas were still pretty rough (again thank god for Dramamine!), we went to a dive site by Felicite Island. The diving wasn’t very good – just rocks, again hardly any coral, fish life was so-so, visibility was even worse than before and our DM was way too chill. I don’t need to be babysat underwater but compared to White Tip Divers, this operator left a lot to be desired.

A juvenile Blue Triggerfish:

Spadefish?

A little remora shark that hung out with me during my safety stop:

After my dive, I grabbed my bike and pedaled over to Anse Source d´Argent to meet Diana. As I approached this beach, I could see why it is listed as yet another one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.