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suetravelblog · 6 years

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Approaching Sainte Anne Island

The day trip to Sainte Anne Marine National Park is one of my favorite Seychelles experiences. People in the group were as interesting as the exotic, secluded islands we explored. I enjoyed conversations and shared a table with three fun couples:

Australian

British / South African

Seychellois

I chatted with Krishna who was from Chennai but had lived in the Seychelles for over 20 years. He’s an accountant for a luxury resort and sadly, several years ago his family moved to the UK – his wife is a physician – while he remained behind. He was happy to be joining them later in December and relocating there himself.

Beach Sainte Anne Marine Park

The Aussies – Margaret and Ray – were great company for a conversation-starved solo traveler. We enjoyed snorkeling, hiking, laughing, and sharing travel stories. The British South African couple – Jill and David – were unbelievably in their mid-80s and on a layover from a cruise. David is a talented engineer. He met Jill, who’s from Cape Town, in London, and they married 5 weeks later. They’ve lived all over the world – China, Africa, Australia, Canada, and more… Jill shared stories of her full, active life and many adventures.

Moyenne Beach Sign

The Seychellois couple – Carinne and François – were shy and quiet at first, but warmed up. Carinne had a few lively conversations with Jill and me, about Seychelles and life in general. She talked briefly about the country’s political setup and dissatisfaction with corrupt government – not a new scenario in African countries. Some islands and resorts in the archipelago are owned by wealthy people from Asian and the Middle East.

Moyenne Trail View

Catamaran Anahita and Semi-Submersible Boat

After several stormy days, the weather was remarkable and clear but extremely hot! Starting at Mahé marina, we cruised on catamaran, Anahita, for about an hour, stopping to feed colorful reef fish and revel in jaw-dropping sea and island vistas. Then, we boarded a semi-submersible boat with glass windows to view the coral reef below.

Catamaran Anahita

Our Seychellois guide provided commentary on the reef and its inhabitants. She described fringing and patch reefs, and explained how each creature living in the coral reef contributes to its survival. Some of the fish we saw included semicircle angelfish, steephead parrots fish, zebrafish, and oriental sweetlips.

Oriental Sweetlips

Steelhead Parrots Fish

Zebrafish

Semicircle Angelfish

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“Sainte Anne Marine Park provides a unique concentration of underwater ecosystems. It protects coral gardens and has one of the largest areas of seagrass meadows in the granitic bank of the Seychelles.”

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After viewing the reef, we jumped into the ocean to cool down and snorkel with the fish. The fish we saw were a bit disappointing, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed swimming in the warm Indian Ocean!

Moyenne Trail View

Marine Protected Nature Reserve

“Sainte Anne Marine National Park is about 3 miles from Mahé. It was created in 1973 to protect a group of 6 islands and is the South Western Indian Ocean’s first marine protected area. Only accessible by sea, the Park has a unique concentration of underwater ecosystems. It protects coral gardens and has one of the largest areas of seagrass meadows in the granitic bank of the Seychelles.”

Brown Noddy

Six Islands in Sainte Anne Marine Park

The Park’s nature reserve is about 6 square miles. Islands in the reserve include Moyenne, Cachée, St. Anne, Cerf, Longue, and Round. Each island has fascinating, history and folklore. The islands have thick, tropical vegetation and incredible white-sand beaches. Green sea turtles, hawksbill turtles, manta rays, bluespotted stingrays, and bottlenose dolphins are regular visitors. The water surrounding the islands is shallow. At low tide, it almost recedes completely. It’s possible to walk across the sand to other islands. Be prepared to get wet and carefully avoid shell and coral pieces.

Hawksbill Turtle

The largest island, St. Anne, was the site of the first French settlement in 1770 – a “courageous undertaking of an island surrounded by swamps teeming with crocodiles”. During World War II, St. Anne was a base for the Royal Marines defending Victoria. In the early 19th century, the island was a whaling base. Today, St. Anne is an important nesting site for hawksbill turtles.

From Moyenne Hiking Trail

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Visitors and locals share a fascination for legends of pirates and buried treasure on the islands. “Focus has been on Bel-Ombre, in the Northern part of Mahé, where it’s believed that Olivier Le Vasseur’s (a French pirate from Calais) hidden treasure worth £150 million lies.”

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Captain Morphey, a French/Irish explorer from Brittany, named the island after the Feast of Sainte Anne – celebrated upon his arrival in 1756.

Mahé Harbor Windmills

Cerf Island, the second largest island, was named after Captain Morphey’s frigate Le Cerf. The island’s shallow water and reefs are popular for snorkeling, swimming, scuba diving, and kayaking.

Secluded Beach from Moyenne Hiking Trail

Longue Island was “used by early French and Portuguese slavers as a quarantine station for slaves being transported from Africa”. Morphey named Longue for its long shape. Longue doesn’t have the extraordinary flora and fauna of the other islands.

Moyenne Island is “home to pirate graves, a chapel, the ruins of early settlers’ homes, and undiscovered buried treasure”. Giant tortoises roam freely along a walking trail surrounding the island.

Inside Semi-Submersible Boat

In 1962, an English newspaper editor, Brendon Grimshaw, bought Moyenne for £8,000. Over time, he transformed it into a giant tortoise nature preserve now worth about 34 million Euros. It’s the smallest national park in the world.

Semi-Submersible Boat

Grimshaw died in 2012 and “left the island to the national park, along with strict instructions that it must remain a park and no hotels may be built on the island”. One of Grimshaw’s dogs still lives there and is an avid fisher – we saw him in action! Grimshaw’s parents also spent time living on the island, and his father’s grave is there.

Anahita Deck

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“Brendon and his Seychellois friend, Rene Lafortune, gradually and painstakingly created a nature reserve out of what was formerly a hunk of waterless bush.”

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Mahé Harbor

Round is small, rocky island that can be walked in less than 30 minutes. It was once a leper colony and now has small luxury cabanas and a popular Creole Restaurant. Cachée is a 5-acre uninhabited islet and nature reserve for breeding noddies.

Moyenne Hike

After a Creole lunch aboard Anahita, we went ashore and hiked around Moyenne, enjoying sea views, palm trees, lush vegetation, and giant tortoises. The trail leads by coves, granite boulders, ruins, and a tiny chapel. There are a few side trips – Hanni’s Haunt and Treasure Peak – and many secluded beaches with sweeping views of the surrounding islands and turquoise sea.

Aerial View Sainte Anne Marine Park

Brendon Grimshaw and his friend Rene Lafortune planted sixteen thousand trees on the island and built nature paths encircling it. The main path passes the remains of two old houses. One formerly occupied by the earliest traceable owner, Melidor Louange, who lived there with her husband for 42 years. She sold the island to wealthy, eccentric Alfred d’Emmerez de Charmoy.

Islands from Anahita Deck

Another ruin, known as the “House of Dogs” was built by an English woman, Emma Wardlow Best, who loved animals. She collected stray dogs from Mahé and gave them a home on the island.

Moyenne Ruin

Brendon Grimshaw’s house and a two-room museum displaying seashells and explanations of the island’s flora and fauna are near the main beach, Jolly Roger. Grimshaw wrote about his life on the island in a book, A Grain of Sand.

Moyenne Cove

It was a perfect day, but I didn’t take many photos. Even though I doused myself with SPF 50, I have a sunburned back from snorkeling – a small price to pay for an extraordinary memory. If my skin could tolerate the harsh equatorial sun, I would swim and snorkel every day.

Reef Safari Sainte Anne Marine Park The day trip to Sainte Anne Marine National Park is one of my favorite Seychelles experiences. People in the group were as interesting as the exotic, secluded islands we explored.

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