TR: Seychelles

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The resort is on Alphonse Island (top in the photo). The fishing is on
the flats of St. Francois Island (bottom). Both are coral atolls. In
between them is the small island of Bijoutier.

The Seychelles are difficult to get to, especially from Stanley, Idaho,
and especially when an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland is shutting
down air traffic in Europe:

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I sweated bullets for a week before getting on one of the first planes
allowed to fly from the US to Paris.

Overnighted in the City of Light. Paris lived up to it that beautiful
day. My hotel was across the Seine from Notre Dame Cathedral. Walked
through the Tuileries and visited the Musee D'Orsay.

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The next day -- 10 hours to Mahe Island, Seychelles. Facing a six-hour
layover in the Mahe airport, I took a cab to Victoria, the capital of
the Seychelles. Friday was fish market day.

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The routine at Alphonse is: up at 5:30, breakfast at 6:00, get on the
Tam Tam at 7:00,

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45 minutes to St. Francois, towing the skiffs,

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then take a skiff to the vast flats of the St. Francois lagoon.

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Lunch on the water. Back to Alphonse at 5:30. Shower, take care of gear,
dinner at 7:00, back to the chalet at 9:00, set alarm, crash, repeat. No
down time for snorkeling and lying about.

Everything good you may have heard about the bonefishing on St. Francois
is true. We fished the tidal drop in the morning and the push in the
afternoon. I caught, conservatively, over 100 bones, and could have
caught twice as many if that were my only goal. The bones flood onto and
out of the flats with the tides by the thousands, concentrating along
the channels. They're just as difficult to spot and catch as usual, but
you get MANY more shots.

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At low tide the bones are in the deep and at high tide they're dispersed
over the flats, so we do something else. I caught this Giant Trevally
(a GT or "Geet" in the local way of speaking) at high tide, during the
most amazing fishing experience I've ever had.

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A huge school of mullet was circulating on a flat in a bait ball, herded
by the predatory trevally. Not only that, there were thousands of
bonefish all around, like spectators to the carnage. This Geet was 107cm
and 57lb. After releasing it I caught bones on every cast until I got bored.

At high tide we might do some reef fishing for mystery species. Here's
one of the prettiest, an Emperor.

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Caught of few of these bluefin trevally, and lost three to lemon sharks.

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All the guides were good, but Roy, a Norwegian, was my favorite. Here's
Roy with a nice bone caught with my rod while we were surf walking for
Geets. The bones in the surf have a green color, distinct from the flats
fish.

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Roy cuts a striking pose.

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Mike, my fishing partner for the week, is one of the most interesting
men I've ever met. An anthropologist/archaeologist, Professor Emeritus
of Yale, author of several books, he's perhaps the foremost authority of
the Pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica, especially the Maya.
He's fished nearly everywhere I've ever heard of and many I haven't, and
he's a superb raconteur. At 82 years old he's going strong.

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Here's a video of Mike catching the first bone of the day:

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Only ten rods are allowed on St. Francois. On this trip there were four
of us. Charles (left) is from Scotland and John is from the north of
England, both excellent companions. Charles caught a 127cm, 80+ lb Geet
that was the largest taken this season. John caught a nice Geet, hooked
up with, but lost, a milkfish, and caught a very nice trigger fish.

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Another favorite guide, Scott, has a place in Fairfield, ID, not far
from Stanley. We have some mutual Idaho friends. In the summer Scott
guides at Enchanted Lake Lodge in Alaska.

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Here's the full group, both guides and sports. Left to right: Serge,
Devon, Roy, Andrew, Steve (me), Charles, James, John, Mike, Scott.

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There are lots of interesting creatures in the islands.

Land crabs:

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Grey Herons:

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Fairy Tern:

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Giant Tortoise:

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The astonishing size of these tortoises isn't apparent in the photo.
Here's a video that perhaps gives a better impression:

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Large, intimidating-looking, but harmless spiders:

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Gecko:

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Eel:

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Frigate Birds:
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There were many animals I didn't photograph: several types of rays,
sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, etc.

Here are some miscellaneous scenery photos:

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Alphonse Island was established as a coconut plantation in the 19th
century. This cemetery dates from about 1860.

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The sky is often beautiful.

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Great trip. I'll be going back.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.