M/V Maya’s Dugong: Fourteen Night Cruise To Aldabra

Embarkation from Mahe in the late morning and begin cruising to Desroches Island in the Amirantes archipelago. PLEASE NOTE: The itinerary is subject to change at any time due to local conditions and other factors.

Arrive at DESROCHES ISLAND, Amirantes Group. The Amirantes is a linear chain of coral islands and atolls west of the main, granitic islands of the Seychelles. Desroches is the largest and nearest to Mahe, measuring 6 km long and 1.5 km wide and concealed beneath a canopy of coconut palms and endemic island vegetation. Fourteen kilometres of immaculate white sandy beaches wrap around the island with crystal blue water lapping at the shore. We stop to visit the island, then carry on overnight to Alphonse.

This morning you should wake up at ALPHONSE ISLAND. The Alphonse Group consists of two neighbouring atolls, Alphonse Atoll and St Francois Atoll, the latter comprising two islands: St Francois and Bijoutier. These are some of the most beautiful islands of Seychelles. Alphonse is shaped like an arrowhead, with trails of white foam flying out behind it as though it was skimming through the water. It was once a productive plantation, generating 100,000 coconuts a month but today this is abandoned. The diving around these islands is excellent, though it is not for beginners as currents can be strong. Features include forests of tall gorgonian fan corals, shoals of barracuda and other predators together with the occasional hawksbill turtle.

All day cruising towards Aldabra. You might see dolphins, rays, whales and other marine creatures en route.

Arrive at COSMOLEDO. A visit to Cosmoledo is comparable to one to Aldabra but in some ways Cosmoledo even surpasses that famous atoll in its extreme atmosphere of remoteness. The island is uninhabited and very rarely visited by the outside world. There are some bird species on Cosmoledo not found on Aldabra, including enormous seabird colonies with the Seychelles’ largest populations of red-footed booby, masked booby and sooty tern. A race of Madagascar white-eye (named menaienis) is unique to the island. It is the last breeding site for brown booby, extinct everywhere else in the islands. The diving is also excellent and the marine life is very rich. The corals have survived here more intact than elsewhere in the western Indian Ocean. Many turtles can be seen, including very young ones, in the shallow waters of the lagoon, close to the main island of Menai.

Cosmoledo has also gained a reputation as one of the world's best fly-fishing sites, yet it has remained off limits to all but a few determined enthusiasts because of the difficulties in reaching this lonely outpost.
We visit the deserted settlement and dive the westernmost island of Cosmoledo, Menai, where turtles abound.

A further day to visit Cosmoledo.

Often called the jewel in the crown of Seychelles, Aldabra is the world's largest raised coral atoll and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With an area of approximately 150sq km it comprises about one- third of the landmass of Seychelles, but has no human population other than the warden and staff of the Research Station on Picard. It is a tropical island wilderness, seen by only a few privileged visitors each year. It has the world's largest population of giant tortoise, with around 100,000 of these prehistoric survivors. (All the giant tortoises seen in the main Inner Islands of the Seychelles are originally from Aldabra.)

There are many plants and birds not found elsewhere and one of the world's most important breeding populations of the endangered green turtle. Birds include the Aldabra rail, the last surviving flightless bird of the Indian Ocean, boobies and frigatebirds.

Drift diving is exceptional in the channels that fill and empty the lagoon with the tides. Shoals of fish stand sentry at these entrances to the lagoon, where sharks and other predators sweep by as they commute between the open ocean and the lagoon. In recent years, dugongs have been seen, a sign that this rare mammal may one day return to breed in Seychelles.

We visit the Aldabra Research station, the mangroves forests, the booby colony at Johnny Channel and the world's second largest colony of frigatebirds (10,000 pairs of two species, Great Frigatebird and Lesser Frigatebird). Many of the endemic land birds can be seen ashore, including Aldabra Drongo, Aldabra Fody and Madagascar Sacred Ibis and Aldabra Rail, together with the world's largest population of giant tortoises. We will dive and snorkel the main channel, the West Channel and Johnny Channel, experiencing the exhilaration of being swept along by the shoals, observing both pelagic and reef fish in the shallow waters of the lagoon, and it is possible to snorkel at the mangroves forest and the channel in high tide.

Full day exploring Aldabra.

Full day exploring Aldabra. Cross to Assumption overnight.

Today we find ourselves in ASSUMPTION, which was laid waste by guano mining around the turn of the 20th century, wiping out seabird colonies including Abbott's Booby, now restricted to Christmas Island. This was the fate Aldabra escaped. However, the vegetation is now slowly recovering and there are plans for the rehabilitation of the island. One day it could become a mini-Aldabra. There is a small human population, connected by air to Mahé, though flights are few and far between. There is a 5.5 km-long arc of coral sand on one side of the island (oft voted the world’s most beautiful beach) beyond which the marine life is very rich, and diving there is excellent. Shoals of snappers, butterfly fish and angelfish flit between the corals in one of the most colourful and diverse reefs to be found in the Seychelles. However, in 2015 the island was leased to India which apparently is intending to build a military base as a surveillance and listening post there.
Snorkelling is also excellent on the edge of the drop off. Ashore there is a small fly fishing lodge, the graves of shipwrecked sailors, bleached turtle bones and abandoned buildings including the residence of a former manager. Laid out around a courtyard in the style of a Moorish palace, it must once have been an impressive if somewhat incongruous sight on such a remote island. A short walk across the island leads to the shallow lagoon where Caspian terns, rarely encountered in an ocean setting, dive for fish. We visit the old manager’s house including the aforementioned Veevers-Carter house and old chapel, then cross the island to the lagoon. We then dive the West Walls which are spectacular.

Today we arrive at ASTOVE ATOLL, which is surrounded by deep waters and treacherous reefs where many a ship has come to grief. The fringing reef averages about 250m from the shoreline and beyond this the floor plummets steeply. This wall of corals is probably the best dive site in the Indian Ocean and indeed has been rated by diving experts as one of the finest dive sites in the world. Hundreds of species of fish, green turtles and even the anchors of wrecked ships are to be seen.

Cruise to the Alphonse group.

If you were looking for a dream island, the uninhabited island of Bijoutier is it: a circle of white sand capped with bright green vegetation, fringed by purple reefs and turquoise sea.

Sailing on to the uninhabited ST JOSEPH atoll in the AMIRANTES GROUP. The atoll, surrounded by its reef, comprises 13 islands and is managed by the Save Our Seas Foundation.

Sail to Mahe. Disembark at Victoria in the afternoon around 3pm.