Seychelles Prep

 

View from Port Launay anchorage

We've been busy doing boat projects here on the island of Mahe, Seychelles. Not the least of which is dealing with Seychelles paperwork. When you arrive by yacht you generally get a 30-dy visa for the crew and the boat gets 30 days in the country. To keep the boat in country longer you need to get a Temporary Import Permit (TIP). This requires providing a lot of additional paperwork, including proof of boat insurance and a  builder's certificate. A a local agent s required to get to the finish line. We are in process. We got an email that said our TIP was approved and attached. The attachment was an official looking document with official stamps on it. The only problem was the TIP had an expiration date of June 30, 2021.  We called our agent about this and got the explanation that this was just the first phase of getting a longer term TIP. Now she will apply to extend the TIP to cover the duration of our expected stay.

Another big project was replacing our 11 year old Rolls-Surrette AGM house batteries. We found some Victron AGM batteries in a local chandlery. We moved Georgia into the Eden Marina and I hired a couple of  the marina dock workers to pull the old batteries out and put the new ones into place. These batteries weight about 150lbs each  -- basically back breakers. Much better done by young guys. Even for them there was a lot of: "un, deux, trois - allez!"

We did get to spend a few days sailing around the northern end of the island. The picture at the top of the blog is from Port Launay, a nice marine park, if a bit rolly at anchor. Above is small islet of the end of the island. These photos were taken during a bit of inclement weather, generally it's been sunny with brisk SE trade winds each day. A welcome change from the heat and humidity of the eastern Indian Ocean.

We also stopped at Baie Beau Vallon. This place has magnificent long, white sand beach. I'm sure it is a bit of a zoo in normal tourist times, but in Covid Season it was mostly empty. We did get some rain and low clouds coming off the mountains, along with a swell coming through the anchorage that made for an uncomfortable sleep.

On the way back we past these two Sri Lankan fishing boats that are tied to a Seychelles Coast Guard cutter in the quarantine anchorage. They were caught illegal fishing within the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the Seychelles. The Seychelles do a lot of patrolling their waters both for illegal fishing and to try and interdict the heroin trade from the Middle East. The heroin comes in both for local consumption and for transportation to mainland Africa.

The country makes good money in leasing out fishing rights. The red ships above are 295ft Tuna Purse Seiners. They are a non-stop feature of Port Victoria and bring in tons and tons of tuna clear cut from the oceans every week.

Georgia is now tied up in Eden Island Marina and we are getting ready to do a 6-8 week tour of the US. Pick up our car, get some doc appointments done, store stuff that came out of our now sold trailer and visit family and friends. First up is Bellingham. Before we can board our Emirates flights, 4 hours to Dubai followed by 14.5 hours to Seattle,  we had to get our PCR tests. Neither one of us cried as much as the 2 and half year old who went in before us.

Paul