Seychelles Praslin Island

[Nicklguest]

Hi

I am bareboating around Praslin Island for a week at the end of November and wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations for anchorage, mooring and good locations to go ashore for food.

Nick

[hensh]

Originally Posted by Nicklguest

Hi

I am bareboating around Praslin Island for a week at the end of November and wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations for anchorage, mooring and good locations to go ashore for food.

Nick

Hey Nick - who are you chartering through? Where are you picking up the boat?

[daletournier]

Hi Nick, I am your guy! I've been on my own boat here in the Seychelles for two months, currently at Anse Lazzio and (see below photo).
Praslin is small, you will go to all the anchorages, tiny hops. It really depends on the wind, the season is changing, NW winds will start coming in but also lots of calms. La Digue and Praslin are beautiful,people are friendly, great place.
Downside, expensive and unfortunately a theft problem here, lock the boat up at night, onboard or not, I know this unfortunately through experience.

It's also only 26nm from Mahe.

[Nicklguest]

Picking up on Praslin Island chartering through nemovoile/dream yacht charters,

It's a monohull rather than cat

Nick

[Nicklguest]

Thanks

With the expected NW winds any preferred anchorages - expecting to stay around Praslin / la Digue with day sails around the smaller islands to the South East

[daletournier]

To be truthful I haven't been to the southern anchorages in La Digue as it's been blowing from the SE mostly since I've been here. All anchorages are nice!!! Lazzio is my favourite. I think most anchorages will be available to you as the winds are very mild at this time of year, 4-6knots.
Ive got a couple of cruising guides, I'll see if I can email them, if so I'll send you a pm.

[daletournier]

OK, they are Pdfs, if you pm me your email, I'll send them to you.

[dkbomb]

We took a trip in Praslin last August. The whole trip was great and the islands are beautiful. While we were there the SE Monsoon was on, so the anchorages we used might not be ideal for your timing. That being said, here's a run down of our trip.

We started in Baie St. Anne and sailed to Anze Lazio - which was a great anchorage. Food ashore is good but expensive ($50-$80 USD/pp.)

We anchored for a day off Curieuse, which was a fun island to explore and run around, then we anchored just off St. Pierre for the night. This wasn't a good anchorage as the swell was across our beam so it made for a pretty rolly night. Most folks tucked into Anse Petite Cour, just to the West, but we didn't. That was a mistake. Again - a lot of this won't matter if everything is blowing NW, but hopefully it'll give you some guidance. Another thing about St. pierre is that it is technically in the National Park, so if you anchor there, you'll owe them ~$25 USD for the night. The folks that moved to Anse Petite didn't have to pay.

We sailed over to Coco Island the next day, but it was too rough to find an anchorage anywhere near there or Felicite, so we ended up pulling into the Harbor at La Digue. La Digue is stunning. We were there in the busy season and there were two lines of boats off the sea wall on the East side of the harbor. Med mooring is key and a 2nd row of boats rafted up in front of us. At one point, there probably 25 boats anchored there for the night. We got there early in the day, and we weren't in a rush like the charter boats, so we stayed for two nights and didn't have to worry about traffic pulling out.

La Digue itself is beautiful. The food in most places is good (although it can also be expensive) and biking around the island or at least up to the Vanilla & coconut plantation is a great way to spent the afternoon. If you're looking for fresh fish and want to cook, there's a few local fisherman who come ashore around 3/330 every afternoon and sell their catch, mostly to Seychellois. They come ashore on the beach just south of the harbor proper where most of the small fishing/local boats are anchored/moored. You should see a group of Seychellois on the beach when they do come ashore. For about 100 rupess ($7.5 USD) you can get a string of 7-8 fish. It was just the two of us, so we didn't want to buy a whole string. They wouldn't sell us just one fish, but after all the locals had bought the fish, the fisherman ended up giving us a fish and wouldn't take any money for it. It was a generous and nice thing to do, and that type of generosity and friendliness was something we experienced everywhere on the islands. La Digue is awesome and at some point, I'd like to take my own boat there and spend a month or two living in that harbor. The place is friendly, laid back, and fun.

We didn't really anchor or go to many other places, and to be honest, we didn't do a ton of sailing that week, but it was a great trip and we loved it.
Hopefully you enjoy your trip there!

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by dkbomb

We took a trip in Praslin last August. The whole trip was great and the islands are beautiful. While we were there the SE Monsoon was on, so the anchorages we used might not be ideal for your timing. That being said, here's a run down of our trip.

We started in Baie St. Anne and sailed to Anze Lazio - which was a great anchorage. Food ashore is good but expensive ($50-$80 USD/pp.)

We anchored for a day off Curieuse, which was a fun island to explore and run around, then we anchored just off St. Pierre for the night. This wasn't a good anchorage as the swell was across our beam so it made for a pretty rolly night. Most folks tucked into Anse Petite Cour, just to the West, but we didn't. That was a mistake. Again - a lot of this won't matter if everything is blowing NW, but hopefully it'll give you some guidance. Another thing about St. pierre is that it is technically in the National Park, so if you anchor there, you'll owe them ~$25 USD for the night. The folks that moved to Anse Petite didn't have to pay.

We sailed over to Coco Island the next day, but it was too rough to find an anchorage anywhere near there or Felicite, so we ended up pulling into the Harbor at La Digue. La Digue is stunning. We were there in the busy season and there were two lines of boats off the sea wall on the East side of the harbor. Med mooring is key and a 2nd row of boats rafted up in front of us. At one point, there probably 25 boats anchored there for the night. We got there early in the day, and we weren't in a rush like the charter boats, so we stayed for two nights and didn't have to worry about traffic pulling out.

La Digue itself is beautiful. The food in most places is good (although it can also be expensive) and biking around the island or at least up to the Vanilla & coconut plantation is a great way to spent the afternoon. If you're looking for fresh fish and want to cook, there's a few local fisherman who come ashore around 3/330 every afternoon and sell their catch, mostly to Seychellois. They come ashore on the beach just south of the harbor proper where most of the small fishing/local boats are anchored/moored. You should see a group of Seychellois on the beach when they do come ashore. For about 100 rupess ($7.5 USD) you can get a string of 7-8 fish. It was just the two of us, so we didn't want to buy a whole string. They wouldn't sell us just one fish, but after all the locals had bought the fish, the fisherman ended up giving us a fish and wouldn't take any money for it. It was a generous and nice thing to do, and that type of generosity and friendliness was something we experienced everywhere on the islands. La Digue is awesome and at some point, I'd like to take my own boat there and spend a month or two living in that harbor. The place is friendly, laid back, and fun.

We didn't really anchor or go to many other places, and to be honest, we didn't do a ton of sailing that week, but it was a great trip and we loved it.
Hopefully you enjoy your trip there!

I'm glad you had a great experience. Your right La Digue is awesome. I have my own boat and won't stay in the inner harbour again. It's scary watching some of the charter boats come in, I just can't relax while away from the boat therefore I now anchor out the front, obviously this doesn't matter if on a charter boat.

Regarding the national park anchorages. You pay 200 ruppee per person per day then 250ruppee for the boat if you want to anchor over night. Alot of boats do the day thing then come around here to Lazio for the night which is free and stunning! I'm not paying the fees, I already pay a tourist tax of 57 ruppee per day, everyday to be here, when I leave I'll be have a large bill to settle.

Yes the meals are crazy expensive as you mentioned, this is due to few local restaurants thus the resorts etc have a monopoly. Once you get familiar with the place you can find restaurants that are approximately $20/head, but there's not many, there is one at Lazio. In 8 years of cruising I've never eaten on the boat so much.

Regarding NW winds. I'm not sure what this means to anchorages yet? I've been told that often you get many days of calm in this season therefore more anchorages are available, currently we have little wind, I'll know more shortly.

Diving. Technically you can't dive here by yourself, you need to go with a shop and it's 115 euro for two dives. I have my own bottles but no compressor, I've had no trouble getting bottles filled.

The Seychelles are beautiful but expensive and they have some restrictive rules, these rules don't effect you a great deal if your here short term.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Nick.

[daletournier]

I've been doing some diving around Praslin the last couple of days, fish life really healthy. Couple of good spots where you can anchorage and dive/snorkel right of the boat if weather is calm, as it is now.

[Nicklguest]

Originally Posted by dkbomb

We took a trip in Praslin last August. The whole trip was great and the islands are beautiful. While we were there the SE Monsoon was on, so the anchorages we used might not be ideal for your timing. That being said, here's a run down of our trip.

We started in Baie St. Anne and sailed to Anze Lazio - which was a great anchorage. Food ashore is good but expensive ($50-$80 USD/pp.)

We anchored for a day off Curieuse, which was a fun island to explore and run around, then we anchored just off St. Pierre for the night. This wasn't a good anchorage as the swell was across our beam so it made for a pretty rolly night. Most folks tucked into Anse Petite Cour, just to the West, but we didn't. That was a mistake. Again - a lot of this won't matter if everything is blowing NW, but hopefully it'll give you some guidance. Another thing about St. pierre is that it is technically in the National Park, so if you anchor there, you'll owe them ~$25 USD for the night. The folks that moved to Anse Petite didn't have to pay.

We sailed over to Coco Island the next day, but it was too rough to find an anchorage anywhere near there or Felicite, so we ended up pulling into the Harbor at La Digue. La Digue is stunning. We were there in the busy season and there were two lines of boats off the sea wall on the East side of the harbor. Med mooring is key and a 2nd row of boats rafted up in front of us. At one point, there probably 25 boats anchored there for the night. We got there early in the day, and we weren't in a rush like the charter boats, so we stayed for two nights and didn't have to worry about traffic pulling out.

La Digue itself is beautiful. The food in most places is good (although it can also be expensive) and biking around the island or at least up to the Vanilla & coconut plantation is a great way to spent the afternoon. If you're looking for fresh fish and want to cook, there's a few local fisherman who come ashore around 3/330 every afternoon and sell their catch, mostly to Seychellois. They come ashore on the beach just south of the harbor proper where most of the small fishing/local boats are anchored/moored. You should see a group of Seychellois on the beach when they do come ashore. For about 100 rupess ($7.5 USD) you can get a string of 7-8 fish. It was just the two of us, so we didn't want to buy a whole string. They wouldn't sell us just one fish, but after all the locals had bought the fish, the fisherman ended up giving us a fish and wouldn't take any money for it. It was a generous and nice thing to do, and that type of generosity and friendliness was something we experienced everywhere on the islands. La Digue is awesome and at some point, I'd like to take my own boat there and spend a month or two living in that harbor. The place is friendly, laid back, and fun.

We didn't really anchor or go to many other places, and to be honest, we didn't do a ton of sailing that week, but it was a great trip and we loved it.
Hopefully you enjoy your trip there!

Hey , thanks

We’re ok back to Seychelles in May next year for the same trip with winds in opposite direction so advice is good
Nick

[daletournier]

West, north West winds are fully established now, literally just changed in a day.