Our Honeymoon Dubai & The Seychelles

30 May 2006 - 17 June 2006

We flew off on our honeymoon on 30 May 2006. After a pleasant Emirates flight we arrived at the airport; the 38c + heat hit us and we took a taxi to our hotel. It was all very swish and there was a cake, bottle of wine & fruit basket waiting for us in our room. We were exhausted having missed a night’s sleep. The next day we got up bright and early – well, it was 11.30 thanks to some great black out blinds! We took a taxi to the beach (our sunglasses steamed up when we got out of the taxi); the sea was really warm and it was quite a challenge to eat our ice lollies before they melted.

On the second day we visited the Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest shopping malls in the world, which also contains one of the largest indoor ski slopes. You can get anything and everything in Dubai; they even had organic Yeo Valley yoghurts, made at Blagdon, in the supermarket! Later we headed off for afternoon tea at the 7 star Burj al Arab hotel. We enjoyed our food and the great views, and chilled out at the pool afterwards. On the way back to our hotel we saw what will be the world’s tallest building going up.

Our last day started with breakfast at the Basta Art Café and we then went to the Wild Wadi Waterpark. Steve had a go at surfing, but Helen was afraid she might lose her bikini! We also visited the Dubai museum, which our hotel looked out over. Every evening, after our dinner, we spent shopping in the shops and gold souks near our hotel.

To get to the Seychelles from Dubai was only 4 hrs 20 mins and the flight was almost empty. Our hotel room in the Seychelles was great, with a lounge area upstairs and a huge balcony. They also gave us sparkling wine, flowers and a fruit basket, which was nice.

On the first night we saw a strange insect on our patio doors. It looked a bit like a cartoon character; we still don’t know what it was.

We did two dives during the holiday. The first one was our first ever boat dive; Helen got a bit scared and didn’t want to go under, but it went well and we lasted 55 minutes. Helen spotted a turtle right at the end. Unfortunately, she then picked up a cold, so it was another week before our second dive. This was at Baie Ternay Marine Park, which was a lovely setting and the water looked a lot more enticing. As well as two turtles we saw our first shark- a baby white tip - and a feather tail stingray.

We went on a mountain walk and saw lots of the endemic plants and palms and some big stick insects. At the top there was a fantastic view over Victoria and the nearby islands.

On two separate days we saw Dolphins in the bay; they would chase shoals of fish and make them leap out of the water. The second time, we took out a kayak and paddled with them for half-an-hour. In total there were five dolphins and at one stage the fish jumped out right past us, which Helen caught on a video clip.

We also went on a day trip to Praslin and La Digue. The journey over by catamaran was… challenging, but we just about managed to hold on to our breakfast. We were taken around the Vallee de Mai, home to the Coco de Mer - a large double coconut which is the world’s largest seed. It’s indigenous to the Seychelles and also has the largest leaves of any plant.

We then took a schooner to La Digue: we had a Creole buffet lunch, visited Grand Anse beach, the coconut factory, saw the giant tortoises and then had some time to spend at Anse Source L’Argent - a famous beach used to advertise Malibu and Bounty. We saw one of the geckos endemic to Praslin & La Digue and they were almost fluorescent green, compared to the ones on Mahe.

The trip home was a very long one, including 2 taxis, 2 flights, a coach and a train. The flight between Dubai and London had great entertainment. You could pick from loads of movies and start and stop them as you liked. Helen watched 3 films on the one flight.

We had a lovely honeymoon, coming home wasn’t so bad though as we didn’t have work to go to!

Helen & Steve