OFF TO THE SEYCHELLES WHERE THE PIRATES ONCE LIVED

Half way into our vacation of fall 1989 and we were back on a plane and headed for the Seychelles. We had just finished one week in the Mauritius and were very relaxed and happy. When we embarked we had no idea of how Mauritius would be, but after one week we were convinced that things could not get any better. Well just wait, you will see how they could. Next stop, the Seychelles.

It is a collection of islands, both inhabited and uninhabited. The largest Mahe’ was our destination. It contained the capital Victoria, that, at 22000 population was the smallest capital city in the world at the time. The total population of all of the islands forming the federation was about 75,000. There are a total of 115 islands that form the Seychelles, most uninhabited. The Seychelles is located about 1000 miles straight north of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It used to be a primary refuelling point for planes flying from Europe or the Middle East to South East Asia, Australia or New Zealand. We boarded our plane and after another flight of about 3 hours it brought us to a new and exotic destination.

We stayed at the southern tip of Mahe’ Island at a place called the Plantation Club. It was a four star accommodation and contained a casino. Our package was all inclusive. We rented ourselves a car, one step above the Mini Moke from Mauritius. It had plastic side windows and canvas doors. This one was much more acceptable to Ron. Deysi and Ange were still grinning and could care less about our car. Right from the outset things got more lively in the Seychelles.

Our first night we decided to treat ourselves to a special dinner in the gourmet dining room, instead of going to the buffet. The formal dining room was on a set menu and served by uniformed waiters in white, with white linen draped over their forearms. We were all dressed up and looked like a very cultured family. I was, as usual, picking on the girls to make sure they were prim and proper at all times. This constantly had me in a bad position with them and their mother. Geezus!

Anyway out comes the first course “watercress soup”. It was my first tasting of watercress cooked into a soup and it had a very strange flavour. It was not rising to the top of my new tasting list. I was puttering around in it, eating a little, stirring a little, sipping and waiting for it to evaporate. Deysi notices and asks me “why aren’t you eating your soup”. I lean over and in a very low voice say “because it tastes like shit”.

Presently along comes the waiter, makes a formal bow to me and says “sir are you finished with your soup”, “yes thank you” I reply. He stoops to retrieve it and Ange announces, in a voice that resonated throughout the dining room. “DAD MY SOUP TASTES LIKE SHIT ALSO, I’M DONE TOO”. I like to have died, I belly crawled under the table and out the door so nobody could see my red face. This was the first that I ever realized, that I was not so quiet, even when I thought I was whispering. Ahhhh, another of Ange’s famous one-liners, deeply imbedded in my psyche.