In March, Sylvaine sailed with 4 members of her family on a week's yacht charter to the Seychelles. Here's a look back at their experience aboard a Lagoon 42 from Mahé, where they discovered many of the islands of the Indian Ocean archipelago.
A family that loves to sail
" For 20 years, we have gone sailing for a week at least once every 3 years. Lately, we've been sailing around the Caribbean, visiting Guadeloupe, Martinique and the Tobago Cays."
Hervé is the boat's skipper, and is in charge of navigation every year, although everyone takes the helm when the sea is calm.
The Lagoon 42
The Blueskin, their catamaran, dated from 2018 and had 6 cabins that could accommodate 10 people. So the crew of 5 had plenty of space on board!
"Our Lagoon 42 was superb! It was very wide, spacious and comfortable. Our nights on board were pleasant thanks to its stability. "
The itinerary of their navigation
“ Nous avions préparé notre itinéraire en avance, lors de chaque navigation, j’utilise des cartes et des livres qui me permettent de préparer notre parcours avec les plus beaux mouillages sous tous types de vents. “
- Day 1: Mahé → Sainte-Anne National Park → Cerf Island (7 miles nautiques, 1 hour)
- Day 2: Cerf Island → Grand Anse (25 miles nautiques, 3 hours)
- Day 3: Grand Anse → Coco Island → Anse Volbert → l'Îlot Saint-Pierre → Round Island (15 miles nautiques, 2 hours)
- Day 4: Round Island → Marianne Island → Anse Sainte-Anne → La Digue (10 miles, 1 hour)
- Day 5: La Digue → Anse Lazio (15 miles nautiques, 2 hours)
- Day 6: Anse Lazio → Curieuse Island (5 miles, 30 minutes)
- Day 7: Curieuse Island → Mahé (30 miles nautiques, 3 hours 30 minutes)
"There was fairly little wind during our week, the advantage was that the anchorages were very pleasant, as were our swims. Nevertheless, we made little use of the sail and the engine ran well during the week. "
Sylvaine nevertheless advises future yachtsmen to be very careful when filling up with petrol on Mahé, as the station where we moor is very narrow.
The crew's fondest memories!
"On Curious Island, we got to swim with turtles, it was fantastic, there were also hundreds of fish around us! "
"Our favourite anchorage was Marianne Island, which is very wild, with magnificent flora and fauna. I felt like I was in Robinson Crusoe! "
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Sylvaine for her feedback! To all the crew, thank you for sending us your photos, allowing us to share some of your sailing memories!