Simply Splendid Seychelles

Boarding the 'plane at Johannesburg International Airport on December 22, 2002 was an exciting experience for me. The sun was shining and the passengers were dressed in brightly coloured clothes. I've always associated aeroplanes with the beginning of a holiday to an exotic location far, far away... The excitement in our party of nine adults and three children was tangible. We were going on the holiday of a lifetime. We were flying to a tiny island paradise in the Indian Ocean called the Seychelles to spend a week on a houseboat cruising around the islands. None of us had ever been to such an exotic location. The flight over the Indian Ocean was perfect. I looked out of the window at the eastern coast of Africa, and saw the clear blue seas washing over South Africa's coastline. The captain alerted us to a breathtaking sight. In the middle of the bright blue sea lay an enormous green ring. This is the Cosmoledo Atoll, a ring of islands whose coral reefs are littered with shipwrecks. A wonderful site. Half an hour later we were landing at the airport on the main island of Mah