Justin woke up at 03:00, and got back to sleep maybe around 05:00 or 05:30.  Crystal got up at 06:30, and Justin, for good this time, got up around 07:30 or so.  We did most of our packing, then headed over to breakfast.  The server asked if Justin was doing better, and he was, although not 100% or anywhere close, sadly.  The woman staffing the omelet station, and the one tall server who’d given Crystal the birthday cake were the only two people who seemed genuinely interested in how we were doing and how we were enjoying our visit; the others seemed to be going through the motions, fairly transparently.

We had breakfast until around 09:30, as we needed to finish packing by 10:00 (you know, so they could have the room ready by 13:00 for check-in - sorry not sorry).  We decided that since Justin’s actual time of birth, in our current time zone, was actually May 13, maybe we could just celebrate today.  We were done with the room by 09:55.  Justin asked Crystal “So do I look younger?”  She looked confused and asked him what he was talking about.  “Since I shaved 3 days ago, do I look younger?”  It turns out she hadn’t noticed; maybe (hopefully) the poor lighting in the room contributed.

Since the ferry was not until noon, we just hung out in the pool for a bit.  Justin did different stretches and exercises trying to stretch out his back.  Crystal was reading books and playing video games.  A little after 11:00 we found a spot at the pool bar (right side in this photo) where Justin could be in the pool and Crystal could be outside, yet we could sit right near one another.  Crystal got a drink named after the hotel, with Gin, Cointreau, Mint; Justin got a Mai Tai with no grenadine (it should never have grenadine, FYI).  We toasted to Praslin being better than La Digue.

A little before 11:45 we walked over to the front desk, and took a cart with one other couple to the jetty, where we could once again easily see the hotel.  Our bags were already there when we arrived.  When we tried to board the ferry, we found out that we needed to exchange our voucher for a ticket; the local tour operator had not told us we needed to do this.  Thankfully the office was right there, and Crystal took care of it before the ferry left without us.  There was some splashing on the ferry ride over; everyone on the left side of the boat moved over a bit.  Since our bag was basically the last one onto the ferry, it was the first off, and we quickly met our driver and headed out.

After a couple days on La Digue, it was weird to be on a two way road with cars.  It was not nearly as busy as Mahe, however, and we were at our hotel (Hotel L'Archipel) in 10 minutes or less.  Upon arrival, we filled out some paperwork, then got a tasty lemongrass welcome drink.  Our room was quite nice, and the total opposite of the room on La Digue.  It was very bright, with lots of windows and natural light.  The walls were white, and there were seafoam green accents, sort of a Bahamian or Florida Keys style.  There was lots of artificial light too, if we wanted or needed it.  We had a huge bathroom with an indoor sink (two, actually).  We also had a nice front patio with a table, two chairs, and two loungers, less than 50 feet (15 meters) from the ocean, at about 10-15 feet (3-5 meters) elevation.  We could hear the waves, even with the AC on.  The Wi-fi actually worked, with a speed of 10Mbps.  We unpacked a bit, then found a place for lunch (Les Lauriers), then headed over there.  We decided to take the road there and the beach back.

The road didn’t have a sidewalk, but sort of had a dirt path alongside the road.  It was hot, but thankfully about half the walk was in the shade from the nearby trees.  The walk was about 35 minutes, and we ended up right by the beach, in a small commercial area,  just before reaching the restaurant.  The reviews indicated this place would get packed, but it was basically empty when we arrived.  It was after 14:00, so maybe that was it.  Crystal ordered a passionfruit margarita, and Justin got a Takamaka dark with diet coke.  The passionfruit margarita was excellent, joining the pantheon of phenomenal drinks along with the mango daquiris from Cambodia.  

To eat, Crystal got a tuna wrap, and Justin got honey glazed pork ribs.  They also brought us some soft hot bread rolls with olive oil and vinegar.  The prices were noticeably cheaper than La Digue, and the quality was better, too.  The food was pretty good, although ribs were tough; it was too bad since the flavor was excellent.  Nearby there was a table of 6-8 people speaking Spanish.  Justin tried to guess their accent but couldn’t make it out.  We each ordered a passionfruit margarita after finishing our food.  By this time, we were the last guests left in the restaurant.  There were some birds flying around, one small orange one, and a couple Mynah birds, at least we think that’s what they were/are called.  

We walked back along the beach (we saw it called either Anse Volbert or Cote D’Or), which was enormous.  It had none of the boulders of La Digue, but tons of sand and great views in every direction.  The walk was slightly shorter than the road, but even ignoring that, it was way less hectic.  We got a couple drops of rain, but nothing too concerning.  Near our hotel a beach party was being thrown by some locals.  There were boulders separating our hotel’s section of beach from the rest, so effectively we had a private beach.  [To our understanding, the hotel didn’t charge a toll for others to come to the beach.]

Back at the hotel, we did some laundry, read a bit, and caught up on the trip log.  So far Praslin was a big step up over La Digue.  We had a nice sunset, which was one of the reasons we picked the L’Archipel - it was at the east end of the beach, and thus had a sunset view of the rest of the beach and bay.  We caught up a bit on our emails now that we could open them in a timely manner.

The hotel had a creole buffet around 20:00 with lots of interesting food.  We had beef with a coconut curry sauce, plow rice (kind of like jambalaya), deep fried eggplant, and plenty of other stuff we weren’t familiar with.  The band was actually pretty good; usually we’re not a fan of musical acts at dinner.  There was a little kid running around and getting everyone’s attention, and kind of acting a fool, but not so much it was annoying, but rather somewhat endearing.  After a bit some dancers came out to demonstrate some of the local dances.  Watching them dance, we had no clue how they didn’t step on each other’s toes, as their toes were never further than an inch or two apart the entire time they moved around the dance floor.  Later at dinner someone got a birthday cake with the same “candle” Justin got last night - thank goodness we didn’t light it in the room, as it would have probably set the ceiling on fire.