Seychelles island hopping cruise
Highlights
Mahe | Beau Vallon Bay, Mahe | Aride Island | Praslin Island | Anse Lazio | Cousin Island | Curieuse Island | Vallee de Mai Reserve | La Digue | St. Anne island | Snorkelling | Giant tortoises | Beach barbecues | Optional excursions include: visit a bird sanctuary on Cousin Island, oxcart tour of La Digue, scuba divingDescription of Seychelles island hopping cruise
The Seychelles: granite boulders peeking out of a duvet of white sand, tropical rainforest twittering with birdlife, and you, on the deck of a small ship, about to diving in for a snorkel.By taking a small ship cruise in the Seychelles not only can you see Anse Lazio, the most beautiful beach in the islands, but you can also get to uninhabited islands, too like Sister Island and Cocos Island – something even an all inclusive resort can’t include.
This cruise starts in Mahe, takes you over to Aride Island, then on to Praslin, famous for its Vallee de Mai Reserve and the coco de mer fruits that grows there. See birdlife on Cousin Island, then giant tortoises on Curieuse Island. La Digue island, at the end of the trip, is completely car free – everyone goes around on bicycles and oxcarts.
Thanks to Nature Seychelles and their partner, Birdlife International, birdlife on Cousin Island is both protected and recovering. Look out for the tiny Seychelles sunbird and the handsome, plump-breasted Seychelles blue pigeon.
Small local businesses run the on-shore excursions – rattle along in an oxcart behind a strong horned ox along unmade roads across La Digue island, or take a hike through the rainforest. And there are, naturally, plenty of opportunities to snorkel.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.comCheck dates, prices & availability
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.

We will visit Cousin Island, a bird sanctuary run by Nature Seychelles and their partner, Birdlife International. Our visit, apart from educating our guests to the fantastic work being done on the Seychelles, provides a little funding to the NGOs that are working to preserve some of the world's rarest species. In 1959 there were fewer than 30 Seychelles warbler left alive, all on Cousin Island. Following fantastic work by these NGOs and others, the population began to recover and birds were translocated to other islands. The island also hosts the incredibly rare Seychelles fody, Seychelles magpie-robin, the endemic Seychelles sunbird and Seychelles blue pigeon as well as the Malagasy turtle dove. The island hosts over 300,000 nesting seabirds of seven species.
We rely heavily on small local businesses for providing local excursions for our passengers, providing an income to several smaller local firms.
All the food on board is bought in the Seychelles; fruit, vegetables, plenty of fish, meat and other staples are all locally grown and produced, and much of it is bought from small retailers or even directly from the grower or fisherman.
The Impacts of this Trip
We encourage all our passengers to engage with the local community on a social and economic level to ensure that this tourism has a benefit to both the visitors and the hosts.
The ship’s managers will buy as much of their produce as possible from local communities, and we will also encourage our passengers to spend money in the communities that we visit. By trying some local fruit juice instead of a well known American brand of soft drink, you will support the economy, it will be better for you and, who knows, you might find you enjoy it more too.
We will endeavour to maximise the benefits of tourism and to minimise or eradicate any downside, socially, environmentally & economically.
We will encourage our passengers to learn and understand as much as possible about the local traditions and way of life to enable them to appreciate the reality of life in the Seychelles.


We will visit Cousin Island, a bird sanctuary run by Nature Seychelles and their partner, Birdlife International. Our visit, apart from educating our guests to the fantastic work being done on the Seychelles, provides a little funding to the NGOs that are working to preserve some of the world's rarest species. In 1959 there were fewer than 30 Seychelles warbler left alive, all on Cousin Island. Following fantastic work by these NGOs and others, the population began to recover and birds were translocated to other islands. The island also hosts the incredibly rare Seychelles fody, Seychelles magpie-robin, the endemic Seychelles sunbird and Seychelles blue pigeon as well as the Malagasy turtle dove. The island hosts over 300,000 nesting seabirds of seven species.
We rely heavily on small local businesses for providing local excursions for our passengers, providing an income to several smaller local firms.
All the food on board is bought in the Seychelles; fruit, vegetables, plenty of fish, meat and other staples are all locally grown and produced, and much of it is bought from small retailers or even directly from the grower or fisherman.

The Impacts of this Trip
We encourage all our passengers to engage with the local community on a social and economic level to ensure that this tourism has a benefit to both the visitors and the hosts.
The ship’s managers will buy as much of their produce as possible from local communities, and we will also encourage our passengers to spend money in the communities that we visit. By trying some local fruit juice instead of a well known American brand of soft drink, you will support the economy, it will be better for you and, who knows, you might find you enjoy it more too.
We will endeavour to maximise the benefits of tourism and to minimise or eradicate any downside, socially, environmentally & economically.
We will encourage our passengers to learn and understand as much as possible about the local traditions and way of life to enable them to appreciate the reality of life in the Seychelles.

2 Reviews of Seychelles island hopping cruise
Reviewed on 31 Dec 2019 by Maurice Robinson
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The last day when we finally got to do some decent snorkelling. All previous days were seriously affected by heavy rain, heavy seas and intermittent high winds. We were told that this was as a result of the cyclone in Madagascar. Whilst this was beyond the control of the captain, Sea Star does not have good stability and suffers from excessive rolling which makes it difficult to move about and quit hazardous transferring to and from the ship's dinghy.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Don't bother planning your holiday on historic weather conditions in the Seychelles as this has been thrown completely by climate change. Thus if you book a holiday of this nature in the high season, you could be disappointed, having paid more than you would have done in a low season.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
No
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Overall, we were disappointed because we lost out on snorkelling opportunities because of weather and overall deterioration of increased sea temperatures which has bleached the coral and affected the amazingly variety of fish we experienced the last time we had an island hopping/snorkelling holiday in the same area in 2002
Read the operator's response here:
January are usually the wettest months in the Seychelles. I am surprised to hear you don't feel that your visit would have benefitted local people or
supported conservation. The conservation fee you paid goes directly to helping conservation in the places you visit, such as Aride Island and Vallee de Mai
Nature Reserve. The vessel is locally owned and operated, and most if not all of the crew are from the Seychelles, so you would have been supporting
employment and the local economy too.
I am sorry to hear about the Coral Bleaching. I know that there was a bleaching event in 2016 and that Nature Seychelles are now 'farming' coral to help with
restoration of the reefs.
Best wishes
Powell Ettinger
Reviewed on 27 Feb 2017 by Hayley Clausner
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Scenery
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
yes
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
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