Seychelles International Airport & Botanical Gardens ~ things you see...

Sunrise @ Anse Royal ~ "Royal with Cheese" early swim under coconut palms in 29C water November 23rd 2014

Meeting a good friend arriving back today in the Seychelles. Flying just above the heads of surfers at "Airports"surf break, the jet stream of air made the water choppy under the engines for a few minutes after the plane passed

Arriving safely at the Seychelles International Airport. Just long enough, and then sometimes…….

 In 2012 two U.S. drones crashed here within two months after surveillance along the coast of Somalia for pirate activity.

Walked through the Seychelles Botanical Gardens today in search of the worlds largest seeds, the Coco De Mer Lodoicea callipyge (in latin meaning beautiful rump)

Also called "Coconut of the sea"by early mariners ~ massive seeds of this Seychelles indigenous palm, once worth more than gold. 

Trunks may tower up to 34meters high (111feet) and palm fronds (leaves) may be up  10m long and 4.5m wide.

During the Victorian era , in 1881 General Charles George Gordon believed that theVallée de Mai on the island of Praslin was the original Garden of Eden as described in the Bible, and that the coco de mer was the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He wrote

"externally the coco-de-mer represents the belly and thighs, the true seat of carnal desires"

However if the coco de mer was really the forbidden fruit, Eve would have had a very hard time handing Adam this gigantic fruit (which weighs up to 30 kg) 

Coco De Mer Palm growing in Botanical Gardens

Coco De Mer ~ Largest seed in the Plant Kingdom

 This is the female tree, male trees have long phallic looking catkins, up to 1m long making them the longest in the world. Because of the unusual erotic looking male and female parts people believed the plants made love on wild stormy nights.

 According to the legend, male trees uproot themselves, and approach female trees. 

Apparently the love-making trees are rather shy, and the legend has it that whoever sees the trees mating will die or go blind.

 Today the pollination of the coco de mer is not fully understood, is one of the factors behind the legend.

coco de mer~ the rarest palm tree in the world, detail of leaf

                                                           carambola~one of my favorite fruits

rare pink pineapple grows on mountain tops and is edible

local artists inspired by the local scene of culture and landscape

"Thumbs up", Matthew, my apprentice local surfer, we surfed last year for the first time, he is surfing weekly now and really enjoying the challenge of learning about the waves. His family owns a farm and sells at a roadside fruit and vegetable store, I met him while buying bananas last year, he saw the surfboards on the roof and said, "teach me to surf" !!!

Local souvenir shop and library