On Board Le Bellot — Zanzibar and the Jewels of the Indian Ocean — December 16-28, 2021

[AussieBoyTX]

Given all the global flux, I've been reluctant to post much about this trip, but it looks like we've run all the gauntlets and will be leaving for the Seychelles tomorrow. The cruise is thirteen days, Seychelles to Zanzibar. It's our first Expedition Cruise with Ponant, so it's the first time we've had to deal with the company's enhanced medical formalities.

 

If you have questions or things you want us to look out for, please feel free to leave your comments here!

 

Here's the itinerary and link to the cruise itself: https://us.ponant.com/africa-middle-east-indian-ocean-zanzibar-and-the-jewels-of-the-indian-ocean-e161221-12

 

 

 

So far, of course, we've only dealt with formalities. Here's a summary:

 

• All of us were required to have a comprehensive physical examination including EKG.
• As has been usual this year, tickets arrived one week before embarkation. As I noted in other threads:
  • A booster covid vaccination is required. Not an issue for us, as we have received the booster.
  • A Yellow Fever vaccination (or official exemption certificate, whatever that is) is required. This was mentioned on page fifty-seven of the travel book. We likely would have ignored it as an error, or old information, had we not received an email from the ship's doctor the next morning requesting missing covid vaccination documentation, which had a "PS: You need a Yellow Fever vaccination for this voyage." This was a huge surprise. After calls and emails with Ponant, including the ship's doctor, we determined that it really is required. Thanks to my physician's contacts, he found a clinic that had the vaccine and would stay open for us to receive it. A two hour drive each way & $1K for the three of us and problem solved.
• Final information on where to meet the ship will be sent by SMS a few days before embarkation.
• Travel Authorization is required to enter Seychelles and the airline won't allow you to board without it. The good news is that Seychelles has an app for iOS and Android that is extremely well done and gets the needed information and accepts pictures of the required PCR, hotel & ship confirmations & airline reservations without much difficulty. 10EUR and we got the authorization back in 70 minutes.
• Unfortunately, Seychelles' PCR timing requirements and Ponant's don't match up, so we will get a second PCR test on the way to the airport tomorrow. The ship's doctor was kind enough to advise us this was likely the case and had a list of PCR testing centers in the Seychelles that get get results back to us on time should the need arise.

So, we're packed & today making sure all of our electronic paraphernalia are charged for the flight to Doha, then Seychelles tomorrow evening... 

[schnapperin]

Looking forward to your review! 
 

don‘t expect the sms until the day before - think I got mine sent in the morning with a late afternoon embarkation time. 
 

Is the EKG and exam new or a requirement after a certain age is reached? For Antartica in 2019 I only needed a filled out medial questionnaire signed off from my doc - no exam needed

[AussieBoyTX]

9 minutes ago, schnapperin said:

Is the EKG and exam new or a requirement after a certain age is reached? For Antartica in 2019 I only needed a filled out medial questionnaire signed off from my doc - no exam needed

 

On page six of the health evaluation form was this note: Electrocardiogram (to be attached to the medical file if your patient has a cardiovascular history or wishes to participate in aquatic activites).

I didn't push Ponant on this requirement, but we all got it (even the sixteen-year-old) since aquatic activities are a major part of the trip and it was easy enough to do.

 

As for the exam requirement, it may be an American thing, but given the nature of the questions, our physicians all wanted to do exams. (Except for me -- I had completed my annual exam about 45 days before this letter came from Ponant and my physician completed the form based on that examination and only called me in for the EKG.)

Edited December 12, 2021 by AussieBoyTX

[Sitti]

Have a wonderful and safe trip😊

 

Please do keep us updated on any new covid and restriction issues. I'd love to hear your experiences of going through the airports and boarding process of your ship.

 

I can't wait for my upcoming cruise. Hopefully there won't be anymore bad surprises until then

[AussieBoyTX]

All of our pre-work paid off for check-in with Qatar Airways. The one thing that would have been a snag was they wanted to see an official travel insurance certificate (whatever that is) with COVID coverage, in addition to the Seychelles Travel Authorization. We have excellent travel insurance through Divers Alert Network, but no certificate. Having a bit of a paranoid moment last week, I purchased the travel insurance Ponant offered for 30EUR each. Those arrived by email this morning and look very official indeed, with signatures and stamps and everything. Qatar was pleased with those and yet another gauntlet passed.

 

tl;dr, buy the Ponant travel insurance. 😉

Edited December 13, 2021 by AussieBoyTX

[Sitti]

5 hours ago, AussieBoyTX said:

All of our pre-work paid off for check-in with Qatar Airways. The one thing that would have been a snag was they wanted to see an official travel insurance certificate (whatever that is) with COVID coverage, in addition to the Seychelles Travel Authorization. We have excellent travel insurance through Divers Alert Network, but no certificate. Having a bit of a paranoid moment last week, I purchased the travel insurance Ponant offered for 30EUR each. Those arrived by email this morning and look very official indeed, with signatures and stamps and everything. Qatar was pleased with those and yet another gauntlet passed.

 

tl;dr, buy the Ponant travel insurance. 😉

 

Thank you for the heads up on travel insurance

 

Good thing that I booked Emirates for my flights. They at this time automatically give you a free travel insurance (really good one) when you book any flight with them. It comes with Proof of Insurance with stamp and signature on it, covers 500,000 USD medical expenses, and clearly states it covers Covid-19. Should be more than good enough to meet insurance requirement of any country.

[AussieBoyTX]

We have arrived in Seychelles and this island really is beautiful!

 

The immigration officials were incredulous that we were leaving the country by boat and insisted we show the return plane ticket ex Mahé. Fortunately, a supervisor was able to get us through. 
 

Also, we needed all the paperwork we submitted for the travel authorization, so have printed copies of that at hand. 
 

One of the second set of PCR tests we did before we flew out hasn’t come back. If it doesn’t show up later today, one of us will be getting a third PCR at the 150EUR you have a crisis rate. 🤪

[gogo65]

Enjoy!

Is there any restrictions on you getting home, being that you’ve been in Africa?

[AussieBoyTX]

5 hours ago, gogo65 said:

Enjoy!

Is there any restrictions on you getting home, being that you’ve been in Africa?

 

Currently no. Tanzania & Seychelles are not in the restricted Southern Africa country list and currently the restrictions on travel from those restricted countries do not apply to US citizens & residents.

[AussieBoyTX]

Against all odds, we made it!

 

 

[AussieBoyTX]

We spent a lovely couple of days exploring Mahé before boarding Le Bellot yesterday. Mahé is gorgeous and we felt we had the south side of the island to ourselves.

 

We got the third PCR about twelve hours after the others, so at least we didn't have to deal with another crisis. We didn't get a text with the ship's location and embarkation time, but have decided to blame that on the phone system -- we had problems making calls as well.

 

We arrived at the ship around 4:45pm and were able to drive the rental car right up to the ship, where local workers took all our bags, sprayed them down and had them onboard before we completed taking our selfies and heading up the gangway.

Our captain and front office manager were waiting for us and after a quick hello, we proceeded through the final gauntlet -- off to the main lounge to have a drink and find all of the paperwork that needed to be reviewed before we could be officially welcomed on board -- basically the final COVID health declaration for the three of us and the Yellow Fever vaccination certificates... We showed those to the doctor (and we're basically fast friends at this point after all the YF back and forth) and we were on our way to our cabins, where the Champagne was waiting for us.

 

Everything else was pretty normal. There are about eighty passengers on board and maybe a third are non-French speakers. While the French passengers got their Excursion orientation in the theatre, we got ours in the main lounge. Then we joined the French passengers in the theater for a welcome aboard from the cruise director followed by the safety briefing and drill.

 

Dinner at 7:30 -- we ate outside on deck three and got to bed early -- still a bit jet lagged.

[gogo65]

Have a great time, looks like you’ve spoiled yourself again?? Do you have a suite?

[AussieBoyTX]

1 hour ago, gogo65 said:

Have a great time, looks like you’ve spoiled yourself again?? Do you have a suite?

Yes, we have Deluxe Suites. The extra meter or so of cabin width is really nice!

 

I’d post some pix, but they’re all upside down when I upload and I need to edit them to fix that. 🤦‍♂️

[AussieBoyTX]

We met the expedition team this morning. There are seven, all with advanced degrees in various marine sciences and multi-year experience as science interpreters. 
 

All speak English fluently. It turns out that most of the non-French speaking passengers aboard are German and two of the team speak German as well (one is Austrian). 
 

We also booked Scuba this morning. If we want, there’s diving at almost every stop on this “luxury liveaboard.” It feels like we booked a lot of diving, but how many times will we get to dive Seychelles?

[AussieBoyTX]

Yesterday, Le Bellot took us to the spectacular granite island of La Digue. We toured a coconut farm and saw a starfruit tree for the first time, swam on a beautiful beach and saw imported Aldabran giant tortoises as well as mudskippers and land crabs. This tour was included in the price of the cruise and led by local guides.

If you recognize the plantation house, you may be a perv of a certain age: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Emmanuelle
 

Next stop Rémíre.

 

 

Sunrise at La Digue

 

 

Lunch on Le Bellot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The busy La Digue port.

[AussieBoyTX]

I have now learned to hold my iPhone upside down so I don't have to worry about editing them before I share here. 🤦‍♂️

 

Pictures from our first day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gil3]

Hi AussieBoyTX!

 

Thanks for the wonderful pictures.

We did the same excursion on La Digue but it was on our way back to Mahe (we were on the 11/26 to 12/8 cruise).

We really enjoyed our visit here and found Anse Source D'Argent beach really beautiful.

Have a very nice day in Remire, can't wait to see your pictures.

[AussieBoyTX]

Today, we left granite islands for coral, as Le Bellot took us to Rémire. The star of the day might have been the Marine Deck, which made for a comfortable swimming platform in the morning and a Zodiac loading area in the afternoon.

There must have been a special on spinach -- at lunch we were offered spanakopitas as a hot starter and creamed spinach as a main course. I had and loved both.

Scuba was on our agenda and we did a shallow water dive on the reef to the North and saw lots of interesting fish living in the tidal area.

Those who snorkeled on Rémire had a very nice setup with umbrellas, towels, coconut water and drinks. And more imported Aldabran giant tortoises.

 

[jonikal]

The photos are truly awesome and should either (a) be used by the Seychelles Tourist Bureau or (b)

created into an awesome calendar or both.  Bravo and many thanks!🙂

[gogo65]

Looks amazing!

I always wondered how Ponant managed a tropical expedition.  (I would have known if our Kimberley cruise wasn’t cancelled this year 😭), looks like they do it well!

[AussieBoyTX]

5 hours ago, gogo65 said:

Looks amazing!

I always wondered how Ponant managed a tropical expedition.  (I would have known if our Kimberley cruise wasn’t cancelled this year 😭), looks like they do it well!

 

We had dinner with one of the expedition guides last night (yes, you can book a guide to join your table) and spoke a lot about the various types of expeditions. They range from the 7 day Seychelles cruises where the expedition team basically manages getting the passengers safely to the beach each day, teach some to snorkel and answer the occasional naturalist question. On these cruises, the team's education, ability as science interpreters and specific knowledge are mostly dormant, aside from the passengers who take advantage of their skills.

 

On the longer cruises like the one we're on, they offer lectures on the at-sea days and they find that satisfying.

 

The polar cruises are the most demanding of them -- not just in get logistics of getting passengers ashore, but they have lots of opportunity to educate on their various areas of expertise.

 

Kimberley will eventually be on our list as well. On a previous cruise, we mentioned that to a bar manager and with an expressionless face, he noted that they ran out of beer the first time he made that cruise.

Edited December 19, 2021 by AussieBoyTX

[gogo65]

1 hour ago, AussieBoyTX said:

 

Kimberley will eventually be on our list as well. On a previous cruise, we mentioned that to a bar manager and with an expressionless face, he noted that they ran out of beer the first time he made that cruise.

Haha, trust the Aussies!!

[AussieBoyTX]

Today, Le Bellot brought us to the islands of Bijoutier & Saint François.

 

In the morning, snorkelers got to swim above the reef while the scuba divers did a drift drive on a different part of the reef. The snorkeling was spectacular and the diving was great. We followed manta rays basically at the surface for some thirty minutes.

 

In the afternoon, the tides at Saint François didn't cooperate and the expedition team had a heck of a time getting Zodiacs ashore. And once there, the water was too shallow to snorkel and it was kind of hot -- perfect only for sunbathers.

 

Scuba, on the other hand, was fantastic. It was a great drift dive along the reef wall. We saw thousands of fish, sea turtles everywhere, octopus, lobster, Napoleonfish and an incredible variety of butterflyfish.

 

Tonight is the Black & White night, It's a gala dinner and we were invited to have officers join our table. We accepted and we have the navigation officer and a cadet joining us this evening.

 

Tomorrow is a day at sea as we head towards the Aldabra Group.

 

 

[ethan1171]

What an amazing adventure!! So great to see that you are having so much fun despite all that is going on right now - and makes us all appreciate that travel is becoming again accessible and enjoyable. Thank you for the pictures and allowing us to live this cruise vicariously through you. Also you are inspiring me to look into this itinerary after our Antarctica trip with Ponant. Looks awesome so far! Please keep posting!😀

[highplanesdrifters]

Thanks for the great ride!  We've got 4 expedition trips on SS & Seabourn next year,  but can't  wait to try Ponant.  You should get a comission.😃