Granite islands, a slower blue

The inner Seychelles are the only mid-ocean granite islands on earth, fragments of an ancient continent left behind in the Indian Ocean when the landmasses moved on, and they look the part. Shoulders of grey stone hundreds of millions of years old stand smoothed into shapes no volcano could make, with jungle in the folds and beaches the colour of unpoured cream at their feet. There are 115 islands, barely a hundred thousand Seychellois, and most of the country is effectively reachable only by yacht.

The shape of a charter

The inner islands sit conveniently close. Mahe to Praslin is around twenty-five nautical miles, La Digue lies an hour beyond Praslin, and the satellite islands scatter within tender range of the main three. This is unhurried cruising, short morning hops and long afternoons at anchor, with the Ste Anne Marine National Park ten minutes off Victoria for a first-night swim. A week loops Mahe, Praslin and La Digue comfortably, and more time adds Silhouette or the quiet north of Mahe. Provisioning is good in Victoria and better underway, with wahoo and yellowfin regular on a trolled line. The Seychelles also sits outside the cyclone belt, which means there is no month in which the sea is trying to cancel your plans.

Beaches, boulders and the outer atolls

Anse Lazio on Praslin and Anse Source d'Argent on La Digue appear on most lists of the world's great beaches, and for once the lists are right. Source d'Argent's granite boulders and shallow jade water photograph best before nine, and a yacht anchored off overnight gets there first. Anse Georgette, reached more easily by sea than by land, is the connoisseur's Praslin beach. La Digue itself still runs largely on bicycles, which sets the tempo ashore. Curieuse, a short hop from Praslin, has free-roaming giant tortoises and a mangrove boardwalk, while Cousin Island nearby is a reserve where seabirds outnumber visitors by thousands to one and hawksbill turtles nest on the sand. Then there is the other Seychelles, the coralline outer islands. The Amirantes and Alphonse offer flats fishing and empty anchorages a day's passage from Mahe, and far to the south-west lies Aldabra, a raised atoll and UNESCO World Heritage site with the largest giant tortoise population on the planet.

Aldabra holds more giant tortoises than the Galapagos, and sees fewer visitors in a year than Venice does in a morning.

The Creole shore

Victoria is one of the smallest capitals anywhere, walkable in a morning, and the Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market at its centre is the place to understand Creole cooking before you taste it. The clock tower at the main crossroads is a small silver cousin of London's Little Ben, which tells you something about the layers of history here. Order octopus curry simmered in coconut milk, grilled job fish or red snapper with rice and satini, and ladob for dessert, plantain and sweet potato poached in coconut cream and vanilla. Seychellois Creole, French and English all work ashore, often in the same sentence. Moutya, the drum-led music and dance the islands kept alive through hard centuries, is now recognised by UNESCO and still danced at beach gatherings. On Praslin, the Vallee de Mai shelters the coco de mer, the largest seed in the plant kingdom, and the black parrot found nowhere else on earth.

When to come

The south-east trades blow from May to September, cooler and breezier, with the western anchorages in their lee. The north-west season from November to March is warmer, stiller and greener. The turning points between them, April to May and October to November, are the prize, glassy water and the year's best visibility for diving. In truth the Seychelles works in every month, which is rare and worth something, and by Mediterranean standards the anchorages never feel crowded. To hold dates or weigh an inner-island week against an outer-island expedition, start with our charter team.