Seychelles Sailing Itinerary: A 7-Day Cruise from Mahé to Praslin, Silhouette and La Digue

The cruise sails through the inner Seychelles, a cluster of granite islands in the Indian Ocean that form the navigational core of the archipelago. The route departs from Mahé, the largest island and home to the capital Victoria, and works its way north and east through a circuit of islands with distinct characters and landscapes, each reachable in a few hours from the last.

Navigation stays sheltered for most of the week, moving between the inner islands where distances are short and the sea is generally calm, with anchorages chosen for both comfort and access to the most distinctive natural environments in the archipelago. The Seychelles sit outside the cyclone belt, making them one of the few tropical sailing destinations accessible year round, with the southeast trade winds from May to October and the northwest monsoon from November to April shaping conditions in each season.

The landscape is defined by enormous rounded granite boulders, a geological signature unlike anything found elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, rising from beaches of white sand and turquoise water. Inland, the islands are dense with endemic vegetation, including the coco de mer palm found only in Praslin and a handful of surrounding islands, and forests managed as nature reserves that protect some of the rarest bird and reptile species on the planet.

Life on the islands moves slowly and with intention. Victoria on Mahé carries the traces of British colonial history alongside a working Creole market. Praslin retains the most intact primary forest in the archipelago. La Digue has resisted most forms of motorized transport, remaining navigable primarily by bicycle, while Cousin and Curieuse have been returned almost entirely to wildlife, with daily visits managed through guided tours.

Days generally combine a morning sail with time ashore in the afternoon, exploring a nature reserve, a beach or a village, with evenings spent at anchor in calm, clear water and a level of stillness and remoteness that is increasingly difficult to find in the Indian Ocean.