Sour oranges, bitter pill, sweet pineapple

She holds out a bag in her right hand. It is full of little oranges, the ones that grow here in the Seychelles. They’re very sour with lots of pips. The bitter pill is in her left hand. She gives me back my story, folded up. She’s read it to her children. “They laughed at it,” she says. “It sounds so Enid Blytonish.......children here wouldn’t say “Oh my gosh!” and it didn’t ring true for me either.” “Well, it was presumptuous of me to write a story for that age group, when I don’t have any contact with them,” I say. “I hope you’re not upset,” she says. “No,” I say. “It’s what I needed to hear. I asked for your honest opinion.” So, now I'm home with my sour oranges and my bitter pill. My neighbour calls me over. She has a huge sweet, sweet Seychelles pineapple. The season is almost over. She cuts me a generous chunk. Yay, someone from Portugal has read my blog and likes it. He's sent me a hug.
I peel some of the little oranges, squish out the bitter pips and put the fleshy segments at the base of a bowl. I add bananas, mango (from Randolph, the fruit seller at the beach), papaya (off our own tree) and the sweet, sweet pineapple. My husband comes home. “Lucy’s kids made fun of my story,” I say. “It’s rubbish – but I needed to hear it. But a man in Portugal likes my blog." We laugh and eat the fruit salad. It’s delicious and the pineapple is so, so sweet.

A gem: Round Island, Praslin

It’s small in global terms, but ROUND ISLAND, Praslin, Seychelles sits like a huge emerald jewel in its setting of turquoise sea. You can only get there by helicopter or by boat. Once on the island, the only modes of transport are ‘a pied’ or by golf cart. A few narrow roads and paths twist and turn up and down its humpy middle.

Your own personal butler takes you to your villa by golf cart and gives you a guided tour of the island. There are only four villas, three of which are two bed-roomed. Each bedroom has its own en suite bathroom (beware of the Jacuzzi jets!) and outside shower (but very civilized, with hot water). Reading on loungers on the veranda is wonderfully soporific. There is another much larger villa, delightfully rustic, with its own swimming pool. All are set in lush green shrubbery dotted with colourful tropical flowers – an ongoing supply of blooms to decorate beds!

You can climb the wooden staircase to ‘heaven’. Climbing up and up and up between amazing sculpted granite rocks, one gets to a viewing platform. Up there, you can see Mahe and Fregate on a good day... and have a candle or moonlit dinner at night! Or you can bird watch. We saw blue pigeons, the majestic fregate birds, the beautiful long-tailed tropic birds and fairy terns.

There is a restaurant and bar down at the small beach and another (the main one) overlooking a swimming pool, round of course. The chef conjures up meals fit for royalty - so good-looking in fact, that they deserve to be appreciated as works of art before being consumed.

The snorkelling in certain areas at the base of this jewel, is excellent. You can also sail or kayak.
Round is a true gem.