North Island
I have writer’s block. I feel as though I have a homework assignment looming over my shoulder and try as I might to commit words to page, I keep failing. I’ve just been to North Island in the Seychelles and the problem is that I am trying to convert into words something so wonderful that it almost defies a written description.
Simply put, North Island is pretty much to what you’d a imagine private tropical island paradise to be like if that tropical paradise came with a butler, a palatial villa and an amply stocked wine cellar.
I should point out that it’s expensive, almost ruinously so. Whatever number you’re imagining, double it. Bringing this up invariably leads to the question, ‘is it worth the money?’ To this the only answer I can give is yes, absolutely and unequivocally.
Until I went there, I had this vague sense that there couldn’t possibly be a justification for paying so much money for a beach vacation. It turns out there absolutely is and that value isn’t so much down to the villas (which are spectacular) or the service (which is almost supernaturally excellent) or the food (which is as good as I have had anywhere), it’s due to the sense of freedom that having all of these things combined on a palm fringed private island in the middle of the Indian ocean that has just 11 villas and a few hundred free range Aldabra tortoises, gives you.
Each morning you can roll out of bed to the beach at the bottom of your villa’s garden and start your day with a swim the warm, aquamarine ocean that’s almost looks like it’s fake. After breakfast you then get to choose your own adventure. Do you want to spend the whole day diving? No problem. Fancy a spot of deep sea fishing? Of course. Want to spend an entire day on completely deserted beach and have food and drinks delivered to you whenever you feel like it? Why didn’t you say so.
North Island is not to be taken lightly. You don’t come here on a whim, it’s far away and expensive. It’s a trip of lifetime sort of place and about as perfect as it gets.
Despite the gushing praise above, Dan is our hyper critical and almost-jaded lead safari planner; he’s seen more starlight beds and private butlers than anyone of his tender years should be allowed. Contact him here to see if he can think of anything bad to say about North Island.
