We were both looking forward to getting back to the island and when we stepped on to the beach after our month away I realised that I had forgotten how beautiful it was. The light was the first thing that struck me; it was so clear and bright, as if everything was lit up with an electric light, it looked amazing, followed then once more by the abundance of wildlife.
It hasn’t taken us long to get back into the swing of things, and the weeks once again are starting to fly by. We are entering into the busy time of year now, as the seas calm and the North West monsoon begins. The visitor numbers are increasing each week, as our regular clients return and we already have cruise ships booked in for the Christmas period.
In addition to the daily tasks, Melv has been busy building a new composting loo, gaining the materials needed by recycling one of the verandas off an empty rangers’ house. It took sometime to source a new toilet seat though, with only one shop selling such an item on the whole of Praslin. But it was worth the wait and is now pure luxury.
I have been catching up on going into schools, we have finished the Aride corner at Grand Anse and I have been working on a mural at Baie Ste Anne. One of our volunteers came in with me to talk about adaptation and we used his musical talent to good end, as a song on the ukulele will make birds and adaptation a subject the children won’t forget for some time.
The wildlife is still out of this world, whilst a lot of the breeding birds hav
e flown, we still have lesser noddy chicks just about ready to fledge and the residents, such as the white tailed tropics seem to be rearing young successfully. Visitors to the island have included a crab plover, which was a new bird for me – with such an amazing beak and legs like a stilt. Things have gone full circle and the turtles start to 
come up the beach once more. We have been lucky to have at least 2 of the very rare green turtles in the last few weeks, followed by the start of the hawksbills. Even though we are desperately short of water, the Wrights gardinier has been flowering, it is hard to believe that Aride is the only place in the world where this tree grows naturally, the smell from the flowers is exquisite.
e flown, we still have lesser noddy chicks just about ready to fledge and the residents, such as the white tailed tropics seem to be rearing young successfully. Visitors to the island have included a crab plover, which was a new bird for me – with such an amazing beak and legs like a stilt. Things have gone full circle and the turtles start to 
come up the beach once more. We have been lucky to have at least 2 of the very rare green turtles in the last few weeks, followed by the start of the hawksbills. Even though we are desperately short of water, the Wrights gardinier has been flowering, it is hard to believe that Aride is the only place in the world where this tree grows naturally, the smell from the flowers is exquisite. 
Of course we have been fishing, and fresh fish has been on the menu most nights of the week, on several occasions we have tried to pull sharks into the shallows with the remains, which has provided evening entertainment for the whole island.
I still have to pinch myself most days just to check that I really am living in this amazing place, where the blue sea is so blue it hurts your eyes and the sand is so hot it burns your feet. There is always something new to see, from humpback whales to the thousands of roosting frigate birds, but it is not without its challenges, and who knows what the next 12 months will bring...
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