Inside Saint-Anne Marine National Park, just a short boat ride from the Seychelles’ main island of Mahé, is a place that feels a world away from modern civilization. There are no busy roads; in fact, there are no roads at all, and there certainly aren’t any shopping centres or crowds. Instead, there is thick vegetation, rocky headlands, small beaches and just a handful of small accommodation options. This is where we recently discovered L’Habitation Cerf Island, perhaps the most surprising delight of our recent visit to the archipelago.
L’Habitation is a small, family-run hotel with just a handful of rooms on Cerf Island. There is no grand entrance or sprawling resort complex; instead, everything feels closely connected to nature. Visit here, and you are fairly tied to the resort, but that’s part of the experience. You can wander around the island, but thick vegetation, rocky headlands and the changing tide often stop you from getting very far. Rather than feeling restrictive, though, it encourages you to stay put and make the most of what is around you. There is no pressure to fill every hour with activities or sightseeing. You can swim, snorkel, paddle, eat, read and do very little at all.
If you manage to shake the pressure that modern living has put on us, of always having something to do, you might find you actually enjoy it. Your days start to revolve around the tides rather than a schedule, and there is a pleasant feeling that there is nowhere you particularly need to be.
But that’s not to say there’s nothing to do. One afternoon we borrowed the complimentary kayaks and paddled to a tiny beach that looked as though nobody had visited in weeks. Maybe longer. The sand was so soft it almost felt like quicksand beneath our feet. Stingrays cruised through the shallows just metres away, and apart from the occasional bird, there wasn’t another soul around. We hadn’t needed to book a boat trip or find a hidden beach on a carefully planned excursion. We had simply picked up a couple of kayaks and gone exploring.
Back at the hotel, the marine life continued to surprise us. We borrowed snorkelling gear and hopped off the jetty, spotting turtles gliding beneath us along with several large rays. We walked along the beaches, amongst coral washed onto the shore, patches of seaweed and driftwood scattered along the sand. Crabs were scuttling around us, and down one little path to the left we discovered some giant tortoises. This wasn’t the polished, manicured version of a tropical island you sometimes find at a resort. It felt genuine, as though the beach had been left exactly as nature intended.
Back at the hotel itself, our room sat right behind the pool, which meant our oldest daughter could happily swim while our youngest napped nearby. The room was spacious, with a double bed, a single bed for our eldest tucked around the corner, a cot for the littlest and a large bathroom. Being small, there was also a nice social side to the resort, without it ever feeling busy. People naturally gathered around the pool or at the bar during happy hour. We could chat to another family if we felt like it, while the kids made friends in the pool.
Breakfast and dinner were included, and dinner changed each evening with a choice of two starters, two mains and dessert. Nothing was overly complicated or pretentious. Just fresh, well-cooked food. The children had their own meals too, whether it was fried rice, noodles or pasta, and if they were tired after a busy day they could eat earlier before we put them to bed.
And often we did exactly that. We settled the girls for the night, switched on the monitor and enjoyed a relaxed dinner while keeping an eye on our room from the restaurant. It was one of those simple things that made travelling with young children feel surprisingly easy.
And although Cerf Island encourages you to stay put, you aren’t actually cut off from the rest of the Seychelles. Complimentary boat transfers to and from Mahé are included on arrival and departure, with scheduled departures three times a day, while additional transfers back and forth are available at a very affordable rate. Depending on how long you stay, you may also receive additional complimentary transfers, making it easy to head across for sightseeing before returning to the quiet of Cerf Island.
That balance is perhaps what we liked most. You can spend a day exploring Mahé, seeing more of the Seychelles and having lunch somewhere different, and then return across the water to the complete quiet of Cerf. For lunch on Cerf itself, you can either eat at the hotel or wander to a small local beach barbecue nearby for something different.
By the end of our stay, it was the lack of things to do that we appreciated most. Not because there was nothing to do, but because there was no pressure to do any of it. The island gives you permission to slow down, to follow the tide, to paddle somewhere simply because you can, and to spend an afternoon watching your children swim. The beaches are left natural, the wildlife comes to you, and the days are dictated by the sea. It’s the Seychelles as it should be.