Who needs sunshine when you're young and in love? Brendan Cole and wife Zoe head to the (very rainy) Seychelles

By Zoe Cole

Brendan and Zoe enjoy a rare sunny moment on their honeymoon in beautiful Labriz, Seychelles


As the plane dipped beneath the clouds on its approach to land at Seychelles International Airport, Brendan and I were full of anticipation. When you plan a honeymoon, you paint lots of happy pictures in your mind.

The brochures are full of these glorious images, of course: infinity pools of deepest blue, sumptuous suites, dinner tables groaning under the weight of lavish buffets, happy couples gazing into each other's eyes over a sparkling glass of champagne and, naturally, palm trees nodding over brilliant white sandy beaches.

The one element common to most of the brochure pictures is taken for granted: bright, hot sunshine.

But as we neared touchdown, a glance through the aircraft window revealed a view that could have been subtitled: 'What's wrong with this picture?'

It was raining. And raining in the only way it can on tropical islands: heavily. I suppose rain on a tropical island is something that really you ought to expect.

When we stepped off the boat on to Silhouette Island we were immediately amazed by just how lush and green our surroundings were.

And after two days of downpours there was no escaping the reason for the remarkably verdant landscape: the rainy season that wasn't supposed to begin for another month or so was in full spate. Obviously we had used up all of our good weather days on the wedding!

But, 'Ahem!' I hear you cry. 'You are young and in love and on your honeymoon, surely the weather wasn't that much of a factor?'

True, of course. But when you're on holiday, you do expect bona fide good weather.

Nothing can be more depressing than a resort in the rain, whether it's on the coast of Sussex or washed by the waters of the Indian Ocean.

This resort, fortunately, had no shortage of wet-weather activities. We had satellite TV to get us through those wet days, watching Rafael Nadal and Co play through the scorching heat at Wimbledon.

We also had our fine Ocean Pavilion with its enormous deck and private plunge pool. The second largest and most impressive of all the rooms at the Labriz resort, we were more than happy to make it our home for the next 15 nights.

On the first evening we returned there after dinner to find that the enormous circular bathtub had been filled to the brim, with flower petals scattered on top and candles placed around the edge. (What can they have been suggesting, we wondered.)


A bathtub made for two: The stylish interior of an Ocean Pavilion suite at the resort


We opened a bottle of bubbly, jumped in and stayed there for hours with the patio doors open, looking out to sea while a thunderstorm raged above.

When it was finally time to climb into our huge, netted four-poster bed we discovered that it had been covered by a beautiful display of more petals, while the hand towels had been shaped into two kissing swans.

Friends who have cruised have often raved about the towel sculpting antics of ships' stewards but we had never encountered this phenomenon before (when you're in a literal and figurative tropical depression, it's surprising what can lighten the mood).

The towel animals were to become a recurring theme throughout our stay, courtesy of Kumara, our Sri Lankan housekeeper, whom I affectionately named Dobby the house elf, after the character in Harry Potter.

I have never met anyone with such a talent for making animals out of towels. Once, we found an elephant in our bed and, on our last night, we were surprised by a giant tortoise. This man should be head-hunted!

The staff at the Labriz - mainly from Sri Lanka and India but with a few local Seychellois and Germans thrown in for good measure - are top-notch.

The food was also a daily treat. There are five restaurants on site including Italian, Japanese, Teppanyaki and Creole, and a poolside bar serving food all day.

The Italian, called Portobello, became our favourite.

We also found the Japanese restaurant, Sakura, to be excellent. The resort also offers honeymooners a free candlelit dinner on the mile-long sandy beach, which makes for an incredibly romantic evening.

As tropical paradises go, you don't get much prettier than the Seychelles, and Labriz is constructed to fit in perfectly with its surroundings, from the fabulous spa built into the huge volcanic boulders that are synonymous with the Seychelles, to the beautiful, natural-style swimming pool and the giant tortoise sanctuary nearby.



Cuter than Bruce: The resort staff tease the towels in fun shapes on a nightly basis


This houses the last remaining original Seychellois giant tortoises. It is run by volunteers and, to help fund it, you can adopt and name your own baby giant tortoise and the staff will write its name on its shell in Tipp-Ex for you. Some of the adults are more than 150 years old.

They don't say much, but it's well worth the short walk to visit these amazing creatures.

We started the trip with daily runs around the resort and up and down the beach and even had a couple of games of tennis, but after a while we found that the less we did, the less we wanted to do. Our determination to qualify for diving certificates slowly faded away.

Instead our routine involved wallowing around in the turquoise surf like beached whales before retiring to the bar to sip cocktails.

By the end of our two weeks we were completely relaxed and restored. We had feared the rain would spoil our holiday. The truth is we barely noticed it. Ah, when you're young and in love...

Travel facts

Kuoni (01306 747008, www.kuoni.co.uk) offers seven nights on a B&B basis at Labriz Seychelles in a garden villa, including return flights with Air Seychelles from Heathrow, transfers in resort and use of an airport lounge in the UK on departure.

Prices for 2011 start at £2,370 per person.


source: dailymail