Cosmoledo Atoll Seychelles
Frequently Asked Questions
At the far edge of the Seychelles archipelago, well southwest of Mahe, right beside Aldabra. Nobody lives there and no pier awaits: that is exactly what makes this call so rare.
The ship anchors outside the reef and zodiacs take over. They pass through one of the channels cutting the coral ring, then run across the lagoon to a pale sand beach. Landings are wet-footed, depending on the tide.
The atoll is classified an Important Bird Area: it holds the largest red-footed booby colony in the entire Indian Ocean, masked boobies in their thousands, and the last brown booby nesting site in Seychelles.
They show little fear and can be watched from a few metres. On the coral rocks the nests almost touch. Sooty terns also form the archipelago's largest colony here, alongside herons, noddies and red-tailed tropicbirds.
Everywhere, right into the shallows near Menai where very young individuals swim. From the zodiac you watch them slip beneath the surface like shadows.
From the British navy. Menai and Wizard recall the two ships of the Moresby expedition, which surveyed the atoll in 1822. Those names have stayed on the charts ever since.
When conditions allow, yes. The reefs remain intact, worked over by reef fish in great numbers and by the trevally that made these waters famous among sport fishers worldwide.
Cosmoledo belongs to the Aldabra group, the coral atolls of the southwestern Seychelles. Its most famous neighbour, a World Heritage site, earns the region its nickname of Galapagos of the Indian Ocean.
Isolation explains everything: no regular service, no airport, hundreds of kilometres of open water in every direction. Only a handful of expedition ships put the atoll on their program, and landing depends on the day.
Shoes that can get wet, a hat, mineral sunscreen, binoculars, mask and snorkel if the ship does not lend them, and plenty of water. There is nothing to buy: everything leaves the ship with you.
