Alphonse Island

Alphonse Island lies in the Indian Ocean, 500km south of Mahé, Seychelles main island. The island was discovered by the captain of a French ship in 1730 and named after him. Alphonse is a small triangular shaped coral island strewn with coconut trees, boasting 3.6km of coastline protected by a reef.

Alphonse Island belongs to the Alphonse Group.

The Alphonse Group is part of the Amirantes Group. Other islands of the Amirantes are: Desroches, d'Arros, Marie Louise and many others. All these islands are coral reef islands unlike the larger Seychelles islands Mahé, Praslin, La Digue and others further north, which are granite rock islands

The Alphonse Group consists of 3 reefs each with it's own Island: St. Francois in the south, Bijoutier in the center and Alphonse in the north. Alphonse is the only inhabited island of the Group. Boats are anchored on the south coast of the island in the lagoon. They have to leave the lagoon through a passage in the south of the reef. At high tide we once managed to pass to the north east into the lagoon.

Alphonse is well known for its world class fishing. What is called "Flats" in the picture above is where the fishermen go with their guides to go after the Bonefish. You can walk there during most of the day. Only at very high tides you are probalby faster swimming than walking. Alphonse Island Resort was opened in December 1999. It consists of 25 chalets and 5 villas. Flight time from the main island Mahé is 60 minutes. Usually there is a stop at Desroches on the way.

Alphonse Island Resort
Pictures provided by Dominique Jachnik, former Manager Alphonse Island Resort (many thanks Dominique)

The first thing we noticed when we entered Alphonse Island Resort was SPACE. There are 30 rooms and your next door neighbor is far enough away that you do not hear anything from him (great if you run an Amateur Radio Station).

Getting from your room to the restaurant or to the bar means a long trip, but as every guest is provided with a bicycle getting around is a pleasure. You can use your bicycle to explore the island and find your own beach. However, do not plan more than one day for exploring, as you do not have more than 3.6 km of coastline.

If you like good food (we certainly do) this is the right place for you. With a mixture of excellent local and international cuisine the Alphonse Island chefs will please you. A trip to Alphonse is not cheap, but if you want to stretch your legs and do something different or just do nothing it is a destination which is difficult to beat.

Dominique and Bernard Jachnik the former French managers of Alphonse Island Resort provided excellent support for my Amateur Radio needs. They have hosted several Hams before in their career (including Bert, PA3GIO on Desroches) and know very well what Hams want. Dominique and Bernard left Alphonse Island Resort in mid 2000. In 2005 the resort had changed hand. Management was from India. The Manager Umesh was very supportive towards our hobby. Fortunately I could arrange a demo for him with several DX contacts.

Bungalows 30m from the beach

Inside one of the bungalows

Front of one of 5 villas

The lobby

Diving Alphonse Island

Potato Cod

Lion Fish

Silvertip Shark

Stingray

Diving was THE positive surprise on our trip. We did not know much about the diving around this island beforehand, but what we experienced exceeded our expectations by far. If you are looking for nice colorful corals you better look somewhere else, but if you like gorgonia wall diving, Sharks (no babies - real ones), Barracudas, Stingrays, Morays, Napoleon Fish, Turtles, Lion Fish, Potato Cods, Lobsters and generally exciting life under water this is the place for you!

I have been diving for 20 years and it is difficult to get me excited, but when I saw that huge Giant Grouper I almost swallowed my second stage. Diving on Alphonse is expensive, but the crew provides excellent service and the trips are as relaxing as they are exciting. Be prepared to go deeper than in other places. The most interesting walls are at around 25 to 38 meters.

In 2005 we saw that Giant Grouper again (as well as the Potato Cod). This time it came really close - unforgettable! We realized that all corals are still ALIVE around Alphonse. This is due to a cold current (makes you shiver sometimes during the dive) that keeps the water from getting too warm for the corals. As you may know the El Nino effect killed most corals in the late nineties world-wide through unusually high water temperatures - not on Alphonse.

Click on picture to enlarge

The picture shows an aerial shot of Alphonse. The camera is located south-east of the Island pointing north-west. The small green triangle on the top right is the island. The rest is the large ring shaped reef with a shallow lagoon in the center.