Here are just a few useful tips that might be interesting for every La Digue visitor. We will update this page regularly - if you have a tip you want to share, just write us a note or tell us on Facebook - we´ll happily publish it if it is interesting for others too.
Can´t live without your phone, but you don´t want to pay high roaming fees? There is a solution! What you need is a phone without a contract, and a prepaid kit from e.g. Cable and Wireless. You find the C&W store when you head south starting at the jetty right before the road makes the first turn - you can´t miss the blue building, promised. But there are also some internet cafes around the island and many hotels or restaurants offer free or paid WIFI. Speed is nowhere from what you are used to at home and getting worse every evening.
Getting fresh fruits on the Seychelles has become much easier in recent years. Back in the days, locals mainly had fruits in their garden for their own needs and exchanged mangoes for bananas with their neighbours. Simon started a fruit shop on the road to Grand Anse and he paved the paths for many others that followed. While the fruits on the Seychelles are usually not that cheap, the quality is not comparable to what you´d get for example in Europe. The fruits are sweet and extremely tasty. Furthermore, you get fruits you haven´t yet even seen before, like Soursop. Around May you´ll also find fruits on the road that have fallen from trees. They look like a mix of potatoes and mangoes and are called golden apple. They taste great but are rather hard to eat. To be sure to eat the right fruit, ask a local for help, they are usually happy to help.
There are many places and beaches on La Digue you can easily explore on your own. But trust us, there are others, you´d rather take a local guide for. When we´ve visited La Digue for the very first time back in 2003 we thought it would be nice to walk all around the island. Been there, done that, but we´ll never do it again. We climbed over rocks and through the thicket, needed two hours for what looks like 200m on Google maps. And despite having 3l of drinking water per person, we ran out of water. Was it worth it? Rather not. The places we have seen haven´t been all that extraordinary. Plus: we didn´t learn a thing about plants, animals, etc. Your guide can give you all that interesting info and lead you to the places that are really amazing. Usually, local guides offer private tours as well as group tours. One guide we can definitely recommend is Robert Agnes.
The possibilities for buying food supply are great, especially for a small island like La Digue. The biggest supermarket is the STC in the Gregoires building on the road behind La Digue Island Lodge. There is an ATM from Barclays outside and a pizzeria. In La Passe close to the jetty there are some smaller stores, shops for buying souvenirs and an ATM (from MCB).
A branch of Barclays Bank including a cash machine outside the office is also situated in La Passe.
Milenas shop has a good choice of various things, from food to 5-litre water canisters, …. to screws and pots ;-)
Shortly after the T-crossing coming from La Passe going to Grand Anse on the right and to Nid d´Aigle on the left is another small supermarket.
Scattered around the island are a few takeaways. Some come and some go, but you´ll always find enough opportunities.
Just in case: in La Passe a few 100m from the jetty, there is a small island hospital. In 2018 La Digue will receive a new hospital.
