Awesome trip report Colin - need to catch up with Dave as I haven't seen him since he was back!
Did you see any pirates btw?
Cheers Alex,
Our trip was in doubt for a long time 'cause our local contact wasn't prepared to commit. Then we got the word he felt we were good to go. Had a great trip but right at the end of the trip we received a warning of possible pirate presence in the general area. We ran for 12 hours without lights thru darkness, a spotter plane overflew us early next morning and the coast was clear to Mahe.
Our guy shut down his charters as soon as we reached port, pending clarification of the pirate situation.
Seems to me the Seychelles charter operators have a significant vested interest in the safety of their boats and clients and you would expect their judgement calls to err on the side of caution. That said, the Indian Ocean is a big place and until/if there is a multi-national effort to rid the place of pirates, there will always be some risk when you are fishing the remote areas.
