Mahé
Somewhere in the surf at Anse Intendance, the watch came off
Anse Intendance, in southern Mahé, has powder-white sand and huge breakers.
Whether a watch lost at Anse Intendance can be found depends first on where it came off, in the breakers or on the sand above them. After that, it comes down to how closely you can place yourself along half a mile of beach.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone on Mahé with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the beach, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Mahé's beaches range from the calm, lively bay at Beau Vallon to the small rock-fringed coves of Anse Royale and the open surf in the south.
Fix the place before the day moves on
If you are still at the beach, look for something fixed that lines up with where you last had it, such as a big rock, a particular palm, the path down to the sand or the corner of a building, and write it down with the time you noticed. Back in your room, a satellite view on your phone and your pictures from the day are enough to mark the place from memory.
Each part of Mahé raises its own first questions. Beau Vallon in the north-west is one long bay with hotels, bars and water sports along it. Port Launay is a marine park with several beaches of its own, and Baie Ternay lies just north of it. The south-west has Baie Lazare, Anse à la Mouche and Anse Soleil, with Anse Takamaka at the end of the west coast road. Anse Intendance is in the south, and on the south-east coast Anse Royale breaks up into coves. Victoria, the capital, is on the list too, for losses in town, at the Botanical Garden or on a boat trip out to Cerf Island.
Places we cover on Mahé
- Beau Vallon
- Victoria
- The Botanical Garden, Victoria
- Eden Island
- Ste Anne Marine National Park
- Cerf Island
- Port Launay
- Port Launay Marine National Park
- Baie Ternay
- Baie Ternay Marine National Park
- Anse L'Islette
- Anse des Anglais
- Port Glaud
- Grand Anse
- Baie Lazare
- Anse Gaulette
- Anse à la Mouche
- Anse Soleil
- Petite Anse
- Anse Takamaka
- Anse Intendance
- Anse Royale
- Fairyland, Anse Royale
- Île Souris
- Anse Forbans
- Anse Marie Louise
- Carana Beach
- Sunset Beach, Glacis
Mahé's beaches, north-west to south-east
Victoria and Eden Island are here as well, for losses away from the sand.
Beau Vallon
Beau Vallon is a sweeping, comma-shaped bay of white sand on the north-western coast, lively with visitors and locals alike. Hotels stand along the sand, restaurants and bars line the bay, and diving centres and water sports work from the beach. The water is calm. The building you were sitting opposite is the first thing a detectorist needs to know.
Port Launay, Baie Ternay and Anse L'Islette
Port Launay, on the north-western coast past Port Glaud, is a beach and a marine national park at once, and the park takes in several beaches besides Port Launay itself. Takamaka trees shade the sand and there is reef on both sides of the bay for snorkelling. Anse des Anglais, a secluded cove of rock formations a stone's throw from Port Launay beach, has no road to it, so people walk there or take a boat across from Port Launay. Anse L'Islette, near Port Launay, faces a small island across water shallow enough to walk through. Baie Ternay, beyond Cap Matoopa to the north, has no coastal road, so boats from Beau Vallon and Port Launay take people to its secluded beaches to swim, snorkel and picnic.
Baie Lazare, Anse à la Mouche and Anse Soleil
In the district of Baie Lazare, Anse Gaulette is a palm-fringed bay beside the road, ending at Copra rock, where people swim, snorkel and surf. Anse à la Mouche, on the south-western side, is a large calm bay whose water stays shallow even at high tide. Anse Soleil is a wide sandy beach under big shade trees, and Petite Anse is close by, down a fork off the minor coast road from Baie Lazare.
Anse Intendance and Anse Takamaka
There is no reef at Anse Intendance, so the waves are much larger than at most other beaches around the island, and it suits surfing more than swimming. Anse Takamaka is the last beach on the west coast road, named after the takamaka trees around it, with a rocky reef facing the sand, and people snorkel there.
Anse Royale and Île Souris
On the south-eastern coast, a run of small coves edged with rocks stretches from the area called Fairyland down to the Anglican church at Anse Royale. People swim and snorkel along it, and the best snorkelling is around the rocks at Fairyland and out to the small island just off the coast. Île Souris, a rocky island, belongs to the Anse Royale district. Anse Forbans and Anse Marie Louise, side by side, are also on the south-east of Mahé.
Victoria, Eden Island and Cerf Island
Victoria is the capital, with a busy market and the Esplanade, and the Botanical Garden close by, where visitors feed the giant tortoises. Eden Island, with its marina, mall and restaurants, is on Mahé too. In town the useful thing is your route, so list the shops, stalls or garden paths you went through, in order. Boats leave Victoria for the Ste Anne Marine National Park, a short ride offshore, where Cerf Island has shallow water and reefs for swimming, snorkelling and diving. Say which island you landed on.
How a Mahé case is run
Ask the organiser directly
The WhatsApp chat you open is with the person who arranges the search itself, so a question at any stage, before or after the detectorist goes out, is answered by someone who knows your case.
Your pictures go with the brief
The detectorist is briefed with your own photos of the item and the place you marked, along with anything you remember about the water there. On a bay the size of Beau Vallon, that is what puts them on the right part of the sand.
Early word if it looks unlikely
A watch lost at some unknown point on a long swim through the surf at Anse Intendance is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Costs in writing
We explain the costs before any search is booked, and set them out in writing so you have them to look back on.
Surf in the south, calm water in the bays
Some beaches on Mahé have a reef in front of them and some do not.
Open surf in the south
The waves at Anse Intendance come in with no reef offshore, and Anse Takamaka faces a rocky reef. Tell us whether you were out in the breaking waves or closer to the sand.
Shallow, calm bays
Anse à la Mouche stays shallow even at high tide, and the water at Beau Vallon is calm enough for kayaks and water skiing. In these bays, tell us what you were doing in the water when it went.
Rocks and coral on the south-east
Île Souris stands just inside the long line of coral reef that fringes the coast at Anse Royale. If you snorkelled out from the coves, mark roughly where you turned back.
Mahé questions, beach by beach
A wave at Anse Intendance took the watch off my wrist.
Start with the moment itself: were you standing in the shallows, swimming out beyond the break or on a board? This beach suits surfing more than swimming, so it helps to know which. Put a pin where you went into the water, give the make and model of the watch, and say whether you felt it go or only noticed later.
We spent the evening on the sand at Beau Vallon and the engagement ring was missing by the time we got back to the room.
Then two places need looking at, the patch of sand where you sat and the way back. Restaurants and bars line the 3km bay, so the one you sat nearest is the best marker you have. Say whether either of you went into the water that evening, and which way you walked afterwards.
An Oura ring went over the side of a kayak in the bay at Beau Vallon.
The water at Beau Vallon is calm, and kayaks share it with divers, water skiers, jet skis and parasailing. Tell us where you launched, which way you paddled, and which hotel or bar was level with you when the ring went.
A gold chain came off while we snorkelled along the reef at Port Launay.
Port Launay has reef on both sides of the bay, so start with which side, as you looked out to sea from the beach. Yacht charters often stop in this marine park, so if you came on one, mark where it lay as well. Say what the chain is like, and whether a pendant hung from it.
My wedding ring was gone after we waded out to the little island at Anse L'Islette.
The water between Anse L'Islette and its island is shallow enough to walk through, which gives a search a route to follow. Mark where you left the sand and where you reached the island, and say whether you walked straight across or wandered. If you stopped on the island itself, mark that too.
Our hire car key went missing at one of the Anse Royale coves.
At Anse Royale the shore is a string of small coves edged with rocks, running from Fairyland down to the Anglican church. Say which end of that run your cove was nearer, and pin it if you can. Tell us whether you swam out towards the small island off this shore, and whether the key hung on a ring with other metal on it.
We were standing in the shallows at Anse à la Mouche when my ring slipped off.
Then begin with a pin where you walked in. Anse à la Mouche is a large, calm bay whose water stays shallow even at high tide, and in a bay that size the pin, with a guess at how far out you stood, tells a detectorist where to start.
An earring came out at the Botanical Garden in Victoria while we were feeding the tortoises.
A garden is a different kind of search from a beach. The Botanical Garden is close to Victoria, and visitors can feed its giant tortoises, so tell us whether you lost it beside them or somewhere else in the garden afterwards. Say what the earring is made of, how big it is and whether it has a back.
Mahé
Write while the day is still clear in your mind
The watch, ring or key, and the beach it went on.
Open WhatsApp and describe what went missing and where on Mahé you think it happened. We reply with the questions that matter for that particular beach.