Saunas and cold plunges on Praslin and La Digue

Who builds on the islands

Resorts along Côte d'Or and Grand Anse want thermal suites that stay open through the season — our resort spa page covers them. North Praslin villa owners want a cabin and a carved granite plunge basin among the boulders. La Digue guesthouses want compact rooms their owners can maintain, and lodges on Félicité and the inner islands want self-sufficient plant.

The inter-island leg

Crates cleared at Port Victoria go on by inter-island cargo boat to Baie Sainte Anne on Praslin, and on again to La Digue. We send the whole project in one consignment, packed against a checklist with spare fixings, because a missing part means waiting for the next sailing; in the north-west monsoon that can be days.

Island budgets

Guide prices for supplied and installed work, confirmed after a survey; the crossing and any carry are shown on their own lines.

Programme and after-care

Production takes six to ten weeks per room after drawing approval, then the voyage to Mahé and the island boat, with a margin for weather. Our crew crosses for the installation and trains your team; maintenance visits are grouped with other Praslin and La Digue properties so the crossing is shared. Send photos and the nearest jetty, and we will reply with a first budget and pictures of island work.

Praslin

Praslin, the second-largest island and home to the Vallée de Mai, is quieter than Mahé but just as international, and every project here begins with the crossing from Victoria.

One load across the water

Crates cleared at Port Victoria continue to Praslin by inter-island cargo boat, landing at Baie Sainte Anne. Everything for the job travels together, ticked off against a signed list and padded with extra screws, seals and cartridges, since anything left behind waits for the next boat.

Resorts in season

Much of the work is commercial and has to fit around occupancy, with doubled critical plant and a spares box on the property. In high season a replacement part can sit on the quay in Victoria for days waiting for cargo space.

Hillsides around the Vallée de Mai

Inland Praslin is steep, forested and partly protected. Hillside plots face the same carry and drainage problems as Glacis, with the boat setting the maximum panel size before the path does.

Côte d'Or

Côte d'Or, also called Anse Volbert, is Praslin's main hotel beach, and the work here is almost all commercial: suites that must earn their floor space and stay open.

Sized for the evening

Guests come to the spa after sunset and leave when dinner starts. That window sets everything: two cold tubs for each eight sauna seats, enough loungers, and a loop that never crosses a public corridor in a towel.

Water care an auditor can read

Doubled critical plant, isolation valves on each room, a documented water regime with a daily log, and labelled spares on site. On Praslin those spares are the difference between an afternoon's fix and a fortnight closed.

Training that lasts

The spa and engineering teams are trained at handover, and six months later we review their log with them, because resort staff change and a room nobody was shown how to run degrades quietly.

Anse Lazio

The north of Praslin around Anse Lazio is all boulders and takamaka, home to some of the country's most private villas and some of its most awkward access.

Designing with the granite

The villas that work here are built around the rock. We use boulders as walls and backdrops, and a granite plunge basin suits the setting better than anything else, whether it arrives from our stone shop or is worked from rock already on the plot.

Because a basin weighs tonnes, its route and the structure under it are settled before its shape.

Narrow road, then on foot

Approaches are narrow and often end above or below the house. Panels are sized to the carry, and on a north Praslin plot the carry is often the largest access cost we quote.

Shade and salt, separately

A takamaka canopy over the plunge cuts running costs; the marine specification decides how long everything lasts. Both matter, and they are separate decisions.

La Digue

La Digue, a short boat ride from Praslin, has very few cars; people and goods move by bicycle, ox cart, small permitted vehicles or on foot, and every design starts from that.

Built to be carried

Panels are made small and light enough to be handcarted, with joints engineered in the factory so two people can assemble them. Heavy items — a granite basin, a large heater, a chiller — are planned around the boat and the permitted route, and where something cannot realistically be moved, we design a different answer.

Small properties, owners who maintain

Most clients here are guesthouses and private houses. A compact cabin, an insulated plunge and a rinse shower that the owner can look after does more than a suite nobody can service. We train owners directly and leave a spares box, because a part for La Digue is an order to Mahé, a crossing to Praslin and another boat.

The famous boulders

The granite formations at Anse Source d'Argent are among the most photographed in the Indian Ocean, and similar rock sits on many plots. We design with it and specify everything for constant salt.

Félicité & the inner islands

Félicité, east of La Digue, and the other inner private islands host some of the country's most exclusive lodges. Everything arrives by boat, once, and whatever is missing stays missing until the next sailing.

No second chances

The whole installation is packed against a written checklist and shipped in one consignment with extra fixings, seals and consumables. Cabins are assembled once in our factory before they leave, so no fitting is discovered missing on an island without a supplier.

Self-sufficient plant

These islands make their own power and often their own water. The heater and chiller never start together, the heater runs when generation has headroom, and the plunge is sized to the water the island can spare — with a lid that saves both litres and kilowatt-hours.

A trained team and a spares box

Maintenance teams are small and far from any supplier, so equipment is chosen for simplicity, the team is trained during installation, and a labelled spares box stays on the island.