Quest for the World's Nicest Beach - Part 1

Now if the Seychelles are famous for anything, it's beautiful sandy beaches. They grace the covers of travel magazines, and have been the settings for Bacardi commercials and Hollywood movies. And now that the weather has improved, we have taken it upon ourselves to search out the best that this little African country has to offer.

We hit the first speed bump of the day when an apparent problem with one of the island transit buses left us hoofing it for about 6 km toward the north end of the island. Our target today is Anse Lazio. It is purported to be Praslin Island's finest beach offering. But if you have to walk, there couldn't be a more pleasant place to be.

But with the heat bearing down on us, every hill became a more challenging obstacle. The gods have decided that if we want to sample paradise, we are going to have to earn it.

This is the most authentic surf shop we've found during our travels.

That's a pretty tempting side trip, I have to say. But shouldn't that say 2,000 km?

C'mon Daddy, isn't this beach nice enough?

Well, I admit that it's pretty damn fine, but it's not the one I had in mind.

I'm thankful we didn't put this one to a vote, because I think the rest of the family was finished with walking and would have happily parked their butts here.

We then hit the 'hill from hell'. All I could say to keep the clan moving was a lame promise that what goes up, must come down.

See? I told you so. And the level of excitement rises a notch as we descend to the sea and hear the waves rolling in from across the Indian Ocean.

Almost there. I promise.

First impressions are unanimously positive - this is one nice beach!! Anse Lazio is a lovely bay fringed with lush forests and palm trees. The sand is of the light golden powdery type, granite rocks abound, and the water is a dreamy shade of blue.

The only blight on the landscape is yours truly. It's photo time - suck in that gut!

If there's one negative about this beach, it's that I have some difficulty controlling my shark fear here. While the Seychelles have virtually no history of attacks, there were two fatalities at this very beach in 2011 (tiger sharks). Nothing before and nothing since. But we still kept looking over our shoulders....

.....for a good wave to come along!

The water was perfect for swimming, and the huge granite boulders strewn throughout the bay made for a superb playground for Annie and Owen.

Not sure I will ever impress them with beaches in the future. That's not true, actually. If they have a sunny day and each other, these two will happily play on most any stretch of sand.

This one might have to hang on a wall back home.

So our apologies if we are torturing any of our friends back home. But someone must do the reconnaissance work and provide valuable travel advice for future visitors to the Seychelles.

We're not sure if this is the nicest beach in the world, but it's certainly the best I have ever been to. Tomorrow we are travelling to the island of La Digue to sample Anse Source d'Argent. Check back to see how it compares. We may need your votes to help us decide.