Cairo loves the waves...

Sam is the only one of us who saw a sea turtle.  The Seychelles is famous for the numerous turtles found here but we didn't have the luck.  Sam, the family expert snorkeler saw one and touched it's shell.  He went out to snorkel and didn't come out of the water for over an hour.  It was so much fun to see our kids at an age they could really enjoy the ocean and beach.

Our last evening in Seychelles, Mahe island.

La Digue

I think we should rename this island..LaBig.  The granite rocks you see behind me and kids in this photo are enormous.  We spent the morning at this beach that I would say has to be the most spectacular beach in the world.  The Seychelles boast the top beaches in the world..(I don't know who votes in that survey but we were told.)  This beach has perfect sand..so fine it's like baking flour, contrasted by these amazing black granite rocks and the clear blue ocean.  If the scenery wasn't enough, we had the place to ourselves for 2 of the 3 hours we spent there.  And when other people showed up there were 3 other little families sprinkled across the entire beach.  If these islands were any easier to get to, the beaches would be packed with bodies.

This spider, along with all of it's relatives, is extremely large..We started to think there must be steroids in the rain on LaDigue.  Everything but the people is big on LaDigue (oh, the Diet Coke supply hasn't been hit by steroids yet either).  This bug is as big as my hand...no kidding.

OK, I've always hated bats...However, these GIANT fruit bats are so big you can't be scared of them..They are laughable.  When they flap their wings it creates a breeze and when they land on a fruit tree they are so big the giant trees creek and moan under their weight.  The bats would come out at dusk and fill up the skies looking for unsuspecting mangos and papayas.  Charlie was in his idea of heaven.  He loves our children's book about a baby fruit bat called Stellaluna.  He also LOVES insects so seeing snails the size of his fist and spiders the size of his face was totally cool for him.

Sunset on LaDigue..

One of the highlights of each day was going into a local market and getting everybody a treat.  On LaDigue we found donuts for the kids and lots of Diet Coke for the Mom.  YEA!  Cairo picked up a mango too.

Post donut sunset shot.  Charlie's face is an indicator that this shot was taken AFTER the donuts!

These are the street signs on LaDigue..I decided after seeing the fruit bats, the giant spiders, worms, snails and the graveyard that a Halloween tour of LaDigue would be perfect..It could be a scary place at sunset if you wanted to see it that way.

Even the plants are giant on LaDigue.  Look at this plant on the road side.  The plants are in perfect proportion to the bats, spiders, snails, centipedes, and raindrops.  We were the ones that didn't fit.  It was like we had been shrunk and were living in a world twice our size.

Our guest house on LaDigue had an outdoor shower on the way up to our rooms.  We took the chance to clean off the sand from the beach.

Charlie feeding the giant tortoises on LaDigue.

The best way to get around LaDigue is by bicycle.  The guest house had bikes for all of us.  Charlie and Jack were in kids seats on the backs of mine and Brad's.  We cycled all around the island, rain (AND can it ever rain!!!) or shine.  Cairo was especially into the biking.  By the last day she was taking off on her little bike to go the store to buy us all treats.  There was 

NO Diet Coke OR Diet Pepsi left on the island

so we had to leave..we went back to Mahe.. (Not really the reason, we were scheduled to leave but there really was no Diet Cola left on the island, believe me, we checked!!)

Cairo and Brad are perfect little travel buddies.  She ALWAYS wants to be out exploring, no matter what the weather is like.  The two of them took a bike ride around the whole island and came back for the rest of us just as it started to RAIN...CATS AND DOGS AND FRUIT BATS!

The 3 boys and I stood under some giant leaves of a giant tree on this island that has EVERYTHING BIG,  INCLUDING THE RAIN.  

We still got soaked but Cairo and Brad didn't even try to take cover.

We were at a beach voted the "WORLD'S 2nd BEST".  In my opinion, the number one spot goes to the beach we went to the following day..

Jack with the Cowry Shell.  We were on this wonderful beach with the clearest water and these gigantic black granite boulders.  We snorkeled, found shells and climbed on the rocks all morning.  After we had been there for about 3 hours the clouds came in and it started to rain so we headed back to the hotel pool.

Jack has the whole snorkeling thing down like a pro.  He had a great time.

Sam and I on Mahe.. Our last day in the Seychelles. The low hanging clouds just added to the beauty and the water and air were still perfect temperatures.

These are more shots from the island of LaDigue.  It is full of amazing beauty.  Crystal clear water, white sand and giant granite rocks tumbling into the ocean.  The most amazing thing was that we were virtually alone on every beach.  It was like our own private island. 

Charlie with our sand sculptures..a dolphin and a gecko.  There were plenty of geckos around the island so we were fairly certain this was an exact replica...just a little bigger.

Cairo and Charlie with the Cowry shells found while snorkeling.  They still had animals living in them so we watched them for a while then put them back to live out the rest of their lives in the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Charlie didn't quite have the snorkel thing down yet so he just wore some swim goggles and floated along with Brad.  The next day at the hotel swim pool we figured out he had the snorkel in his mouth wrong.  Now he just about has it mastered.