Beaches in La Digue

The third-largest inhabited island in the Seychelles, small enough to cross in an hour, and with almost no cars — bicycles replaced ox carts here rather than motor traffic, and that shapes the whole island. Its western shore holds the granite boulder formations that made the Seychelles recognisable, standing in water rarely deep enough to swim; its eastern coast takes the ocean swell, has dangerous currents and is reached on foot over a headland. The two sides are twenty minutes apart and offer opposite things. Anse Source d'Argent, the most photographed of the western beaches, is entered through a private estate that charges admission and is the only practical route in. The east coast beaches have no facilities at all, and the rock pool at Anse Cocos is the only safe swimming on that side — drownings have happened on the open sand there. The island also holds a reserve for the Seychelles paradise flycatcher, of which a few hundred exist, most of them here. Practically: ferries connect to Praslin in fifteen minutes and to Mahé in about ninety, several times a day and roughly on time; a bicycle is the transport and is hired at the jetty; and the granite shelves are slippery and sharp in equal measure.

The two are different kinds of shore. The sand is coral sand throughout, and both sit on water a reef protects. Together they account for 1.4 km of shore. · computed from the 2 records below