Rogue shark in the Seychelles

There's news from Seychelles about two fatal shark attacks that have occurred along this stretch of beach -- Anse Lazio -- in the past six weeks. Horrible, horrible events that took place just a few feet offshore. All thoughts are with the families of Ian Redmond, who was on his honeymoon, and Nicolas Francois, who was visiting from France when attacked earlier this month. It's all the more unsettling because I was swimming and scuba diving in these exact same waters just two months ago.

Anse Lazio is one of those stretches of beach -- of which there are so many in the Seychelles -- that makes you go all dreamy the moment you see it. A sweet crescent of pink/golden sand, water of a blue you've never quite seen before. To get there you have to go to the very end of the road on Praslin, past the new Raffles Resort and then through an old coconut plantation. Except for two laid-back beach bars (both closed when we were there) there's nothing at Anse Lazio to distract from the dappled waters of the Indian Ocean, the soft sand and the green lusciousness the rolls down from the hills.

We visited the beach a couple of days while we were on Praslin. And it was where the schooner we were traveling on, the Sea Pearl, anchored for a night or two. One morning, we hopped in the dinghy with our tanks and went diving around a rock formation at the southwestern point of Anse Lazio. Our divemaster told us there was a good chance of spotting sharks -- small reef sharks, maybe some blacktips -- and we were hopeful of that. But no sharks that day. A couple of hawksbill turtles, an eel or two, a couple of rays. That afternoon, I spent an hour or two just wading in chest-deep water, watching small rays skitter along the shoreline, and thinking the world simply couldn't get much lovelier than this.

Haven't been any shark attacks in Seychelles for 50 years. Now this. The Seychelles authorities say they think it's a rogue shark cruising around Praslin. Here's hoping it's one of a kind and that they find it soon.