OUR FAVORITE BEACHES AROUND THE WORLD

We’ve not going to lie, we’ve got a good thing going here. We love beaches, we are the proud mamas of a gorgeous swimwear brand, and we’ve been lucky enough to travel to some of the world’s most awesome coastlines. So we thought we’d indulge for a while and tell you all about our favorite beaches.

Aaah, beaches – from the moment we feel the soft sand between our toes and the sun on our faces, we feel like we can exhale and let go of it all. It’s instant relaxation… for a split second before our calm and serene thoughts are interrupted by the familiar screech of our life barnacles. These days, it’s a herculean effort of lugging 50 million bags and sweaty children over hot sand, quietly (and not so quietly) cursing as we chase them to apply sunscreen, and rinsing off their snacks because they’ve dropped them in the sand. Yet again.

So while the relaxation factor at the beach has taken a serious nose-dive for us, it’s still our favourite place to go, with or without the fam.

But how on earth do we pick our favorite beaches? Can’t we just pick our favorite child instead? (It’s the one who learns how to pour us a mean GnT first, of course.)

We’ve sat down and thought hard about this, and here it is: each of our favorite beaches. Feel free to let your imagination wander…

Em’s favorite beaches

Clifton and Camps Bay – South Africa
Imagine two glorious beaches side by side, bordered by a dramatic mountain range, and you start to get an idea of why this kicks off my list. I also grew up in this area, which is why it’s especially close to my heart (even if the water is freezing!). Camps Bay is not only a beautiful beach, but also a great place to wine, dine, and party – make sure you try one of their unbelievable passionfruit ice lollies! Clifton is picture-perfect white beach and turquoise water. They also have great bars to get a drink straight off the beach as the sun sets over the sea. It couldn’t be more perfect.

 

Clearwater and John Smiths – Bermuda

I couldn’t decide between my top two beaches in Bermuda, so I’ve listed both.

Clearwater Beach is a bit of a trek, but it’s just so damn worth it. You drive up to the Coopers National Park and then walk through an old NASA base (as you do) and then all your hard work is completely rewarded. You find yourself among lots of small protected coves with the clearest water you can imagine and you have them all to yourself. Make sure you take your snorkelling gear, we regularly see turtles and parrot fish, and on a good day (which happens often) you actually don’t even need your mask as the water is so clear.

John Smiths beach is our local, it’s a 2-minute drive from our house so I have spent a lot of time there. It’s my surefire go-to outing when the kids are bouncing off the walls and we need to get out of the house to avoid us all strangling each other.

Clearwater Beach

John Smiths Bay Beach

Little Cove – Noosa, Australia

My favourite Aussie beach… how on earth did I narrow it down to one? Well, when we lived in Brisbane we spent a lot of time in Noosa and this is the perfect beach. Yep, I’m using the P word! It’s small but surrounded by national parks. You take a stroll along a shaded wooden boardwalk to get there which makes it even more special. It often gets a great wave that even I can manage to paddle out in… well, only if it’s really little!

My husband and I have always dreamt of owning a house in Little Cove... to spur me on he says we better sell a lot of bikinis. Ha ha, funny honey.

 

Pidima Beach (Old Lady Jump)

Here’s something I know about myself – I’m always going to remember a great beach with sparkling water and stunning rock sculptures where I once spotted a naked guy tanning. Those are just the special memories that stay with you.

But seriously, this is a great beach. Apart from all the natural beauty (tee hee), I think what really pushed it into my all-time faves was that we once spent the Summer there with all my family. We did a big family outing to this beach where we walked down a dirt path, following one of my siblings thinking he was full of you know what. Next minute there’s this gorgeous bay in front of us. We spent the afternoon jumping off rocks and watching the sunset and I got to share it with all my favourite people. It was pure bliss.

Isle of Pines – New Caledonia

This was one of my favourite holidays. Before we had kids, hubby and I took a 5-day trip to Noumea. I had no expectations, so when we arrived in the Isle of Pines I was completely blown away. It’s a gorgeous, unspoilt paradise that has pine trees meeting pure white sand wherever you look. From our hotel we hiked up a riverbed at low tide to this amazing natural pool. There were so many amazing fish just swimming between us that it was like being in a giant fish tank. I will never forget it and definitely want to go back.

 

Private beach off Moaloa island - Fiji

So this other amazing trip we took was also pre-kids. Huh… is there a theme emerging here? Anyway, back when we had a life, we travelled to Fiji with a group of friends and stayed on Moaloa Island in a villa that had its own private beach. Yeah, I know, but it gets better.

Every day, we would swim about 100m away from the beach and the reef would just drop away. This was some of the best snorkelling I have ever done, and it was only us out there. It was the perfect group holiday - $4 bar at the hotel, spa, our own villa which was pretty much a party house, and then a beautiful beach to recover on the next day. I’m literally crying on the inside while I write this.

 

Ash’s favourite beaches

Clifton, Camps Bay and Llandudno – South Africa

So Em has stolen some of my thunder here, but I don’t mind. These beaches are seriously worthy of being on both our lists. I grew up around Lake Malawi, but during my uni days it was the Cape Town beaches that blissed me out. They are absolutely out of this world. Driving over that mountain we used to say ‘I can’t believe we live here’.

Llandudno beach is a bit further south from the other two, and one of my favourite memories of coming here takes me back to December 2007. Picture this: a holiday house right on the beach, all of your besties reunited in Cape Town for the summer holidays, endless beach days drinking and lying on the beach, the sun setting at a lazy 10pm and not having a care in the world… ahhhh, those were the glory days!

 

Mozambique beaches/islands

Mozambique has ah-mazing beaches, and its islands are breathtaking. Nothing but white sand and turquoise water. Give me ANY beach or island in Mozambique, EVERY SINGLE day of the week!

 

Half Moon Bay – Antigua

My husband Pete and I were doing a bit of travelling and work and ended up living in Antigua for a few months. There are so many amazing beaches here but this one particularly stuck with us.

It was pretty much deserted when we went there and there was this old derelict and truly abandoned hotel (Half Moon Bay Hotel) which we explored…it was quite spooky. The bay was beautiful – white sand and turquoise water. We even had a nap on the beach (as you do) and when we woke up there was a random dog sleeping between us…like a ghost dog that never left the bay. A perfect combo of eerie and tropical fun, perfect for a scary movie spoof.

 

Mirissa Beach - Sri Lanka

Did you know that Sri Lanka has gorgeous beaches? Well it most certainly does! Not only is Mirissa beach lovely in itself, but the little beach village of Mirissa completes the perfection. Nothing is overdeveloped (yet), there are both surf waves and family-friendly waves, the food and drink is great and inexpensive. Definitely put this beauty on your ‘must visit’ list, it’s just the best place, I love it here.

 

Whites Beach - Byron Bay

Some of our friends live in Byron and when they first took us here they referred to it as ‘the secret beach’. As that description might suggest, it’s a bit tricky to reach, but it’s always worth it when we get there! It’s less busy than the other Byron beaches and just as beautiful. Plus there are caves and rock pools to explore. We always have a gorgeous time here.

It wasn’t easy choosing this beach to single out, I LOVE Australian beaches! My faves to frequent are Palm Beach, Main Beach, and Double Island Point for beach camping. My best memory of Double Island: drinking GnTs, eating freshly caught crayfish cooked on the braai (look it up) on the beach at the campsite, I even think that one of the kids was asleep in the portacot out in the open…that was the life! Seriously, don’t get me started or I’ll go on forever!

  

Beach bums…and busts

These days, Em calls Bermuda home, and Ash lives in Brisbane, Australia. Being near beautiful beaches is completely non-negotiable for both of us. We start to go a bit kooky if we haven’t hit the water in too long!

Tell us about your favourite beaches in the comments. It was so enjoyable and nostalgic to go through and think of our top picks… it makes us want to put on our Lilly & Lime cozzies and take a dip in some crystal-clear water.

If you’re a big-busted woman who is after beautiful swimwear worthy of your favourite beach, we invite you to have a look at our collection here.