During our holiday, a cyclone (hurricane) was brewing more than a thousand kilometres away.

But it still made our sky churn and crackle with dark, tropical electricity.

Of course, my camera could not fully capture the real size of the sky and the ocean.

The beach shook as the waves hit, and I was deafened by the sand hissing like a snake, as the water sucked back out to sea.

I wish you could have been there.

In the middle of this amazing show, my two oldest boys were lost in a time warp of innocent, manic fun, learning the power of the sea.

Callum and Sean, tiny and precious, spent almost an hour daring the whole of the Indian Ocean to a game of “catch me if you can”.

It went on for so long because my husband and I were enjoying their pleasure.

When we finally dragged them away, they were exhausted…and exhilarated.