Beach Party

The plan however ignores many environmental and public safety concerns. One of the major concerns is that contaminated material from the bottom of the bay will result in toxic pollution being washed up on surrounding beaches.

California beach-goers are going high tech! Heal The Bay and Go Live Mobile (a mobile marketing company) have joined forces to update residents with a beach report card. Instead of heading out to a beach, only to be disappointed by poor water quality, people can send a text message to 23907 with the name of the beach they’d like information on.

Block Island is a 7,000 acre island of about seven miles long and three miles across at its widest point, with a population of about 1,000 permanent residents. Of course, during summer, this number grows considerably. Located twelve miles from Long Island and about the same distance from Charlestown in Rhode Island, it is a perfect spot for anyone loving the outdoors, with gorgeous beaches, hiking trails, and plenty of water activities for all tastes.

Yesterday, Labor Day, we went to the beach. Well one of the many beaches here on the island. We went to the Bellows Beach. This beach has a nice shallow area and a break that is fairly far out. Listen to me - one time at the beach here and I am sounding like I know what I am talking about. The part of Bellows Beach that we went to was military only, so it wasn’t as crowded as the public beach.

Another good thing to do is make sure that you check your pets, especially your dogs, for fleas and ticks on a regular basis and that you keep up with their necessary veterinary appointments. Picking up after you pet’s droppings is also of vital importance as pet waste “can represent a major source of bacterial pollution when rain washes it into waterways and on to beaches”. Basically, you just need to keep in mind that your pet is part of your family so you need to treat them with the same amount of environmentally-conscious respect as you do the rest of your family.

With the Lower Cape backshore beaches swamped with an increasing and persistant "MUNG" bloom that many disgusted beach-goers anecdotally associate with the off-shore boat disharge in the same way that land-based septic effluent is a widely recognized contribution to the nitrogen enrichment of marine embayments, the time to hault the dumping is none too soon.

The beaches here are all rock and no sand, I can't tell if I like it or hate it. Tomorrow we are going to try and go to Monte-Carlo and pay for our entire trip through gambling. Then off to Barcelonia, with a side trip to Pampelona to participate (if I don't chicken out) with the running of the bulls. Then off to Paris before we head back to England to fly home.

Cambodia is not only Angkor Wat, temples, and Angkorian history and culture. On the southern part of the country is Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s “beach town” or “port community” which sits in the center of a small peninsula jutting into the gulf of Thailand.

Waitpinga Beach near Victor Harbor in South Australia is just over an hour’s drive south of our state capital city, Adelaide. Waitpinga is a long wide sandy beach facing south. On most days there is a fairly decent surf rolling in from the Southern Ocean. This makes this a popular beach with surfers.

Another week long holiday is upon us, and China is on the verge of turning into its typical vacation-mode catastrophic self. So I’ll once again be heading for the blazing heat and cheap beaches of Thailand, this time with several friends on the island Koh Phi Phi. Catch you next week.

That’s when I discovered another thing I didn’t like about the port at Costa Maya. There was no beach – just sharp rocks. We could swim in a pool – but what’s the point of going to Mexico if you have to swim in a pool? I could see some beaches further along, but we couldn’t get past a wall that enclosed the whole area. Guess we would have to walk out, get a cab and somehow hope to find a non-private beach. No way we were going to do that. Also, it started raining just as Ronnie and Reid decided to swim in the pool, so we headed back to the ship, somewhat disappointed.

On March 14th, the group will fly to Iwo Jima for the day, visiting landing beaches, memorial sites, Green Beach, the base and top of Suribachi, the Naval Gun revetments, Hospital Cave, General Kuribayashi's HQ cave, and much more before returning to Guam at sunset. Upon their return, members will complete their visit to Guam by going to sites of cultural significance, relics from Guam’s Spanish period, and the Gef Pa’go Chamorro Cultural Village in the southern village of Inarajan.

The island boasts numerous sheltered beaches, where it is safe to swim and where there is an infrastructure for children’s games, which can entertain the little ones for many days. There are also many specific centres where the tastes of all age groups can be satisfied, such as water parks, theme parks and fairgrounds, games centres, internet entertainment centres and public parks that have facilities for children.

Everyone seems to be heading away for Christmas, and there’s a huge number of first year teachers who are going back home for Christmas. I really am not a fan of that idea, especially for first years. I think unless you’re feeling extremely comfortable about living here, going back so soon after coming can just make you more unsettled and homesick. You spend 2 weeks at home when everyone’s feeling festive and welcoming, and then you don’t want to come back here… when you do get back you start to resent the little things that just annoyed you a little in your first few months here. Plus I do think that people should take advantage of the opportunity that living in Okinawa offers. We’re on Asia’s doorstep and only a short flight away from some amazing countries and cultures. Whether it’s golden beaches in Thailand, or the amazing socialist realism of North Korea (both of which I’ve visited), there is something for everyone. And yet people seem determined to spend huge amounts of money during the most expensive flying periods of the year to go home.

The setting of the city with the beautiful beaches, Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer make for a fabulous city to live in and I for one could happily do just that!!!

So, New Zealand has a collection of great and not-too-difficult hikes called the Great Walks. One of them is called the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, which Paul and I decided to tackle over two days. It usually takes 3-4 days, including lots of time to stop and bathe at the golden sand beaches.

We went to the beach every day. That made me happy, because I just recently discovered the wonder that are beaches. I applied SPF 50 to my ridiculously white skin like it was liquid gold, and frequently at that. I still burned. Badly. But it’s OK because, those sunburns? Turned into normal-coloured Caucasian skin. Oooh yeah.

Then the fun started. We sat in a line of cars for 40 minutes just to get out of the parking lot. It was hot. We were sandy and covered with gross water. The kids were thristy and screaming. We weren’t moving. Then an officer (directing traffic) told me that the bridge out of Sandy Hook was broken and everyone would have to leave via Sea Bright or one of the Jersey Shore beaches.

The highway to Bodega Bay was almost as insane as the route between the 101 and 1 when we headed to Mendocino, but slightly less twisty so our speed was more consistent. We finally saw people walking on beaches for the first time, as well as plenty of surfers.

But there's one thing, the admission fee to Sentosa Island is only $2.. So cheap la! It's so cheap that they promote it around the whole Singapore. Ya, they keep boasting with their low admission fee but the rides in there is going to hurt our heart. But i know most Singapore Lang are there for the beaches right? So it doesn't really matter...

found this little fella while riding along the martin goodman trail (and yes, I say “Beaches”. It will always be The Beaches to me.)

Since about ten years Theo Jansen is occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic matierial of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventualy he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.

Miles from the shoreline, 10 baby brown pelicans lounge by a pool in a roomy cage, large buckets of fish there for the taking. Just days ago, these birds could not feed themselves at all. Scores of starving baby pelicans — emaciated, cold and too weak to fly — are washing up on California beaches in disturbing numbers this spring.

So Monday was the Memorial Day, which is apparently a major deal here. Besides all the obvious it is also considered the beginning of summer (translation: that’s when they will put a fee on or raise the fee on pretty much all the beaches).

La Raymunda and I are on vacation! Starting tomorrow, we will spend the next several days looking for seashells on the beaches and snorkeling off the shores of the British Virgin Islands. We, and some new posts and photos, will return on Monday May 22. Have a great week!

Nabi No Koi (Nabbie´s love) is a small movie that I really love, for many reasons. First, it is shot in Okinawa, more specifically in Taketomi-jima, an island 10 minutes from Ishigaki-jima, in the westernmost island chain of Japan, the Yaeyama islands. Taketomi is really a small place, and there is only one little village, typical Ryukyu, and is so beautiful. I spent 2 weeks in Ishigaki, and I visited Taketomi and the beaches many times. It was paradise to me. In Nabi No Koi the action takes place in this island.

A friend of mine just bought a backpackers’ hostel in Zanzibar. It looks like just about one of the most gorgeous places on earth and I can’t wait to visit. Hopefully this mass dolphin stranding won’t have too much impact on their growing tourism industry.

- Paper that I forgot about on the seminar I attended about saving the Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle. Doing my part to help bring them back to the Galveston beaches. (If you see one down there, or you spot turtle tracks, call 866-Turtle5 right away.)

Miramar has a number of stores, if you’re into shopping. The place looks like it gets quite busy during the summer but the off-season is very tranquil. The nicest aspect of Miramar are the charming stone houses. While Miramar isn’t my favorite place on the coast (I actually prefer even smaller, more woodsy places), Miramar is a nice small, family-oriented town with good beaches and there is a forested area on the western edge of town. Also, there’s the unusual Bosque Energetico, which I will blog about in a future posting. I’ll also try to put up some photos from Miramar later.

Note: For ones that are not familiar with my hometown area it is on the eastside of the Mobile Bay on an island at the southern most tip of Alabama. The beaches are like sugar along the Gulf of Mexico coastline bordering the Florida state line. An island called Pleasure Isle including cities Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

There was a time when I got into the ocean just about every day. I lived on Guam then, so being near the ocean wasn’t any kind of problem, and I took advantage of this fact as often as I could. Guam’s beaches are mostly reef-breaks, with giant coral heads that poke up through the surf at low tide. Owing to this and the local’s violent territorialism, surfing was more or less out for me. Diving was not, however, and I took to the aqualung as if born from Jacques Cousteau’s own womb (well, you get my meaning…).

It’s already time to start prepping for summer. Ahh, those lazy days of sleeping in, lounging on beaches and by the pool, reading under the shade of trees, and basking in the quality time spent with mom. Or something like that.

The town of San Juan del Sur is a mecca for the surfers of Nicaragua. Not because of the flat waters in the bay, but due to the waves that crash onto the shorelines of the beaches to the north and south of San Juan. The Argies and I decided to check out one of the playas along the coast, not as surfers, but just beach dudes.

I get to the leasing office way too early; there was a Dunkin Doughnuts next door. I go in and get a cup of coffee and a doughnut. I remember being somewhere in the Mid-Beaches. It wasn’t as wide as South Beach; the ocean was right across the street. What I did see was lots of huge abandoned hotels, I don’t know why they closed, but I would find out quickly. I walk across A1A, stepped out onto some grassy-rocky sandy beaches. It was still dark, so I couldn’t see anything but a few ships going to Bermuda or wherever they were going. I dropped my bags, and rested on the comfy sand.

Well it's official, the spring semester has returned, but not with a vengeance. In any case, it is good to be back and I even get a free lunch at the Marriott tomorrow, that alones makes the nearly $20,000 in loans I borrowed worth it. Some guys and I had originally planned on hitting the beaches down in Mexico this weekend, but the warm weather we have had has finally gone away and I can't imagine enjoying freezing by the ocean. In any case we have a long weekend coming up that I am pretty excited about, because after two days of class, it is hard not to enjoy a long weekend.

Our hotel was just within walking distance of Pattaya Beach, so we headed for that instead of Jomtien Beach, which is supposed to be less touristy and more beautiful. Pattaya Beach was nothing much to look at:

The mount was on the end of a spit/peninsula..holiday town with lovely beaches. We walked around and up the mount for spectacular views and good exercise. Lots of sheep on the Mount. Went to a party in the town and also swam in the naturally heated hot pools there...lovely!

just in case that randomers comment is worrying you guys back home, its not that bad here! summer and autumn here have been awesome!! really beautiful, great beaches in the summer, and festivals in the autumn whilst the mountains around my house turned a rich red colour, really spectacular!

This is now Aruba vs. America. Some will not be happy till the entire island has been destroyed both physically and economically. I have witnessed people calling for boycotts, calling for the beaches to be completely destroyed, calling for all ruins and monuments to be destroyed etc. My question is, if we do all of that, and still no Natalee…what next? Do we move in and do the same to all of the neighboring islands, just in case Natalee was taken there?

The girls of course were rather tired from being at the airport at four in the morning so after a short breakfast we just relaxed in the sun by the pool. With higher energy and lower sun we split up, Andreas and Sonja heading towards the water while we took care of the dishes and then set off towards Candelaria where Dilek was excited to see the black volcanic beaches and the waves rolling in, a few catching us by surprise. The four of us met again after sunset for dinner at the church plaza.

I love Aberystwyth. Seriously. The seaside.. just lovely. I went down there today to check out a few things if I've got them correct in my story. I usually just stay on the North Beach cause it's closer to all the shops, but today I wandered over to the South Beach.. Lovely, lovely. Really windy, but great all the same. Then I wandered around the castle ruins for a bit. It really is a shame that they let it crumble down like that 7 centuries ago..

So instead I went - virtuously - up north to the sun-soaked tropical beaches of Ilheus, Bahia. It was wonderful to spend a week acclimatising and getting my head into a suitably receptive state for the seminar.

I have to say, the Canty family sure knows how to party. Staying with my grandparents was a wonderful, wonderful time filled with cheesesteak subs, trips to the beach (the east coast has warm beaches!), looking at old family pictures, meeting cousins, and checking out Boston.

Whilst the estimated distance is much less at around 1500 miles, the conditions he is likely to face as he paddles around the island could be very extreme. Sean says that the expedition named Icelandic Kayak Odyssey will about much more than achieving a world first record. The greatest challenge will be the south coast beaches where huge dumping surf pounds the black volcanic sand incessantly. He will need all the skill and experience he gained from his journey around the British Isles to complete this expedition.

I love beaches, I love Thailand beaches! The pic of this beach is taken at Au Nang, Krabi. The photo was taken 2 years ago but my guess is, it still looks the same !

Punta del Este looks like the GoldCoast - towering apartment blocks close to the beaches. In October - it's almost a ghost town. Often we were the only pair in a restaurant. In "the season", one million people descend on the place.

today i did something a bit different. john’s gone for the next few days - went back home for a lecture at mcgill - and it’s really weird to be alone, out of my routine. so i hopped onto a tram from osgoode subway on queen street, and rode all the way east to the toronto beaches. i did my readings on the beach, and had an afternoon brunch. it was a really nice, relaxing day. a bit overcast, pretty humid. the best thing about the beaches is the boardwalk, full of happy people walking their happy dogs.

From the look of the city it does not seem to different from any US city but its the little things like the Queens head on currency and big parks in the city centre which made the city remind me of the UK. I spent a whole day walking around Stanley Park and sitting on its many beaches. I paid a visit to the tourist area of Gastown, but it was not that interesting except watching the steam powered clock do a little tune every half hour. Close to my hostel was Granville Island, there is a great market of fresh food and art stuff here, including a stand selling the most amazing wildlife photos.

One thing I will say about Zagreb is that it is a nice city, and is not given enough credit in the guidebooks. My only explanation for the poor write ups in the guidebooks that I can think of is that in relation to the south of Croatia, it does have less to offer in the way of stunning views, beaches, and crystal clear sea (though it's not Zagreb's fault that it isn't located on the coast!).

Some scientists say that the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. yet this complex sea of spinning stars functions with remarkable order and efficiency. to say that the universe "just happened" or "evolved" requires more faith than to believe that god is behind it all. there's no doubt it my mind that god created the universe.

I'm extra excited for the vacation part in Nice along the coast. A whole ten days with nothing to think about (except for the usual things I'll think about, but oh well). Beaches, crisp blue water, shops, and clubs.....finally a summer vacation!!�

I’ve been trying to take in as much of Vancouver as I can before I leave. The other night I went for a 2.5 hour long walk down Broadway and then down to Point Grey Road which I followed past the oceanfront property to Jericho and Locarno beaches. I’m still not sure I’ve wrapped my head around the fact that I will be leaving Vancouver for an indefinite period of time in just 3.5 weeks. Crazy.

Its time to start some blitz travelling of Australia and see some winerys, beaches, bars, history, its just time to vacation. Hopefully Saturday afternoon I shall be on a beach watching the sunset drinking a good beer. The end will come quick though I feel travelling, unlike working where time seems to creep by and sometimes even pause.

Tanna is part of a chain of islands that later came to be known as the country of Vanuatu. This is where Mark Burnett, the show's creator, got the name for the ninth season of Survivor. Had I never lived on Tanna, I might have dismissed the show as the romanticisation of a nonexistent tropical island. I would not have noticed where a silly reality show was filmed, had I not been that little girl on the plane. But I've sat on the beautiful beaches of Tanna, felt the culture, and lived with the people. Seeing it again through the lens of a CBS reality show, I could barely recognise it.

Return of the mucilaginous algae in Italy . . . instead of disfiguring the beaches, this stuff releases neurotoxic chemicals and 150 people need treatment for fever and breathing difficulties. Scientists say warm waters have brought it to the surface, but no mention of the usual cause of algal bloom: pollution.

Traditional items are silverware, ceramics and hand blown glass. Amber washes up on Denmark’s west coast beaches and is a traditional jewelry item. The island is known for its Bornholmer grandfather clocks. These have been made here by hand since 1744.

It was with a heavy heart that I yesterday left a small village in Provence to return to the real world of deskjockeying and career-chasing. In almost related news, it was with a heavy heart that I read an article in Wired today on dead seabirds washing up on beaches all over the pacific coast of North America. Seabirds are dying at a rate of 5 to 10 times what has been recorded ever before. Seabirds are rather high up in the food chain, and biologists now theorise that the current record-high temperatures in the pacific is killing off the bottom of it.

The resort, Beaches Boscobel, was very nice. We had an awesome view of the ocean and pool area from our balcony. I think we had the best room out of everyone, because of the ocean view. I received my first ever, 80 minute, full body massage, the best thing ever and I'm now hooked. Funny thing, almost all my bones crack, during the massage none cracked and my lower back really needed it.

For those of you living in San Diego… hasn’t it been beautiful and sunny here lately? It’s been almost perfect weather it seems. The blue skies above almost cloudless… sunshine and warmth that is definitely summer-y, but not terribly hot nor humid. nice summer breezes coming from the beaches!

After a quick lunch at What-A-Burger and a quick trip to Target to pick up some supplies, David directed us to Bryan Beach near Freeport. It is an undeveloped beach with trash cans and porta-potties. There has been a lot of seaweed floating up on Texas beaches, but the city has cleaned this section up pretty nice. We could see the crews working further down the beach.

To add some perspective, North Falmouth is a rather puritan old town. But like most of Cape Cod, the smalltown atmosphere changes in the summer, when the urbanites from elsewhere in New England come flocking to clog the roads and beaches.

Another Father’s Day. Wow, I can’t even remember what we did last year on Father’s Day, so much has happened since then. We’ve packed up and left the home we knew for the last five years of our lives and moved cross country to California. Hubby started a new job, we started a new life. Bikini’s, beaches, the sweet smell of salt air, and the adventure of a whole new town. One Hubby and I both knew fondly and grew up with the first 18 or so years of our lives, but one we had yet to discover together as a family. The things we’ve done have been wonderful and amazing, and we have many pictures to remember these moments by. The biking, the walks, the museums, the parks, the views. When spring arrived even more parts of this town showed and we went through even another layer.

I’m headed to South Padre Island this weekend! This should prove to be a very worthwhile venture! I have never been there, but I have heard a lot about it’s beautiful beaches and beautiful women! YAY!

We were inspired to travel to one of the islands on Saturday. We have fond memories of Whidbey Island. There was a time many years ago when we visited the island as young, newly committed bf/gf. We broke into private beaches, ate ice cream cones on the shore, and stumbled across an impromptu island fireworks display.

Oh the horror of cheesy latino music. It is everywhere in Barcelona: on the beaches, in the cafes, in the tapas bars, even in this hotel lobby now, as the porter snaps his fingers and does little surreptitious jaunty dances behind the reception desk, Risky Business-stylee. And yes, I am blogging while on holiday… I am truly an internet saddo.

Flight was uneventful but Cién and J´s was a lot more nightmarish thanks to National Express fucking up coach arrangements. Nevertheless we managed to have a decent day out and I am proud to say that we bravely shunned the large shopping malls, designer outlets, fast food restaurants and other tourist traps. Tapas lunch, then a stroll to the beaches by Port Olympic to ogle at beautiful tanned volleyball players and sun worshippers. We had cheap Spanish beer and sat at a beach bar looking at the beautiful sea and people-watching. There were fat...

Visitors always have been drawn to Huntington Beach by its fantastic beaches. But now it’s well on its way to becoming a major overnight tourist and shopping destination. Among the major projects in the works are The Strand complex featuring dining, shopping and a 149-room hotel just steps away from the pier and ocean by summer 2007. More retail shops, restaurants and entertainment venues are planned for the oceanfront area with the commencement of the 31-acre Pacific City project north of the Hilton Hotel.

The Allies could afford to succeed by a mere whisker on the Normandy beaches. Indeed, the planned American and British timetable for operations commencing June 7 proved wildly optimistic. But they did succeed, rather handily most places, as it turned out, and that was enough.

On my first visit to Brasil, this place completely captured my imagination. The people, culture, food, music and beaches - wow those beaches! I knew then, and still believe 8 years later (living here 2 years), that somewhere here in this massive, fascinating country, there sits a place on a hill, elevated just high enough above the marine eco-zone to grow a garden, surrounded by rain forest, overlooking the beach, and out to the sea, where I can buy or build a Casa, then I will have discovered my place in the sun.

We were excited about getting our reservations for the San Blas Islands. We had heard that we would have white sandy beaches all to ourselves and that we´d be sick of lobster by the time we left. I´m not sure who told us this but it wasn´t exactly true.

Caye Caulker is a small island off the coast that has no beaches and where a person can walk across the island at its widest point in 5 minutes. It was once an affordable place to vacation until the tree hugging greenies protected the reef, slapped a $20/$30 use fee (to be read as a penalty like taxes) on any use of the reef such as diving, fishing or snorkeling. They even protected the see grass that grows in the shallows by the shore so the only way to enter the water legally is off a dock or some other man made obstacle. Next the ´Committee To Drive Up Cost And Send Tourist Dollars To Honduras´ will be protecting the dirt so a person will have to pay to walk around. So Mel and I saved our dollars for Honduras where we can snorkel ($5 rather than $35) and Dive ($15 a tank rather than $50) on the same exact reef. We found a disintegrating concrete wave break that was destroyed during a hurricane in the 80´s to sun on, bought Rum($6) and Fruit juice ($4) and drank the whole thing until we were drunk. We swam is the aqua blue water that was refreshingly warm and rested as a sweet ocean breeze cooled our tanning bodies After a nice sleep in the lazy sun we went to a local soccer game and met some natives, who are the nicest community of people ever, and then dined with a very nice family from Utah (not Mormon, not that there is anything wrong with that) who were in advertising. Next day we caught the 7:00 ferry for the mainland to catch our connecting bus to Guatemala. There really was not much to do in Belize as all of the tourist we met were trying to go somewhere else also.

This last leg of our trip has involved three different beaches. We spent the night in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, a tranquil fishing village on the Pacific coast of southern Nicaragua. We didn't do much but eat ceviche and walk the beach before taking a water taxi to a remote backpackers oasis at Bahia Majagual - one of Nicaragua's most beautiful areas. There we stayed in a huge thatch roofed dorm room with bunk beds for 30 people and also shared community bathrooms with the other guests and several cute little...

As an experiment I grabbed a handful of photos form the streets and beaches of Rio De Janeiro and cropped out some women in bikinis. I added some descriptive tags and POOF. Within 15 minutes of uploading the photos in my Brazil’s Bikini Girls set each of the photos had more views than any of my other photos that had been uploaded for days. Now that the swimsuit clad ladies of Copacabana and Ipanema have been up for 24 hours they have more views than my other 600+ photos combined. In fact the only photo that can even compete a little bit with...

Dr. Beach announced America’s best beaches for 2005, and Fort DeSoto tops the list. Ranked #2 last year, Ft. DeSoto in South Pinellas is truly a great spot for fun in the surf, tanning, and catching some rays. We make our way over there a few times each summer, since it’s Wifey’s favorite beach too.

From Freycenet, we drove back to the Tasman Highway and travelled South through Swansea and then lunch at the bakery in the little town of Triabunna. We stopped at a couple of scenic beaches. There were a couple of places that we could get some good views acoss Oyster Bay back to the ‘’Hazards” on the peninsular.

It will take about 15 minutes by car to go from the airport to the city.� This highway runs along the ocean on your right side and the desert on your left side.� You will also pass some poor housing developments.� Still, this road is safe and clean. Before it reaches Downtown, the road passes in front of the Costanera Sur (a narrow highway that runs along the beach on the Southern side) and Chinchorro Beach , one of the three main beaches in Arica, and the longest one.

Following the spine of the Southern Alps further towards the southwest is Mt Cook National Park and nearby Westland National Park. Home to New Zealand's highest mountain and remotest beaches, these two national parks serve up some of the most spectacular scenery on the South Island.

I just realized that Journalcon 2005 is the weekend of my birthday.

In San Diego, where Southwest flies and I hear there are beaches.

2005 is the year of the beach, you know.

Sydney is nice. It’s nice how people drive on the correct side of the road even if they have silly power socket designs. The opera house is nice too as is the bridge in the middle of the city. And it’s fun seeing sky scrapers for the first time I can remember in my life. The surf and beaches are nice and the ferries are really nice. Being able to take a random late night ferry and sleep out under the stars on a beach is really nice. Then there is the national park, real forrest for as far as the eye can see, we rented a canadian...

Imagine the tourism potential. The Wild Coast in the former Transkei could become a Mecca for those tourists who have traditionally ventured to Amsterdam or Kathmandu. They could sit on the black rocks, overlooking golden beaches and crashing waves, spending their pounds, euros, dollars and yen not only on ganja but also on accommodation, food (probably a whole lot of it, including affordable crayfish), transport and curios.

Last March dozens of packets of the drug washed up on the palm-fringed beaches of Ebeye, one of more than 1,000 coral islands which make up the Marshall Islands.

Posting might be a bit sporatic the next two weeks or so, as I'm traveling to Europe for a while. Yep, it's going to be beaches, amazing wine, and beautiful women for ol' Thundercat for a brief time. I'm really looking forward to it. The women I met in Europe last time I was there were incredibly sexy and a whole lot of fun! ;-)

Tuscany is the most well known Italian region world wide, famous for its art, history and evocative landscapes. Strategically placed in the centre of Italy, it stretches over the slope of the Apennines and reaches the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Tuscan landscape, mainly mountainous and hilly, is one of the most representative images of Italy in the world, but the region also has a plane (the Maremma), long sandy beaches and headlands as well as the small enchanting islands of the Tuscan archipelago.

Montezuma is a quiet, difficult to reach town at the southern the tip of the Peninsula Nicoya. Perhaps because of the remoteness and the tranquil beauty, the place has somehow become a haven for hippies and burned-out wanders. It’s an oasis of vegan restaurants and bead-markets in the middle of the jungle. The beaches are fantastic. Some property of the coastline (perhaps the steep grade?) causes large tidepools and an erratic break with monstrous, steep waves. It seems like the waves rise and fall nearly vertically. Trying to body surf...

The next morning we drove down to Playa Coco, one of the prettiest beaches in Nicaragua. We almost purchased a fabulous B&B there (five houses on a 2-3 mile beach) last winter, but we didn’t get the financing together in time. As gorgeous as it was, we realized that it would have been disastrous. It is a 30-minute drive from SJDS along a dirt road and it requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle and something with clearance. We crossed a river with water levels as high as the engine. It’s the dry season right now. We definitely need a more urban environment, though most people would laugh at the idea of describing using SJDS as urban.

Took the early bus out of Santa Elena, with a short stop in Liberia, a dusty little town in the center of the Nicoya Peninsula that serves as a transportation hub to all the nearby towns and beaches. After wading through confusing lines and another six hour bus ride, I found myself at a ritzy little resort town named Playa Flamingo.

The California Coastal Records Project is now online. It is a set of photographs of the entire California coast, from Mexico to Oregon, taken in October 2003. I love it.

I was surprised to find that, on the border, Mexico is more developed than the U.S.

This is Aliso Beach. The straight side. The middle. The gay side.

My favorite weekend spot is seen here.

The island is idyllic. White, white fine sand beaches, clear blue water and quaint little villages around the island with the best restaurants in the world. The food is mostly french, and very expensive, but truly amazing. That was the hardest part - picking the restaurant for the evening. We were about 2 miles from the Gustavia port - the main town on the island. Loaded with mega yachts and some of the best high end shopping in the world. The island is 2 miles by about 10 miles long with about 6,000 permannet residents.

Not at all! On the contrary, I was impishly pleased. The reactions of the public showed me that the film worked and was touching the primeval fears of the audience. The greatest thing a film director can achieve is a film that works on a very fundamental level. Besides, I also increased the pleasure in bathing for many people: after seeing the film, they even organized little competitions on the beaches to see who dared to go furthest.

The beaches at Cancun are the most popular among tourists of Quintana Roo. Their beauty is an irresistible invitation to a totally unique holiday. Some of the most outstanding among the many available options are: towards the north, Las Perlas, Linda, Langosta, Tortugas and Caracol; towards the east, Chac-Mool and El Rey, among others.

Sarasota Bay could become the testing waters for a floating bus service connecting downtown Sarasota, Mote Marine Laboratory and St. Armands Key.

Whether the pilot project actually casts off -- and when -- depends on the city of Sarasota's luck in securing a federal or state grant to subsidize it. The precise costs haven't been calculated, but could easily surpass $1 million.

I love this particular area of the country. If you've never been to Florida's Gulf Coast, you are missing out on some of the cleanest, most beautiful beaches that our nation has to offer, bar none. The sand is the exact same color as confectioner's sugar, and nearly as fine. The water is beautiful, crystalline blue in the shallows, deepening to a truer emerald as the seafloor drops away, as the Gulf gets deeper. And there are shallows - in many places along the Gulf Coast, you can walk hundreds of yards from shore and never get water above your waist, or you can find a convenient sandbar on which to sun your buns, look at sand-dollars, crabs, and schools of fish, or just generally gallivant around and act a fool.

Wind continues to be a factor in the overall fishing, however, the marlin show has been extraordinary for this early in the year. It is unusual to have enough fish at this time to actually get enough shots to merit attempting the flyrod. The yellowfin tuna have appeared and the catch numbers are climbing every week. What is missing is the sardina and mullet usually found along the beaches. Of course, that not only makes the beach fishing tough, with no bait for chum on the boats, it changes the strategy dramatically for the fly-rodder.

Continuing south we will check out the famous 17-mile drive of Monterey, the beaches of Big Sur, the famous Hearst Castle in San Simeon, and the beautiful coastal city of Santa Barbara. Then it’s on to L.A. and the famous beaches such as Venice, Newport, Manhattan and Laguna.

Well I've had quite the week. Josh's brother and his girlfriend came down to visit from Alaska for a few days. That was fun because we got to do a bunch of touristy stuff that we never do. It's pretty easy to take Santa Cruz for granted when you're here everyday so it's nice to have to get out and do fun stuff. We took them to Natural Bridges to see the butterflies but they were all gone. Then we took them to the pier to see the sea lions and what do you know, they were gone too. I couldn't believe it! There's ALWAYS sea lions!

I wish I was there once again. My good friend Whisky is in Turkey now, and I imagine will soon be following a similar trail to the Gallipoli beaches as I did. Though I have done it before it seems to me that this pilgrimage is something that can be done again and again. I hope to stand on those beaches once more in the years again.

What a week!! Last week, I went to 3 different beaches: one in San Juan,Batangas, one in Subic, and one in Puerto Galera (White Beach!)..

As it was going to be a long Easter weekend, a group of us decided to go to the beach in Tauranga. Boasting to be one of the best beaches in New Zealand, we set forth on our journey with high expectations. Even the weather focus of “Light showers on Saturday and Monday, HEAVY rain on Sunday” did’nt dampen our spirits.

We had a lot of fun – interesting cliffs, lovely deserted beaches (so you don’t need swimwear) and sky-blue sea, Great cave (60 minutes of caving up to 90 meters below ground, 700 meters long, we were alone in it, it was absolutely quiet and dark in it - they lent us just helmets and torches), several wineries - what a nice region!

So we've been in Ton Sai...it's apparently supposed to have one of the top 10 beaches in the world......it doesn't.....they lie. But then again it was hit by the tsunami so maybe that's why it doesn't look so hot anymore. This place is rock climber's paradise. From all over buff girls who could break my poor asian fram and toned europeans come to this place to test some of the best cliffs in the world - which is true. As for us??? We drank buckets. Mormo doesn't drink so he has Mormon mixer's...which is a cocktail of redbull and other strange liver...

When I used to live in San Diego, we would often end up at one beach or another in the summertime. One of the beaches was in Coronado. On the way from the parking lot, which was really the side of the road in suburbia, you had to walk thru some strangely shaped dunes. I remember onetime someone remarked that these oddly shaped dunes actually spelled out a word. I didn't actually believe them, but in typical Jason-fashion, I perpetuated the myth to others.

With 10,000 acres of vineyards, farms, beaches, parks and forest, Pelee Island is almost any visitors dream island. Even though it is the southernmost inhabited point in Canada, over half of the 50 American states are north of Pelee, including Northern California. Pelee Island is on the same latitude as the prestigious wine regions of the world, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Napa Valley, California. High winds blowing off the lake, a high number of frost-free days, and a deep soil base insure prime growing conditions for...

Other activities include fishing, trails for hiking, long sandy beaches and camping. A number of Bed and Breakfasts and restaurants are also available.

Anyway, here are the two photos I posted last night. The first one is a sunset from our last evening there. The sunsets over the ocean were really incredible, and they were different every evening. They were also really fast and I had to shoot quickly before the sun disappeared over the horizon. I probably looked a bit maniacal, alternating between taking photos low to the ground, or halfway in the water, or above the water trying to catch the reflection of the sky, or trying to get a shell or something in the foreground. In the end, many of the pictures came out looking pretty cliche. But I got a few I liked, including this one.

Paradise lost? No longer. Home to dramatic cliffs that plummet hundreds of feet to white sand beaches and aquamarine seas, the Channel Islands offer visitors the chance to experience pristine, undisturbed serenity only miles from the California mainland’s shores. The Channel Islands National Park and Marine Sanctuary, unique in its isolation from society, celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year as the nation’s 40th national park, inviting visitors to explore its sea coves, kelp forests and trails while...

Also, the game requires none of that exhausting tromping through the sand and horizontal diving stuff that all those hard-body volleyball players who flock to the Chicago beaches choose to endure. (And, frankly, who intimidate the few remaining molecules of athleticism right out of me). In fact, I don't think I'm going out on a limb here when I say that shuffleboard requires almost no cardiovascular fitness.

We have made it to Herbert Bay, where we plan on drilling our second core. When I stand on deck and close my eyes I feel like I am on the shores of Lake Superior. A brisk breeze blows through my hair, and the sound of waves lap along the side of the boat. My face is warmed by the sun, which for the first time in four days, has shone through the clouds.

When I open my eyes, I see a most desolate landscape. The bay we are in is surrounded on three sides by cliffs ascending approximately 1000 feet, almost vertically, from the sea. There are the occasional small black beaches and I can see nine glaciers which terminate at the water's edge. The cliffs are topped by massive continental glaciers that cover about 99% of the island.

This is the first time since we left Maxwell Bay the sea has been calm. Today in the protection of the bay, only one foot swells greet us,and the wind blows at 20 knots. Through the deep blue shimmering water the occasional whitecap breaks the surface. Above the mountains, the sky is pale blue. A few cumulus clouds float overhead, while the ever lingering cirrus clouds hang in the eastern sky.

- Some really incredible beaches! One in particular: Playa Rincon, was absolutely gorgeous. Huge long beach, difficult to access, and as a result, very few people about. We saved this for our last day, on the 24th