Kent Hotel in Miami, Florida - South Beach

South Beach, Florida’s Art Deco District is a lively, colorful, historic area with much to recommend. Like most of South Beach (and Miami, Florida, for that matter), the area is pretty expensive for hotels, and finding a good quality hotel that’s close to the beach with a decent price tag is about as difficult as finding dance club in the area that doesn’t have a cover charge.

Luckily, there’s The Kent, one of a handful of affordable hotels within a block of the beach. There are only 57 rooms here, each of which is outfitted in fabulous Art Deco style. Bright fresh colors, bold shapes, minimalist design – the rooms are clean, cool and calming. You can choose between Standard, Deluxe and Deluxe Suites, but there are only four each of the Deluxe categories, so book early if you want more space.

When I say affordable, I really do mean it! Rates in November are around $80/night for a standard Queen room and $110 for a Deluxe King. Anybody who’s been to South Beach know that these prices are fantastic, especially for a nice hotel like this one. If you’re really in the mood to splurge, you spend about $220 for a King Suite room that comes with a Jacuzzi bathtub. ALL rooms have flat screen tv’s, hooray.

The thing about South Beach, and the Art Deco District, is that there’s so much to see and do (including people watching!) just outside your hotel that it’s likely you’ll spend little time inside. What’s more entertaining – admiring the Art Deco design of your hotel room, or walking around taking pictures of people in crazy swimsuits on roller skates and buildings that look like they’re from a movie set? The Kent is barely a five minute walk from the white sands of South Beach – it’s perfect!

Art Deco District in Miami, Florida

Photo: Chris O’brien Wickiow, Ellen B

Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands of southwest Florida comprise an area of 693 square miles with 830 miles of shoreline. With so much surrounding water, the area has a plethora of beaches from which to choose. Visitors are delighted by miles of unspoiled Gulf Coast beaches on the offshore islands that offer excellent shelling, kayaking, birding, fishing, hiking, or just pure relaxation on a beach blanket under the sun. However residents of the County’s two largest cities, Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, often eschew the beaches on the out islands for one in their own backyard, Port Charlotte Beach Park.

Beach backed by large pavilions, which may be rented for large groups or special events

Located on the banks of the Peace River at its junction with Charlotte Harbor, the water at Port Charlotte Beach is coffee brown with a tinge of red. But don’t be fooled by the color; the Peace River is among the cleanest rivers – if not the cleanest – in Florida. It is colored by tannin leached from trees in the enormous watershed that drains into the river.

Boardwalk connects the beaches on either end of the park. The water here is caramel color, the result of tannin from surrunding forests.

The sand here – crystal fine and just shy of pure white – rivals that of the Gulf beaches and has the added benefit of being surrounded by amenities not found elsewhere. Port Charlotte Beach Park offers a boat ramp, picnic shelters, barbecue grills, a large pavilion that can be reserved for special events, basketball court, tennis courts, sand volleyball, fishing pier, playground, club house, restrooms, and a pool overlooking the river, where water aerobics classes are held six days per week, for a nominal charge of $3.50 per class.

Water aerobics classes are held six days per week at the pool

Best of all, crowds are rare at this park and the atmosphere is always laid back. Port Charlotte Beach Park is open located at 4500 Harbor Boulevard, in Port Charlotte, Florida. Parking is 75 cents per hour. Obtain a ticket from kiosks located in the park and display it on your dashboard.

Photo credit: Barbara Weibel
Article by Barbara Weibel at Hole in the Donut

I like a beach with a good superlative, which is why I paused, interested, when I read about Zipolite Beach in Mexico, supposedly the world’s most dangerous beach. Hard to imagine such a pristine coastline being so deadly.

Dangerous beauty.

Located in Oaxaca, the southern state of Mexico, the name Zipolite quite literally means “beach of the dead” in the native Zapotec language. Unfortunately, this moniker does not come from the area’s laid back vibe of surfers and followers of The Grateful Dead, but instead refers to the actual body count claimed by the strong rip current and undertow. Apparently, the beauty of the turquoise water lures tourists to swim while more knowledgable locals stay far away.

Dog days of Zipolite.

There are, in fact, periods when the water is at its most dangerous, so-called rebalses when the water is said to rebel. It is a time of high seas and the full moon; rebalses are stronger and occur more often from April to June.

There is a lifeguard program which has succeeded in cutting down on fatalities, but the beach still lives up to its name. If you choose to swim in the waters off Zipolite Beach extreme caution is advised; stay close to the shore and do not enter the water when you see red flags.

Photo credits in order of appearance: Kevin Hutchinson’s photostream, antifluor’s photostream, both via Flickr.

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com

I encourage you to go to YouTube and watch the video in full screen mode.
Another fabulous Florida video by Kevin Mims. Enjoy a little live blues while taking a trip down the Suwannee River by kayak, in HD no less. Just relax.
You want to know a little more about the [...]

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
Bird identification can be challenging. That’s why one of the first hobby related acquisitions of a birder is  a good field guide to the birds–or two–or three.
My  first field guide, purchased in 1971 for $3.95, was A Golden Field Guide’s “Birds of North America” by Robbins, Bruun, Zim and Singer. [...]

Poste by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
It’s going on RIGHT NOW! The 2009 23rd American Sandsculpting Championship and Beach Festival on Fort Myers Beach. I was there two years a go and really enjoyed talking to the artists and seeing their incredible sculptures. It’s WAY beyond sandcastles. Here’s a video I shot with VISITFLORIDA to give [...]

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
Have you ever seen a bird of prey really close up? It’s amazing what clear, sharp eyes they have, and their talons are truly fearsome even if you’re not a rabbit. The most amazing thing about birds of prey is their ability to detect prey from a great distance and [...]

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
Sunday evening I settled onto the couch to fight off an attack of pollen allergies with extra rest and an arsenal of prescription and OTC drugs that could fill a grocery bag. I sat there channel surfing for a few minutes until I  found the new  Ken Burns series on [...]

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
Nature photographer Reinier Munguia will give a Keynote Presentation at the upcoming 13th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida. The presentation will be “Nature Bound: From Photographer to Activist.”
When: Thursday, January 28, 2010. 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Cost: $20 (advance registration required).
Munguia will discuss the relationships [...]

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
Last year I spent the day in Fort Myers Beach to gather material and photos for an article. I thought I’d post a few of the beach photos:
Kava Kava

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
Thursday evening I drove out to Coquina Beach with my parents and my brother Joel, who is visiting from Tennessee. None of them had been to the beach in perhaps decades. It was a beautiful sunset and a very relaxing evening.
It was Mom and Dad, of course, who introduced me [...]

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
Alvaro Jaramillo will give the Keynote presentation at the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival, January 27, 2010 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Identifying gulls can be quite difficult given the variation in coloration between different stages of maturity as well as variations in breeding plumages.
To make matters worse [...]

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
The Sea-bean Symposium is off to a great start this morning. Sue and I are visiting with lots of friends we made last year. I managed to do a video interview with Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer which I’ll be posting in a week or so. The subject of the interview was [...]