Thousands of sharks, heading north after migrating to the south for winter, prompted beach closures along South Florida's Atlantic coastline. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

Several beaches along South Florida's Atlantic coast line were closed after thousands of sharks were seen migrating in the waters.

The sharks were migrating from Boca Raton to Jupiter since the beginning of March, marine biologists told NBC Miami.

Biologists said the sharks are going north after migrating to the south for the winter.

Lifeguards at Midtown Beach saw spinner sharks in the waters and put up red flags to tell beachgoers they couldn't enter the water.

"It's dangerous. It's not what you would expect. Families come out here to enjoy the weather, beach, and sand, but now they can't.They have to travel a little bit further than they should," said beachgoer Guirlene Exantus.

Doctors at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach told WPTV that they see about five to six shark bite victims annually. These bites are usually minor, but can put the victim at risk for infections.

Swimmers are advised to swim close at beaches with lifeguards and take jewelry off before getting in the water as experts say sharks are attracted to silver, yellow and gold.

Jeff Langlois / The Palm Beach Post via ZUMAPRESS.com

A pod of spinner sharks is seen through a wave at Midtown Beach, Fla. A huge swarm of sharks has shut down beaches of Florida as they migrate up the East Coast.

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Sharks swarm at Fla. beaches

Published: March. 8, 2013 at 2:47 PM

PALM BEACH, Fla., March 8 (UPI) -- Beaches on South Florida's Atlantic coast were closed again Friday after sightings of thousands of migrating sharks, authorities said.

Many tourists expressed disappointment that they had to stay out of the water.

The sharks were seen along the coastline, heading back north after migrating south for the winter, marine biologists said.

Lifeguards at Midtown Beach in the Palm Beach area saw spinner sharks and raised red flags, indicating swimmers should not enter the water, NBC News reported.

"It's dangerous. It's not what you would expect. Families come out here to enjoy the weather, beach and sand, but now they can't," said beachgoer Guirlene Exantus.

"We don't have sharks in Washington. I just wanted to go swimming," said Tori Bradshaw, who had just arrived in Florida from her home state.

"If there are sharks, you aren't going to find me in there," said Burt Abrams, visiting from Cleveland.

Swimmers were advised to swim close to shore at beaches that remained open with lifeguards, and to remove jewelry before entering the water because sharks can be attracted by silver, yellow and gold colors, NBC said.

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Sharks still seen off Fla., beaches close

Beaches Suck in March (first vlog)
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GULF SHORES, Alabama --

It's taken months to finish. "Incredible and the views are just spectacular."

Beginning Saturday folks will be able to strap in, hook up and take a ride on the Hummingbird Zipline that runs through part of Gulf State Park says co-owner Tom Schlinkert "The zipline system is complete, all the towers are complete, we are currently training a group of our guides."

With seven towers that range from 48 to 90 feet tall, the adventure will take about two and a half hours to complete with training. "We feel like the skills that you learn and the experience you have here will be different than anything else the coast has had to offer at this point," says Schlinkert.

While the zipline might be the most anticipated attraction coming to Baldwin beaches this summer, it's not the only one.

Construction has begun for a couple of new attractions at one of the oldest attractions in Gulf Shores, Waterville. "We're working as hard as we can," says general manager John Turberville. "We're looking to open this ride to the public on May 18th. A six lane, mat racer one of the first of its kind on the gulf coast."

By midsummer, Alabama's ship will come in in the water that is, as the 271 foot Yokamu heads to the bottom of the gulf to become alabama's first shipwreck primarily for scuba divers. "We have to do a little more preparation. A little cleaning but basically everything is done."

They hope to sink the ship in late June.

Meanwhile, another event, the Hangout festival named it's third headliner for the music fest. Stevie Wonder will join Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Kings of Leon in drawing thousands to the beach in May.

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New Attractions Coming to Baldwin Beaches

Destruction of bluff, boardwalk raise safe access concerns at southern-most beaches

BY KENNY WALTER

Staff Writer

The protective bluff, a composite of rock, soil and sand, was damaged by the superstorm, and the city is blocking access to six beaches to protect the safety of beachgoers until the structure and access points are restored. The remains of the boardwalk destroyed by the storm are visible through a fence (left) that blocks public access to the beachfront along West End Avenue. PHOTOS BY KENNY WALTER Public access points to six Long Branch beaches will be blocked off for the summer as a result of superstorm Sandy, but the beaches will have lifeguards on duty.

Mayor Adam Schneider said in a March 1 interview that all access points south of Cottage Place would likely remain closed this summer because of the destruction of the boardwalk and the supporting bluff, which beachgoers would have to scale to access the beaches.

The bluff has been severely compromised. We dont even have a place to put steps. We dont have something to anchor them to, Schneider said. Those beaches probably will not have direct access.

Our first job is to keep anybody who goes to the beach safe, and we are going to keep as many of the other access points open.

However, Schneider said the beaches are expected to remain open to members of the public, who will have to use access points to the north.

People are going to walk where they want to walk and it is not the lifeguards job to say, Dont sit there, sit here, he said. They are too busy watching the ocean and we dont have enough cops, nor do we want them chasing people off.

Here is our concern: It is not just getting you down to the beach, its being able to protect you and keep you safe while youre there, he added. What if something happens can we get a rescue vehicle to you, can we get you off the beach?

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City plans for safe access to beaches

By Jocelyn R. Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer

Boracay: TripAdvisors best beach in Asia in 2013. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Summer has not officially arrived yet but the Philippines, its white-sand beaches and hidden lagoons are already getting much attention from international travel guides.

TripAdvisor, one of the worlds popular online travel guides, placed the island of Boracay at No. 1 in its Travelers Choice-Best Beaches in Asia for this year.

In placing Boracays White Beach at the top of the list, besting 24 other beaches in Asia, TripAdvisor described the 7-kilometer stretch as a stunningly beautiful white powder sand beach [with] crystal clear, warm water that you can laze on for days on end.

Also making it to the list of great beaches in Asia were El Nido, Palawans Secret Lagoon, which was placed at No. 9 and Boracays Yapak Beach, also known as Puka Shell Beach, at No. 10.

The scenic Secret Lagoon, located on a small island and nestled among towering limestone formations, was cited for its wonderful view.

Yapak Beach, a secluded area in the north of Boracay Island, was noted for the myriad of puka shells on the shore giving ones feet a rugged feel.

On its website, TripAdvisor said the Travelers Choice Beaches Awards were based on the quality and quantity of traveler reviews and ratings for beaches it has gathered over a 12-month period since the 2012 awards.

Value for money

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Boracay No. 1 on online Asia’s best beaches list

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The men and women who patrol Staten Island's Hurricane Sandy-decimated beaches say the voiding last week of a trespassing ticket may simply bring more scofflaws to the sand and put them in harm's way.

"We don't want the public to think it's okay to be there, and it's safe to be there," said Joe Puleo, chair of the Parks Committee for the DC 37 union, which represents the enforcement officers for the City Department of Parks and Recreation. "This is a dangerous area."

Parks Department Commissioner Veronica White last week called to apologize to an Ocean Breeze couple, after they received a $50 summons for taking a stroll with their two young daughters on the beach near their home. As reported in the Staten Island Advance, the couple said they had not seen any "do not enter" signs, and said they had been needlessly harassed by the officer.

But after the ticket was wiped away with an apology, officers are concerned even more people will feel it okay to flout the rules, Puleo said.

City beaches will not officially open until Memorial Day weekend, according to the Parks Department.

"To have had children there is unconscionable," he said. "There is still a lot of debris. There are huge trucks that are constantly there; they are moving around; they can't see little kids."

The officer who issued the ticket -- a 12-year veteran of the force -- had weeks before the Feb. 24 incident with the family, seen a colleague taken to the hospital when his foot was sliced open with a nail. It happened in the very spot where the couple's two young girls were playing, said Puleo.

The officer who wrote the ticket is not what Puleo called a "heavy summons writer."

"They don't have quotas; they don't have to write summons," he said. "Typically she gives warnings in situations of this sort. Some other officers are more proactive when it comes to writing summons."

Even so, the officer was reprimanded for her handling of the emotionally tense situation which unfolded on the beach near the intersection of Naughton Avenue and Father Capodanno Boulevard, said Puleo.

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Staten Island beaches still unsafe, say Parks officers concerned about trespassers

By Zachary Stieber Epoch Times Staff Created: March 4, 2013 Last Updated: March 5, 2013

A front end loader cleans a still-closed beach area damaged by Hurricane Sandy on March 1 in Staten Island, a borough of New York City. The borough's beaches will be the first to get restored, beginning in April. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

NEW YORKRestoration of the beachesdamaged by Hurricane Sandy will begin in April on Staten Island

A bid will go out this month for the work on Staten Islands eastern and southern shores, which were among the hardest hit areas by the storm. Work is expected to start in April. After that, work will move to other coastal areas in the region, including on Long Island.

A plan developed by the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild the beaches will be given to the city so contractors can be hired quickly and start work, according to CBS New York, citing Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Todays announcement should give homeowners a lot of solace, said Schumer. They will have protection and they will have it soon.

Depending on the area, there will be berms and dunes installed for protection, according to Schumer. Normally, the Army Corps doesnt work on projects before a plan is created. At Schumers urging, the Corps completed a plan for Staten Island within weeksthe plans usually take up to 18 months.

That is much too long to wait, given how denuded the beaches are, and how worried people are about a second Sandy, Schumer told the Staten Island Advance.

Beaches on Staten Island, including South Beach, Midland Beach, and Tottenville Beach, lost between 10 and 20 feet of sand in length and four to six feet in height, according to Schumers office.

At least 75 percent of the funding for the Staten Island work will come from FEMA, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomos office.

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Restoration to Hurricane-Hit Beaches to Begin April in NYC

Zeikel and Emma, front, and Ryan, Ashlee, Wollongong environmental project officer Paul Leonard, Isaac and Bradley, back.

Morale was through the roof at Wollongong's City Beach yesterday after a very satisfied bunch of Clean Up Australia Day volunteers packed up their gloves for the day.

More than 1000 ignored Wollongong's grey skies to take part in the annual clean-up at 30 locations between Helensburgh and Windang.

Piece by piece they binned about 10 tonnes worth of plastic bottles, chip bags and miscellaneous junk that is now no longer cluttering the region's beaches, bushland and waterways.

Wollongong City Council's environmental education co-ordinator Mike McKeon said it was disappointing to see so much rubbish being thoughtlessly discarded.

"Whatever we drop in the street ends up in streams and creeks and then into the ocean," he said.

"In the long run we're making our beaches look ugly and we're putting our wildlife at risk," he said.

Mr McKeon praised the dedication and enthusiasm of the many volunteers who gave up time over the weekend to make the city a more attractive place to live.

Although some locations were brimming with rubbish, Mr McKeon said there had been areas of improvement.

Puckey's Estate Reserve used to harbour up to four tonnes of waste - now just a few bag's worth are collected from the area.

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Beaches sparkling after annual clean-up

Blank Sand Beaches
by RL Walker Ear Relevance CD

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Blank Sand Beaches - Video

Todd Maisel/New York Daily News

A woman walks her dog on Rockaway Beach. The remains of the boardwalk thrashed by Hurricane Sandy won't be replaced just yet, but it's promised that the beach will look different and have some new amenities.

City beaches will be back in time for Memorial Day weekend despite the wallop of Hurricane Sandy but they wont look quite like the beaches you remember.

It will cost $266 million to get the storm-ravaged beaches up and running by their May 25 opening day, Parks Commissioner Veronica White revealed at a City Council hearing Thursday.

RELATED: ROCKAWAY GROUPS CALLING FOR FARMERS MARKETS FOLLOWING SANDY

That includes $147 million for Rockaway Beach alone.

The Rockaway boardwalk in Queens, three miles of which were severely damaged by the storm, wont be replaced yet, but concrete islands will be built with bathrooms and food vendors.

The city also is putting modular buildings up on stilts in the sand to house bathrooms, lifeguard stations and maintenance buildings.

edurkin@nydailynews.com

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City beaches to open by Memorial Day weekend

The Beaches of Cheyenne - Line Dance ( Marie Srensen )
Choreographer : Marie Srensen (Sunshine Cowgirl) Dk - Feb 2013 32 counts - 4 walls, Improver level line dance Music :"The Beaches Of Cheyenne" by Red Strokes. Album: Wild Horses Intro : 32 counts TAG: After wall 2 -- 4 Counts tag -- Facing 06:00 SWAY, SWAY, SWAY, SWAY

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Ours or theirs? Rhossili Bay, Wales vs Wineglass Bay, Tasmania

OK, this is war. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, we will fight them on the beaches.

Who are we fighting on beaches? Britain, that's who. And we're fighting them because of an incredibly deluded UK newspaper poll result in which two out of three respondents preferred a Welsh beach ahead of an Australian beach.

Seriously, the Poms prefer their own miserable beaches to ours. Read it and weep right here at Telegraph.co.uk.

Well, at least that explains why they've done their best to turn Bondi into the sort of stinking cesspit to which they are accustomed.

Earlier this week, the website TripAdvisor.com released a list of the world's 10 best beaches. Only one Australian beach cracked the top 10 (Whitehaven in Queensland) alongside one British beach (Rhossili Bay in Wales).

That struck us as a little misguided, so we got straight on the phone to Rhossili Bay to discover what made the place so appealing.

Julian Short, proprietor of the Worm's Head Hotel in Rhossili, answered our call. To be frank, we were impressed with Mr Short's tales of hot pasties on the smooth, surprisingly unpebbly sand.

Then we discovered that the water at Rhossili Bay is currently six degrees, and that it's not much warmer in summer.

And we pretty much went nope, not sold.

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British fury: We will fight them on the beaches

Port Willunga Beach in South Australia. Picture: Paula Boreham Source: Supplied

SOUTHERN beaches will be showcased across Australia as filming of a new children's TV series starts next month.

Onkaparinga Council voted at last night's meeting to allow vehicles on Port Noarlunga and Port Willunga beaches while Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures is filmed between Friday, March 1, and Friday, March 15.

Vehicles are normally prohibited from driving on southern beaches between Hallett Cove and Port Willunga.

Council staff recommended the filming be allowed because it would generate local revenue and promote the region.

The children's series, to be aired on Network Ten and the Cartoon Network, is based on action adventure books about a teenager who ventures into the wilderness.

The series, by SLR Productions, will also be distributed internationally.

For more news on the south, pick up a copy of the Southern Times Messenger, read our digital edition online, or become a fan of our Facebook page.

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Southern beaches star in new TV series

HONOLULU, Feb. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Lazily discarded cigarette butts on Hawaii's pristine beaches are more than unsightly; they're also an environmental hazard. CigaretteLitter.org has published research demonstrating the harm that cigarette butts can cause to aquatic life because of the tobacco-related chemicals that leach out. Composed mostly of a fibrous plastic compound, cigarette butts take years to decompose. Sustainable Coastlines recently completed a cleanup project at Kuhio Beach Park where 11 volunteers collected 1,748 butts in one hour. VOLCANO Fine Electronic Cigarettes is sponsoring a similar cleanup effort at Kakaako Waterfront Beach Park on March 30. The Oahu Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is overseeing the cleanup. More than 100 people are expected to participate.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130227/PH67975)

"We are pleased to bring awareness to this issue on the beaches not only of Hawaii but worldwide," explained Cory Smith, owner and CEO of VOLCANO Fine Electronic Cigarettes. "Our electronic cigarettes can end this issue easily because our e-cigs do not have butt discard which pollutes our environment. We applaud the Surfrider Foundation and happily donate to their cause of protecting our coastal areas."

VOLCANO Fine Electronic Cigarettes will be donating to the Surfrider Foundation based on the number of butts collected. More volunteers will mean not only a cleaner beach, but also more funds to fulfill their mission of protecting and sustaining the world's oceans and beaches. Electronic cigarettes, such as the ones manufactured by VOLCANO, have the compelling advantage of producing no cigarette butt litter.

"It's sad when we no longer think of cigarette butts as littering, yet we NEVER clean a beach without finding them," said James McCay of the Surfrider Foundation. "Far from harmless, each of these is a little bundle of toxins that demands attention. The Surfrider Foundation Oahu applauds the work of VOLCANO Fine E-Cigs in raising awareness of these issues and helping to protect the beaches and waters that we all share. As we say in Hawaii, Malama Pono!"

The Surfrider Foundation has more beach clean ups scheduled after the March 30 VOLCANO Fine Electronic Cigarettes sponsored event. Visit oahu.surfrider.org for a calendar of events.

About VOLCANO Fine Electronic Cigarettes

VOLCANO FineElectronic Cigarettesis a manufacturer and retailer of electronic cigarettes and vaping accessories. Headquartered in the beautiful state of Hawaii, the company has been in business since August 2009, and in those three years has experienced tremendous growth. The company has expanded its base of operations throughout the world in order to keep pace with the exponential growth of the industry and has manufacturing and retail locations throughout the USA, UK and Southeast Asia.

Volcanoecigs has positioned itself as a leader in the electronic cigarette industry and has consistently pushed the envelope forward with innovative product releases that meet and exceed the needs and wants of theelectronic cigaretteuser community. With a proven record of releasing quality products and providing exceptional customer service, the company has built a reputation that any consumer can count on.

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VOLCANO Fine Electronic Cigarettes Partners With the Surfrider Foundation to Rid Oahu Beaches of Ugly, Toxic Cigarette ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tanlines are here to stay on Fire Island, where New York State law prohibiting naked sunbathing will be enforced on longtime nude beaches that were stripped of their protective dunes by Superstorm Sandy.

Banning nudity on the Fire Island National Seashore had been kicked around for years, but after Sandy and Hurricane Irene flattened the dunes, exposing beach views to the rest of the island, the National Park Service decided to act, chief park ranger Lena Koschmann, said on Wednesday. The ban is effective immediately, she said.

The park service is concerned with nudity and the party atmosphere it seems to inspire, Koschmann said. Prostitution, voyeurism, exhibitionism, public sex and masturbation have all become problems at the beach surrounding the Fire Island Lighthouse.

"This is a national park area and this is not an image we want to promote, that kind of lewd and lascivious behavior," Koschmann said.

Because Fire Island is under concurrent federal and state jurisdiction and no federal law exists prohibiting public nudity, the park has until now allowed nudists.

To minimize shock for lighthouse visitors, the Park Service has warned them they would likely see nudists on the surrounding beaches. The warning, however, wasn't delivered to a group of nuns who, after touring the lighthouse in December 2010, decided to take a walk on the beach.

"They were appalled when they inadvertently walked up to the boundary and were faced with nudity," a park ranger's incident report reads.

With complaints piling up and the shielding dunes swept away, the Park Service decided to immediately begin enforcing New York State penal code 245.01, which prohibits exposure in public, including prohibiting women from exposing their breasts except for the explicit purpose of breast feeding.

Violation of the code is a class B misdemeanor punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and a maximum of six months in prison.

Nude sunbathing on other parts of the island not controlled by the Park Service was expected continue.

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Naked sunbathing outlawed on Fire Island's longtime nude beaches

Dreams Huatulco Beach and Pool | Beaches in Mexico | by Signature.ca
Guests staying at the 5-star all inclusive Dreams Huatulco Resort and Spa enjoy soaking up the sun #39;s warm rays on the golden beach during the days and watch entertaining movies under the stars at night. With a variety of beach and poolside activities to get involved in, there is the option of keeping active or doing nothing at all. Features of the beach area include beach volleyball games, shaded areas, complimentary beach chairs and a towel service. With a variety of refreshing pools sprinkled across the resort property, guests can choose to be in the more lively area of the resort or escape to an adult-friendly quiet pool. Guests have their own space at this resort as Dreams Huatulco is home to the largest pool area in all of Huatulco, Mexico. Traveling with kids? There is also a kid #39;s pool that offers dedicated space to make some noise and enjoy recreational fun in the sun. Feel free to like, comment, and share our video, and be sure to subscribe to our channel to stay up to date on new videos and products.

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Tim Graham

Crystals found on the sandy beaches of Mauritius suggest that chunks of an ancient continent called "Mauritia" may lie beneath the ocean floor, between the land masses of India and Africa.

By Nidhi Subbaraman

The beaches of Mauritius surround the island like a foamy white trim and sprinkled in the sand are clues to a lost, submerged continent.

Ancient zircon crystals harvested from sand samples were found to be curiously older than the island itself. The island is only 8.9 million years old, but one of the hardy crystals dated back almost 2 billion years, and others are estimated to be at least 660 million years old.

Scientists who found the minerals explain that they belong to an ancient continent they have named "Mauritia" and estimate that there are chunks of it lying beneath the ocean and under the ocean floor between the land masses of India and Africa.A team led by Bjrn Jamtveit from the University of Oslo surmises that the telltale zircons rose to the surface on columns of hot magma welling up from under the crust. They coated Mauritius itself the product of a recent volcanic belch and remained there until they were picked up, sorted and analyzed by the Norwegian crew.

Mauritia would have been part of a single land mass called Rodinia that included whats now India and Madagascar, Jamtveit told National Geographic. Per the scientists' theory, Mauritia sank beneath the ocean when India was pried away from Africa to form the Indian Ocean.Their findings were published in Nature Geoscience this week.

While some experts agree that there isn't another likely source for the crystals, as Conall Mac Niocaill told Nature News,others like Jerome Dyment don't rule out the possibility that they could have landed on the beach on board human-made machinery or materials.

But based on what they've found, Jamtveit and and his team write that they fully expect to find other land masses hiding under the sea, too.

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Mauritian beaches hold clues to a lost continent

Beaches are natural in Australia
Filmed with the GoPro Hero Camera. Here in Australia " The Land Down Under" we share some of the most natural beaches and places to visit in the world. Come and visit Australia and enjoy the beauty, nature, clean beaches, clear water, and so much more. We "Aussies" are not scared of sharks. Why?, because we grow up with them and don #39;t really think about it when we are swimming and surfing on deserted clean beaches. We even love to take our dogs to learn how to swim and surf. Welcome to the "The Land Down Under"!

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Beaches are natural in Australia - Video

Kirin J. Callinan - Beaches
kirinjcallinan.bandcamp.com -uploaded in HD at http://www.TunesToTube.com

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