It’s true that you can visit Blowing Rocks Preserve any time. But a special opportunity awaits you during the January 2011 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. On January 30, 2011, 26 lucky people will take a bus from Brevard Community College to Blowing Rocks Preserve for an all-day guided adventure to Blowing Rocks and [...]

Finding the best shells involves timing. You have to pay attention to the weather and the tides. Sometimes you have to drop everything and go shelling. You snooze, you lose. But even being a shelling loser isn’t that bad. There are always consolation prizes waiting for you at the beach. Strong cold fronts often bring [...]

I thought I’d share some of the classes and field trips I’ve signed up for during the January 2011 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. Wildflowers, Plants, & Other Things – there’s more to the Festival than birds, so I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to learn about plants and other wildlife by [...]

Space Coast Birding Festival Website What: The Noon Blog. Nature blogger’s lunch, learning and networking. When: Thursday, January 27, 2011.  Noon till 1:30 p.m. Where: Brevard Community College, Titusville, Florida Cost: Lunch and discussion are FREE, but you do have to register for the Festival ($10 fee). If you are a nature or birding blogger [...]

Most people don’t pay much attention to birds, probably because people don’t look up very often.  We generally don’t have any idea how many birds there are around us at any given time. A big flock of crows might catch our attention, and the classic V-shape of geese in the autumn sky is always worth [...]

Playa Mamitas in Playa del Carmen, site of the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival

Thanksgiving is a lovely family holiday, but sometimes, it’s nice to do something a little different. Why not think about spending this Thanksgiving in the Mexican Riviera? It’d be a last-minute trip, but there are lots of last-minute deals flying around at the moment to encourage people to travel. And, if you’re a big fan of jazz, the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival is definitely something to at least check out.

Just imagine…instead of getting stuffed to the brim with turkey and stuffing, you could spend some time with the family in paradise while listening to some fantastic jazz musicians. And the best part? The music is free for four nights — November 25-28. The second best part? You’ll be enjoying the music on stunningly beautiful Playa Mamitas. This is only one of dozens of gorgeous beaches in Playa del Carmen. And there’s so much to see and do during the day near Playa del Carmen. Snorkeling, visiting Tulum and the extraordinary ruins and water park at Xcaret Water Park and learning about Mayan history.

Tempting, isn’t it? Maybe this could be a new family tradition.

Earl Klugh performing at Riviera Maya Jazz Festival

Photos: GersonGC, noticaribe

Cape Blanco State Park

Last week, Sebastien Tobler wrote blogged about Los Angeles beaches that allows bonfires. Being from Southern California, I got very reminiscent of my bonfire days in San Diego. It’s just such a lovely thing to do year-round. The problem is, I now live in Georiga, and apparently, there isn’t a beach for thousands of miles that allows bonfires (as far as I can tell — if you know differently, please let me know!)

It looks as though in the U.S., very few beaches allow bonfires these days, which is sad. I understand it – the safety, trash and maintenance issues – but I don’t like it. Those of you living in Oregon, however, are luckier than most. From what I understand, many Oregon beaches and state parks still permit bonfires and fire pits. Jealous!

Here’s a short list of some of the state parks and beaches in Oregon that allow fire pits. Make sure you call them ahead of time to double-check, as laws do change.

Cape Blanco State Park

Sunset Bay State Park

Cannon Beach

Nhealem Bay State Park

Sand Beach

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Photos: Clinton Steeds, semarr

Black's Beach in San Diego

Those of us who haven’t yet learned how to surf (like me) often think that the best time of year to surf is summer. For me, part of the problem stems from the movie The Endless Summer that I must have watched about fifty times as a kid. As it turns out, though, summer is often the best time to go surfing in most of the world. In places like Hawaii and California, that’s from November till March, when the storms are more intense and the waves much larger. No wet suits are required in Hawaii, but you’d better put one on in winter in California!

Coastal Living put out a short list of the best winter surfing spots, and I was surprised to see that I was very familiar with two of them and I’d heard a lot about a third. I’ve from San Diego, and I’ve watched the surfers on Black’s Beach many a time. Man, the waves here are huge! The beach at Oceanside Harbor is indeed super wide, and the surfing competitions there are something to see. They happen in summer and in winter, but in winter the competitions are entered only by seasoned pros — you’ll understand why when you see the size of the waves. I would love to visit Hanalei Bay sometime. A friend who went there said she tried surfing for the first time and she said it was amazing, though a lot harder than it looked.

The winter surf season is coming up. Maybe it’s time to take a lesson, put on a wet suit and try something new!

Photo: Edgephotos78

Playing Pooches at La Playa

About two weeks ago, the City Commission of Atlantic Beach finally approved plans for a dog park. The funny thing about this is that dog owners have been using this park for months now already. The dog park should be fully functional (and legal) by the end of November.

The fact that residents have been using this dog park already for some time now shows just how much dog parks are now in demand, including those at the beach.  Beaches should provide areas that can be enjoyed by all, including our furry four-legged friends. It doesn’t have to be a huge area, and obviously it has to be sanitary, but offering dog parks at beaches is a wonderful way to encourage communities to enjoy their beaches even more. My dog loves to dig in sand, and it’s hilarious to watch!

Florida has some fantastic dog parks at the beach. Hopefully more are to come!

Photo: Mike Baird

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, most of us have stored away our summer clothes for good (unless you live in ridiculous Southern California — last week was very warm.) However, in the Southern Hemisphere, the weather is now very late Spring, which means that beach season is right around the corner. Admittedly, Australia is a bit far for most to go just to enjoy beach weather year-round, but the steadily slowing down economy means that great fares can still be found.

Need some more convincing? Step 1: Take a look out your window. Step 2: Look at this picture:

Noosa Beach in Queensland, Australia

That’s Noosa Beach, in Queensland. Gorgeous, right? Australia doesn’t have too many beaches that face North, also called the Sunshine Coast, and this is one of them. Great swimming and snorkeling year-round.

Or how about this one?

Whitehaven Beach, Australia

Definitely not a place I’d want to spend my winters! Just kidding. Look how clear and inviting that water is. And that sand…I can almost hear the lapping waves.

One last one to help convince yourself you need to take a trip to Australia (take me with you):

Kirra Beach, Queensland

Well hello, beautiful. How have I not met you before? Kirra Beach is now on my bucket list.

Photo: Kevgibbo, kevgibbo, kevwhelen

Growing up in Southern California I spent a lot of time on the beach. And this sounds so cliché, but one of the electives my hippie high school offered was surfing. So even though I wasn’t taking that particular class, I spent more than a few of my ‘free’ periods hanging out watching classmates surf while I pretended to be working on my photography assignment nearby. In fact, most of the school found some reason to be at the beach for at least part of the school day – I remember quite a few term papers written on the observation of bogus species of sand crabs. It’s a wonder any of us graduated and went on to become anything other than hair-braiders.

But one of my fondest memories of my beach-going teen years is sitting around a bonfire with my classmates and friends after school and on weekends. Back then pretty much all of the beaches had fire rings for making bonfires. (Saying ‘back then’ makes it sound like ancient history, but I’m really not that old. Although we did lay down on woolly mammoth pelts instead of beach towels.)

Now it’s not so easy to find those once ubiquitous cement rings – in fact the only beach in Los Angeles that still allows bonfires is Dockweiler State Beach in Playa Del Rey. Many beaches in Orange County have fire pits, but I’ll be steering my teen daughters towards Dockweiler where I spent many hours with my friends, our faces lit by the light of flickering orange flames. Besides, I think there might be some sand crabs that need cataloging.

Here are some LA-area beaches that allow bonfires. Check with the individual locations, as some laws may have changed.

Los Angeles:

Dockweiler State Beach

Orange County:

Aliso Beach

Bolsa Chica State Beach

Corona Del Mar State Beach

Crystal Cove State Beach

Huntington Beach

Laguna Beach

Newport Beach west of Balboa Pier

Newport Beach east of Balboa Pier

Photo: Webshots

The original posting can be found here: UpTake Getaway Crew: LA

I took a walk on Upham Beach this evening in hopes of seeing a dramatic sunset. The sky turned out to be cloudier than I expected as the season’s first strong cold front swept through the state. Although it was nearly dark, I managed to capture this image of a funnel cloud forming out over [...]

This is one of the best beach web cams I know of on Siesta Key Beach. This cam is located on Crescent Beach, looking north toward the public beach. It offers a live streaming image. Here’s a link to the web cam. List of more Florida beach web cams.

As you are walking along a trail to the beach in Florida, you might come across a turtle like the one above, slowly dragging itself along behind the parched, dry, scorching hot sand dunes. You might be tempted to move it down to the water’s edge…but DON’T!!! This is a Florida gopher tortoise. They do [...]

That’s all I’m sayin’.

I told you I’d let you know when the catalog is available, so here it is! Registration is now OPEN on the festival website. Don’t wait too long; the top classes and field trips fill up quickly (I learned that the hard way last year). Catalog Table of Contents: Welcome Raptor Project Sponsors & Partners [...]

This is a guest post written by Holly Hime, after she and her family had a great vacation on Anna Maria Island. I’m sure many will join me in thanking Holly for sharing the details of her Anna Maria Island vacation. I’m forever grateful to Anna Maria Island, a cute seven-mile-long barrier island on Florida’s [...]

The Great Florida Beachwalk is a campaign to make people aware that Florida’s beaches are NOT covered in oil. They are clean and healthy. The idea was to assign each mile of Florida’s 825 miles of sandy beaches to a volunteer, who would show up Saturday morning, walk the mile of beach, take a photo [...]

During the ride from the airport to my guest house on the island of Penang, Malaysia, my taxi driver provided me with running commentary about the things to see and do on Penang.

“I highly recommend a walking tour of George Town, since it has the largest collection of pre-World War II buildings in all of SE Asia. The Snake Temple is also worth visiting, and you must go to Batu Ferringhi, not only for the beach but also for its amazing night market.”

Great for water sports, but the water and sand leave much to be desired

Dutifully, I took a local bus to the northeast tip of the island one sunny day when I had a hankering to catch some rays. From the moment I set foot on this long crescent beach I was disappointed. The sand was coarse and in some areas erosion had eaten away the beach right to the stoops of the cottages and restaurants that lined it, in some cases exposing heaps of fraying sandbags. Trash was scattered about liberally, and even the water seemed murky. The cloudy water might be forgiven, since it was monsoon season and runoff from the land has a way of muddying up waters along the shore, but the trash was bad enough that I couldn’t even bring myself to spread my beach towel. And as for getting into the water, well, the big red sign warning of the dangers of jellyfish put an end to that idea.

Jellyfish warning at Batu Ferringhi beach

Since I’d made the trip I decided to stick around for the night market. With several hours to kill before dark, I amused myself with a visit to the Fish Spa for a fish-nibbling pedicure, enjoyed some very economically priced body work on the beach from an amazing man who specialized in sports massage, and lolled in a local restaurant for a couple of hours, stuffing myself with Malaysia’s world-famous delicious, cheap food.

Night market at Batu Ferringhi beach stretches for more than a mile

By the time I emerged from the restaurant it was dark and time to shop. While I ate, the main road that fronts the beach had been transformed from a mile of concrete sidewalks in various stages of disrepair to a glittering outdoor covered market that stretched as far as I could see. Block after block, I wandered through stalls where vendors hawked everything from designer jeans to exquisite Vietnamese lacquerware. I spent several hours dickering with merchants for scarves and leather wallets, enjoying bantering over prices, and discovered that the best deals resulted when I walkED away. Inevitably, the merchants ran after me, relenting to my demands. A few hours later, as pedestrian traffic began to dwindle, vendors began breaking down their stalls until the following evening, when the whole process would repeat itself.

I’d agree with my friendly taxi driver that Batu Ferringhi is a not-to-be-missed experience, but skip the beach and just go to the night bazaar for some of the most amazing shopping in Penang, Malaysia.

Photo Credit: Barbara Weibel
Article by Barbara Weibel of Cultural Travel with Hole In The Donut

Staying Safe on the Beach

The following is a great piece on staying safe on the beach by Britt Reints, a featured writer on UpTake Orlando’s Getaway Crew. Britt walks you through all the different flag colors and what they mean. – Sebastien

If you head to any public beach in the state of Florida, you’ll see a flag in one of four colors designed to tell you whether or not the water is safe for swimming.  All public beaches use the same color system so that you’ll know exactly what the warnings mean no matter which beach you’re visiting.

Of course, you still have to know what each color means.

Florida Beaches Warning Flags – What Each Color Means

Purple – Dangerous Marine Life

Yep, we’ve got stuff swimming in our waters that can bite, sting or otherwise harm you.

Green – Low Hazard

It’s important to note that “low hazard” still means to “exercise caution”.  The oceans and gulf waters are constantly changing and you should always be alert when swimming at the beach.

Yellow – Medium Hazard

You’ll see this flag if the surf is high or the current is strong.  If you’re not on a surf board, you may be safest staying in waist deep water.

Red – High Hazard

Bring a bucket and build a sand castle or go for a walk along the edge of the water, but save body surfing for another day.  There are actually two red flags.  One red flag has a no swimming symbol to indicate that the water is closed to the public.

In addition to paying attention to the hazard flags, what other beach safety tips should visitors keep in mind?

Photo and article by Britt Reints