Many visitors to Florida beaches enjoy snorkeling and are looking for a good snorkeling spot close to where they’ll be staying. Lots of Florida residents are always on the lookout for a new place to put their face in the water as well.
So I’ve compiled some really helpful information for those looking for a snorkeling [...]

Get the latest information on Pensacola beaches.
If you don’t find enough info at the link above, check the travel advisory page on the VisitFlorida.com web site. They are doing a good job of keeping their information current.
As of today, June 4, 2010 the Pensacola beaches are still open and safe. A few tarballs have been [...]

The number of stunning beaches along Mexico’s Riviera Maya is absolutely mindboggling. One ribbon after another of blinding white coral sand borders rich turquoise seas that shimmer under a sun so intense that it soaks through to the very core of your being. One of the more exquisite beaches is found at Puerto Aventuras, a gated community located about midway between Playa del Carmen and Tulum in the Yucatan.

The beach at Puerto Aventuras

Although Puerto Aventuras is a private, gated community, all beaches in Mexico are public and getting to the beach is not a difficult matter. Many condos within the development are leased as vacation rentals throughout the year, thus the security personnel are used to new arrivals. The Omni Puerto Aventuras Resort is also located beyond the gates and it is perfectly acceptable to come for lunch and then spend the rest of the day on the beach in front of the resort or lounge at their beach bar.

Long stretch of pure white sand

The resort has sectioned off a portion of the lovely bay with rocks, creating a placid lagoon for soaking, and a reef just offshore provides decent snorkeling. Additionally, Puerto Aventuras has the only marina along this stretch of the coast, so boaters can weigh anchor here and have access to the beach as well.

Photo Credit: Barbara Weibel
Article by Barbara Weibel of Hole In The Donut Travels

Getting your feet covered with sand is part of going to the beach, and cleaning off that sand before getting into your car to go home, or before going back to your hotel room can be a chore. (At least for most people it is. I don’t worry about it. I have half an inch [...]

For the past week or so I’ve been getting quite a few reports of thousands of blue button jellyfish washing up on the beaches from Jacksonville to Daytona Beach. According to most reports, these jellies do not normally sting, but I’ve had one report that a person believed she was stung by one. I consider [...]

I had previously written about the amazing underwater life on Sipadan for UpTake’s Beach Blog but seeing is believng and Caludio Valerio captures Sipadan’s underwater life beautifully in his video entitled “Ocean Life: Sipadan.” This underwater cinematography is beautfu. Each shot is composed perfectly and my personal favorite is the openner.

Read More About Sipadan:

Sipadan, Malaysia’s Sole Oceanic Island

By Sebastien Tobler

Colliding Continents

Dr. Stephen Leatherman, aka Dr. Beach, has announced his list of the Nation’s Top Ten Beaches.  Cooper’s Beach, Southampton, New York moved up from the #3 position to the #1 position this year. Siesta Key beach has retained its hold on the #2 position. What do I think?
This sums up my thoughts:

Siesta Key beach current [...]

More info and pics of Siesta Key beaches
Tips on Siesta Beach vacation rentals
Turtle Beach (south Siesta Key)
Point-of-Rocks beach and snorkeling
I’ll see you at the beach!

As you probably know, every year on Memorial Day Weekend Dr. Stephen Leatherman (aka Dr. Beach) announces his list of the top ten beaches in the nation. This year his announcement will come on Friday, May 28th, 2010.
Which beach do you think will be the nation’s top beach for 2010? Will it be a Florida [...]

Lists of top ten beaches, the best beaches in the world, and the most perfect beaches are ubiquitous. They’re also completely subjective. To one person, the perfect beach might be defined by glitzy clubs and beautiful bodies, while to another it might mean a completely secluded ribbon of sand that’s virtually impossible to reach.

White sand beaches stretch for miles

To me perfection is defined by sugary fine white sand, pure turquoise water, and plenty of room, so when I first laid eyes on the beach at Playa del Carmen, Mexico, declaring it one of the world’s most perfect beaches was an easy call. Located on the mainland directly across from the island of Cozumel, Playa del Carmen has grown from a sleepy little village where visitors used to saddle up and gallop through the surf to a major tourist destination on the Mexican Riviera. Yet even though this beach attracts hordes of vacationers, it is so wide and long that it’s rarely crowded.

Fishing boats line the shore

Regardless of each visitor’s vision of perfection, Playa del Carmen beaches offer something for everyone. Colorful wooden boats line the shore, ready to take vacationers out for a day of offshore fishing, while bars and restaurants occupy the back beach. In between, beach chairs and canopy beds beckon to sun worshipers while banana boats, Hobie craft, wave runners, and paragliding, snorkeling, and diving provide plenty of choices for the more adventurous.

Even divided families, where some like the beach and others don’t, will love Playa del Carmen, since mile long Fifth Avenue, located just a block off the beach, is home to designer shops, massage studios, and gourmet restaurants. And though it’s highly unlikely, if guests grow weary of Playa, they need only walk down the beach to the ferry terminal and take a quick trip to Cozumel, where they can discover another collection of stunning beaches.

Photo Credit: Top: Barbara Weibel; Bottom: Green Travel
Article by Barbara Weibel of Hole In The Donut Travels

Yahoo! Travel today is featuring a Forbes article about “America’s “Scariest Highways.” The author, Tim Kiladze, includes  U.S. Highway 1 (aka the Overseas Highway) through the Florida Keys on the list of scary highways, writing:
Outside of Key West this roadway turns into a two-lane bridge that crosses an expansive body of shallow water that reflects [...]

As the weather gets warmer and summer gets nearer, I fall into a state of mixed emotions. I get super excited for weekend trips to the beach, but also utterly anxious about wearing a swimsuit in public. I get the feeling I’m not the only one who has started eating better and working out more in anticipation of the beach season.

Fitness

I turned to Cecilia Tobler, certified personal trainer and author of The Traveler’s Fitness Companion: Your Workout Formula to Go!, for her suggestions on how to kick start a workout towards attaining a beach body. The smartest and most effective way to lose weight is to follow the most basic rule: increase exercise and limit what you eat. Cecilia recommends combining cardio and strength training to achieve the best, and fastest, results. It’ll take a little discipline to get going, but once you begin to lose weight and become more active, you can progressively add calories back into your diet.  Not so bad, right?

Nutrition

Fill up with cooling foods during warm summer months. Juicy foods with lots of water content will help you to stay hydrated. Foods that are naturally blue, green, or purple are typically more cooling than similar foods that are red, orange or yellow.

These examples of cooling foods and spices are high in fiber, meaning they’ll keep you full for longer, and low in calories.

• Vegetables: summer squash, celery, radishes, cucumber, corn, green beans, peas tomatoes, sea vegetables, and leafy vegetables such as spinach, arugula, Swiss chard and lettuce
• Fruit: berries, melons, peaches, nectarines, grapes, oranges and apples
• Spices: fresh ginger, cilantro, and peppermint
• Grains: couscous, wheatberry, amaranth, and barley

If you want to combine sunbathing on a beautiful beach with snorkeling, Santa Maria Beach is a must-see when visiting either Cabo San Lucas or San Juan del Cabo (Los Cabos), Mexico. This secluded U-shaped cove is rimmed by red rocks that have deposited pebbly pink sand in a perfect crescent, and its crystal clear, deep blue waters harbor an amazing world of friendly, colorful tropical fish.

Beautiful Santa Maria Beach at Los Cabos, Mexico

The fish are so abundant here that they may instinctively know that Bahía Santa María is a protected marine sanctuary; they flock to snorkelers and divers who bring bread or cheese to feed them. The best time to snorkel is in the morning when the waters are calmer. Although the deep cove that shelters Santa Maria Beach usually means the water is gentle enough for families with children, as with all beaches in Los Cabos, there is always the possibility of rough waves and undertows.

To get to Santa Maria, look for the beach access sign at kilometer twelve, next to the Hotel Twin Dolphin and take the dirt road to the parking area. From here it is a short walk to the beach. Though a few beach vendors usually make the trek to sell sodas and snacks there are no facilities available, so be sure to bring everything you need for the day, including a shade umbrella, as this beach offers little in the way of shade.

Photo Credit: Tanenhaus
Article by Barbara Weibel of Hole In The Donut Travels

As we were walking along Madeira Beach today, watching the Gulf Coast Standup Paddleboard Championship, we enjoyed watching a school of Cownose rays swimming in the shallow water. Of course everyone thought they were stingrays. The Cownose ray does not have the habit of sitting quietly on the sea floor waiting to be stepped on, [...]

Today we stopped by Madeira Beach to check out the stand-up paddleboard (SUP) race organized by Brody Welte, owner of Stand Up Fitness and the Kahuna Kai Paddle and Beach Shop on Madeira Beach. I shot some photos (above) and video (below). I haven’t tried stand up paddling yet but it is on my short [...]

Skin is the largest organ of the human body. It’s important to take care of it properly especially if you’re sitting in the sun for long periods of time. I just got back from a glorious week in Tulum, Mexico where it feels like the sun warms you from the inside. It was a perfect opportunity to test out some new suncare products, specifically mineral sunscreen and after-sun lotion.

Nature’s Gate offers the Mineral Sportblock with SPF20. What this means is that instead of using manmade chemicals, Nature’s Gate has replaced these synthetic ingredients with Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide, which according to their website, scatters – not absorbs – sun rays. A retailer warned me that this product doesn’t go on as smoothly as some of the other sunscreens on the market. It also leaves a slight white residue (zinc) so you need to take a little more time applying this particular product.

Nature's Gate Mineral Sunblock SPF20. Courtesy of Nature's Gate.

The first day I used it, the weather was swelteringly hot and I felt like heat was being trapped by this sunscreen. However, it didn’t wash off as easily as other products and I didn’t burn. In fact, I found that I was getting tan but at a nice and slow rate. The following day, however, I tried a Neutrogena sunscreen that washed right off in the ocean. I ended up with terrible sunburn.

Final thoughts: It works and it allows a nice tan to start forming. However, if you’re going to use this product, use it consistently. It doesn’t apply easily onto sunburned skin, as the lotion is very thick.

To soothe my burned skin, I turned to Alba Botanica’s Kona Coffee After-Sun Lotion. Words cannot describe how heavenly this product is. The coffee oils are hydrating while the caffeine helps to release the heat in the skin and soothe the burn. It is deliciously aromatic – for coffee lovers, imagine smelling like a café latte – but the fragrance isn’t overwhelming. The texture of the lotion is creamy and luxurious rather than watery, which is my main complaint about Burt’s Bee’s after-sun product. It also felt like it lasted a long time, whereas with some other products you have to reapply often.

Alba Botanica Kona Coffee After-Sun Lotion. Courtesy of Alba Botanica.

Final thoughts: I’m a huge fan of this product. I was addicted to it during the entire week I was in Tulum, and even now as I’m nursing my burned skin back to health. I only wish that it came in a larger bottle!

May 17, 2010 Deepwater Horizon Response Situation Report as of noon. (opens as a pdf file).
Summary:
There is no oil expected on any Florida beaches within the next 72 hours.
The oil plume is currently located 75 miles southwest of Pensacola, 175 miles from Port St. Joe, and 260 miles from Saint Petersburg, FL.
The plume was reported [...]

Note: this is a guest blog post written by Jane Warren.
Summer is almost here, and for those of us who have been cooped up this past Winter–and even Spring–with colder than normal weather and heavy rain, we are chomping at the bit to get outside! My favorite place is the beach, where I [...]