5-star beaches open, safe and monitored

by Chris Owen on

Summer is in full swing, all those summer travel tips are either being used or ignored and it’s time to head to the beach. If that beach is open. An annual survey of water quality and public notification at U.S. beaches found that the number of beach closings and advisories in 2010 reached 24,091 the second-highest level in 21 years.

Our friends at WalletPop.com reported last month on The Best — and the Dirtiest — Beaches in the U.S. They told us about the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and their 21st annual list rating many popular beaches. Let’s take a closer look at the top beaches that made “Superstar Beach” status in the NRDC 5-star rating guide. Those Superstar beaches deserve special notice for not only receiving a 5-star rating this year, but for having perfect testing results for the past three years, indicating a history of very good water quality.Delaware: Rehoboth Beach-Rehoboth Avenue Beach, in Sussex County

More information from Rehoboth.com:

“Rehoboth Beach is a beautiful small town on the East Coast featuring enjoyable year round weather, beautiful real estate, great restaurants, and tax free shopping – all just two hours from Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia. Rehoboth Beach offers plenty for the whole family to do, including its one mile Boardwalk, its beautiful clean beaches and water, and its many other recreational activities.”

Delaware: Dewey Beach, in Sussex County

NorthJersey.com describes Dewey Beach

“A sun-dappled and libido-fueled testament to hedonistic beach life, come the height of summer, tens of thousands of fun-seekers flood into Dewey Beach, Del., a costal town with a year-round population of about 350 that can swell to 30,000-plus on summer weekends. On a mile-long stretch of sand between the quiet seaside town of Lewes and the popular family resorts of Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island, this is where hard-partying, binge-drinking youth congregate for all-night wilding.”

Minnesota: Park Point Lafayette Community Club Beach, in St. Louis County


GoDuluthMn.com tells us:

“As you drive along Duluth’s Skyline Parkway, you will see something unusual as you look down towards Lake Superior. In the central part of Duluth, just across the Aerial Lift Bridge, is a long strip of land. Park Point is the world’s longest freshwater sandbar (more than five miles long) that stretches out into the largest freshwater lake in the world.”

New Hampshire: Hampton Beach State Park in Rockingham County

From HamptonBeach.org:

“Where else along the Seacoast can you find 80 free evening concerts taking place throughout the summer and fantastic fireworks displays every week? Where else can you spend a spectacular summer day on the sands, sandwiched between refreshing Atlantic surf and row after row of accommodations, amusements, boating adventures, restaurants, and shops?

Only at Hampton Beach, a great beach and a whole lot more!”

See more beaches at NRDC Ratings for a Selection of U. S. Popular Beaches.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an environmental action organization that uses law, science and the support of 1.3 million members and online activists to protect the planet’s wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.

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Six Reasons to Love the Outer Banks

by Paul Brady on


You’ve seen the stickers. White ovals, with the trio of letters “OBX,” an American riff on European nationality decals, they’re a sign of allegiance to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I always found them annoying: How could some mid-Atlantic beach really be that wonderful? And why would you want to brag about your vacation on the back of your car?

Turning onto the beach road in Kill Devil Hills, with the dunes to my left, houses on stilts looking out over the water and kids slowly pedaling cruiser bikes, the reason became apparent. The Outer Banks are so wonderful, you can’t help but evangelize on their behalf. Here are six reasons why.

Traveling the American Road – Exploring the Birthplace of Aviation


The history: This is where aviation got its start, when Orville and Wilbur Wright finally got their Flyer into the air for a series of short trips on December 17, 1903. The site, commonly called Kitty Hawk but now in the incorporated city of Kill Devil Hills, is a protected national memorial, administered by the National Park Service. For just $4 a person, you can run along the actual path of the first powered flights in human history. Wilbur’s longest ride lasted 59 seconds; it took me 48 seconds to run the 852 feet.

The beach: It’s not the widest beach I’ve ever seen, but the Outer Banks offers miles of uninterrupted strands along the Atlantic. Because the barrier islands here are so narrow, you’re never more than a few minutes from the water. Don’t leave your rental house or hotel without a swimsuit.

The lighthouses: For a place known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic for all its shipwrecks, there are plenty of lighthouses to see. The most famous is on Cape Hatteras, a black-and-white tower that tops 200 feet. It’s open for climbs in season, as are others like the Currituck Beach and Ocracoke lighthouses.

The activities: One reason the Wright Brothers chose the Outer Banks for their experiments in flight is the area’s consistent ocean breezes. Those same winds make for excellent kite surfing, parasailing and even hang gliding. Kitty Hawk Kites is the leader in teaching visitors to hang glide in a single day at Jockey’s Ridge State Park, where sand dunes provide soft landings for students.

The people: I was fortunate enough to stay with the parents of a friend of a friend, a family that’s lived in Kill Devil Hills for 31 years. In a house built on stilts, and listing slightly from hurricane damage, my hosts shared stories of the place and its cast of characters-over beers pulled from an ice-filled cooler on their screened-in porch. For dinner, soft-shell crabs were fried in a pot of hot oil and served along side the best fried green tomatoes I’ve ever tasted. When I said I couldn’t thank them enough for the hospitality, they asked why I couldn’t just stay another night.

The ring toss: My hosts introduced me to ring toss. It’s not the carnival game but a test of dexterity that involves swinging a small metal loop tied to a string across the lawn to a hook mounted on a tree. It’s by turns infuriating and magical and maddeningly addictive. I’d seen it once before, in Maine, but not with the ubiquity it has in the Outer Banks. A trip here without it wouldn’t be complete.

Boy drifts a mile out to sea in rubber ring

by Sean McLachlan on

A twelve-year-old boy was rescued a mile off the coast of Wales today when he drifted away from shore with only a child’s rubber ring to keep him afloat.

A lifeboat crew saved the boy as he suffered from hypothermia and was about to fall unconscious. If he had, the crew said, he would have slipped out of the floating ring and drowned.

The boy had been playing by the seaside and had been carried off by the current into the sea. He had been drifting about 45 minutes when the rescuers found him.

The UK’s National Health Service reports that lifeguards respond to more than 13,000 incidents a year on the UK’s beaches. Many of these incidents are due to rip tides, which are more common than most people think, the NHS says. Inflatables are easily pulled out to sea by currents and strong winds.

If you are going to the beach, follow these important beach safety tips. And parents, please watch your children. You don’t want them to become a news item.

[Photo courtesy Greg Yap]

Lesbian couple sues hotel after being denied double room

by Sean McLachlan on

A lesbian couple is suing a hotel in England after being refused a double room.

Rebecca Nash and Hope Stubbings say they tried to check into the Brunswick Square Hotel in Brighton but were refused a room because the hotel only gives rooms to couples.

This is surprising for a number of reasons. First, it’s illegal in the UK for hotels to refuse rooms to gay and lesbian couples. Second, Brighton is England’s most popular gay and lesbian seaside town and surely the Brunswick Square Hotel has had to deal with gay guests before. And third, a court fined a bed and breakfast for refusing a room to a gay couple earlier this year.

In the earlier case, the hotel owners were defiant, saying homosexuality was against their Christian principles. In the Brighton case, it’s a matter of “he said, she said.” The manager says the couple hadn’t made a booking. The lesbian couple said the manager got angry and told them “no two boys, no two girls” in the rooms before kicking them out.

[Lesbian flag image courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Malibu Rum contest launches search for traveling radio correspondent

by Laurel Miller on

Tune in, Radio Maliboom Boom.

Malibu, the coconutty rum that’s like summer in a bottle, is looking for one outgoing, creative, beach-bum-lifestyle-loving man or woman for their nationwide radio correspondent search.
The chosen one will travel across the country attending concerts, reporting from the road, interviewing celebrities, and “celebrating the season of the sun.”

The Correspondent position was developed to find the emcee for the Station Invasion Concert Tour–a 10-city musical series–which will “bring the spirit of the Caribbean from coast to coast.“
As the Radio Maliboom Boom Correspondent, you’ll introduce the tour and musical acts, do video and blog posts, Facebook updates, and tweets. You’ll also represent Malibu by conducting and participating in video, radio, and media interviews across the nation.

Applications are being accepted online through May 15, 2011. You must be 25 and over, fill out an application, and submit a video “reel” that creatively showcases why you should be chosen, incorporating three key messages about Malibu (the rum, not the city). Three finalists will attend training in Malibu’s homeland of Barbados from June 20-23. The summer stipend for the Correspondent will be $15,000-and all the dancing (and, presumably, rum, sunscreen, and hair of the dog) you can handle. Cheers to summer!