USA In Review: Top 5 Beaches

Most of our friends know Dan and me as beach bunnies, sun worshippers and scuba lovers. Most of our holidays during our time together have been either scuba trips with dive buddies or to beach resorts. Getting to know each other on a beautiful beach in Galle, Sri Lanka (with 10 other journalists and travel agents) in February 2004 must have really set the tone for our future vacations together.

Back home on a Saturday afternoon, you can find us gazing at Sentosa (Fort Siloso, to be accurate) and Labrador Park while lazing on our favourite deckchairs, placed right smack between the Keppel Club pool and the sea. On Sunday, we'll be at Carpark F at East Coast Park at 4pm, snapping on our blades, all ready to glide from the Fort Road end to Changi and back. All for the love of the sun.

On this trip, we've experienced a wide range of travel destinations - cityscapes, wintry mountain regions, lush green countryside, red deserts, quaint towns, placid lakes. But there's nothing quite like a warm sunny sandy beach to make us feel right at home.

We had a few opportunities to experience beaches in the USA. For fellow beach-lovers out there, here are some valuable tips from your soon-to-be-broke friends here (but we're still dishing out travel advice FOC! I used to get paid for doing this....)

Evaluation Criteria (this term reminds me of drafting tenders for work... ugh)

1) We actually set foot on the beach. Driving past a beach or looking at it from an elevated viewpoint does not count.

2) The maximum amount of body cover comprises a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Wearing sweats and a jacket to the coast does not qualify as 'going to the beach'. It's called 'freezing while staring at seawater'.

3) It has sand. I've never met a rocky beach that's comfortable for lounging on.


Coming in at No. 5: Golden Gate Recreational Area (San Francisco)

This patch of sand offers a great view of the famous Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands beyond. It was buzzing with activity when we got there - families with kids, and pet owners with their pooches, and is a great place for busybodying. It's really cute to watch the dogs bounding into the waves to fetch a tossed twig. As long as you don't reach out for any random bobbing twig and realise instead that it's a cute doggy turd swimming towards you.

Trekking all the way from the Rockies to find a warm sunny beach?

Welcoming the first beach on our itinerary

Keeping it up at No. 4: Crandon Park (Key Biscayne)

Points for the most quiet and secluded public beach ever. More points for the presence of free natural shade in the form of palm trees. The Atlantic turns an fetching shade of emerald here. The only sounds you hear are that of the waves crashing onto shore, the rustling of palm fronds in the wind and the occasional musical tinkle from the ice-cream van.

You don't have to pay US$10 to rent a beach umbrella here. Not that there's a rental stand anyway.

It's nice to share the beach with other non-human visitors. If we could see them.

Lots of fun in splashing the seabirds which fly so low to the waves

Coming in strong at No. 3: Little Patch Of Sand At The Pelican Cottages (Key Largo)

This sandy pocket attached with our inn. It's not the softest or whitest, but it's all yours, and with comfy deckchairs and a hammock big enough for two. The ocean breeze is the best out there - when it doesn't get too enthusiastic about blowing us off the face of the earth. Need shelter from the rain? Just run back into the cabin!

We've never had a beach all to ourselves before! What a thrill!

That's all the sand there is

Blue is a cool favourite here

A hammock big enough for two

Putting in a close fight for the top spot is No. 2: South 'SoBe' Beach (South Miami Beach)

Tres sexy! Tres sassy! Tres happening! This is where all the good-looking people hang out. The world-famous golden trophy bodies of Miami are displayed for all to see. Plus the top-optional culture here makes sure that there is more to see. Set in Miami's historic art deco district and lined by hip eateries, hotels and boutiques on Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, this is the place to be seen.

Art doesn't come just in the form of toned bodies here. Even the buildings look good.

You can roll all you want in the plentiful white sands here. But that would probably be considered uncool on this hip planet.

Crowded on a weekday!

You NEED a beach umbie here on this shadeless beach

The most beautiful aquamarine water ever

And winning our list of Top 5 Beaches In The USA According To Us And Us Alone is.... *drumroll*....No. 1: Haulover Beach (North Miami Beach)

It's really important to read the signs here.

Nude beach. 'nuff said.

And that's a wrap for the beaches of USA!