Just about everyone loves the beach. If you don’t, then you just haven’t truly experienced an amazing beach yet.
The bright sun, endless blue skies, the sand beneath your feet, a cool breeze and the most crystal clear water you’ve ever seen will be sure to win over your heart.
Here are some of the secret sands; to those who are looking for secluded beaches around the globe, where quiet coasts invite in-the-know sunbathers to savor their relative solitude.
Sure, some of these destinations are downright remote, and require off-the-path travel.
Here are the Top Secluded Beaches; for you to Enjoy!
Wildcat Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, California
Since you have to walk more than five miles to reach it, you won’t be fighting the crowds for a spot on this isolated stretch of sand 30 miles north of San Francisco.
In the evening, if you have remembered to get the necessary permit (this is a National Seashore, after all), build a fire at the tide line and toast your good fortune with marshmallows.
Cayo Costa, Florida
On a barrier island off Florida’s southern Gulf coast, it is reachable only by private boat or a small public ferry that charges $25 per person for day visitors.
Once you arrive, though, count on having at least some of its nine miles of soft white sand all to yourself.
Pink Beach, Barbuda, Antigua and Barbuda
Yachtsmen and day-trippers to Antigua’s sister island usually get no further than the beach at Low Bay, on the northwest coast of Barbuda.
Low Bay is pretty enough, and it’s a convenient starting point for a visit to what is one of the world’s largest frigate bird sanctuaries.
But the real beauty on the island is Pink Beach. Essentially one huge sandbar, this flamingo-hued swath extends eight miles from Palmetto Point towards Spanish Point, at the southern end.
Los Frailes, Ecuador
Los Frailes is the image Ecuadorians hold up when they want to match their beaches against some of the most beautiful in South America.
Part of undeveloped Machalilla National Park, the beach is often deserted, especially during the Ecuadoran winter in June and July.
Majahuitas Cove, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
The day-trippers from Puerto Vallarta know this palm tree–backed beach, accessible only by boat, in a little cove at the southern end of Banderas Bay.
Although not a high-energy kind of place, the cove is perfect for snorkeling, kayaking, and trying not to feel superior to the people who have to take the return boat.
Store Beach, Sydney, Australia
As implausible as it might seem, there is indeed a hidden beach almost within a boomerang’s throw of Sydney.
What’s kept Store Beach — part of the Sydney Harbour National Park — hidden is that a guardian rank of rocks makes it accessible only by boat.
Polihua Beach, Lanai, Hawaii
To reach this beach, head north from Lanai City on the jeep trail inappropriately called the Polihua Highway, passing the weirdly sculptured landscape of the Garden of the Gods.
If you are in an open vehicle, you’ll arrive looking like a sun-dried tomato.
Plage Blanche, Morocco
Few beaches take more effort to get to than Plage Blanche, where the Sahara meets the sea.
Backed by rolling dunes, the beach is 25 miles long, and for now about the only thing you’ll see on it is an occasional fisherman, a couple of hard-core surfers.
Porat Beach, Bisevo, Croatia
Most of the people who make it to Bisevo — usually on a half-day excursion from nearby Vis or one of the other islands off the Dalmatian Coast — are there to visit the Blue Cave.
If you are after the rare bit of European sand that is without umbrellas, though, head for Porat Beach, in a sandy cove tucked among limestone cliffs on the west side of the island.
Playa Medina, Venezuela
This palm-fringed crescent of sand on the isolated Paria Peninsula is so pretty that Club Med once planned to build its first hotel in South America here.
What remains untouched is about as perfect a beach for chilling out as you could find anywhere. The water is clear and calm, the sand is gold, and not one of the few people you meet will be trying to interest you in a time-share.
Poles Bay, Kea, Greece
The island of Kea, with terraced hillsides and ancient, stone-paved walking paths, is a day trip from Athens. But because it is not on the main ferry routes, only a few foreigners and not that many more Greeks find their way to it.
Of those who do, just a handful discover the beach at Poles Bay on the southeast coast.
Courtesy: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ & http://www.thetravelerszone.com
This post was written by bullets on April 19, 2008
