Episode 188 is welcoming summer with 10 of the top beaches in the US! From the east coast to the west coast we’re sharing some of the best beaches we’ve been to for sunbathing, people-watching, swimming in the waves, and enjoying summer cocktails on the boardwalk. Some of these are the prettiest beaches in the US and others on this list have a lively vibe, all of them are amazing and should be added to your list!
Our top 10 beaches in America for 2023
- Coronado Beach, CA
- Ocean City, MD
- Sand Harbor Beach, Tahoe, CA
- Rialto Beach, WA
- Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, CA
- South Swim Beach, Dry Tortugas, FL
- Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA
- Makena Beach, Maui, HI
- Maho Beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands
- Hollywood Beach, Ft Lauderdale, FL
Beaches in the US – Episodes Transcript
2 (58s):
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast. Today we’re taking a beach vacation and sharing some of the best Beaches America has to offer.
1 (1m 8s):
Summer is right around the corner. And who doesn’t love a good beach day? Everyone except for Jamal.
3 (1m 13s):
Well, that’s not necessarily true. I like the beach. I just need to be in the right beach location.
1 (1m 19s):
But soaking your feet in the warm Sand, taking in the sound of the waves, crashing onto the beach, breathing in that salty Ocean air. I mean it’s amazing. I just can’t wait to dive into this list of Beaches and they’re all within the west and I am so excited to go over this with the squats. In
3 (1m 36s):
This episode, we’re gonna take you from coast to coast, the Pacific to the Atlantic, even a couple Island Beach locations also. And we’re gonna throw in a curve ball and we’re gonna hit you with a lakefront beach location just as well. So curve ball coming up for you guys on that one. It is a beach nonetheless. That is for sure. So let’s let this episode inspire all of us to get ready for an amazing upcoming summer in the sun and in the water at some of these amazing American beach locations.
2 (2m 4s):
Fabulous. Let’s get started with the tips. We always start with the tip. First tip, you’re going to a beach pack, sunscreen, pack a hat, pack coverups. I always forget a hat when I go to the beach. Yeah. When I’m laying by the pool and I remember it at the exact moment. I’m laying down in the sun is beating on my eyes.
3 (2m 22s):
It’s like that nice little refresher like I fucked up. I should have brought a hat. Yep. So definitely do bring the hat. You know, my go-to on that situation is if I’m laying on the Sand on a towel, I’ll take the head of the towel and kind of like fold it over like half of my face right there. Kind of give a nice little natural cover. So that’s a little tip for anybody there if you mess up on the hat to do that and use your towel. Another really good tip is bring plenty of water, drinks and snacks. Hey. And in your collapsible cooler, right? We
2 (2m 51s):
Love the collapsible cooler.
1 (2m 53s):
Yes, we’ve brought it to the beach many a time. It’s been on many road trips. It’s a great addition to your beach gear for
2 (3m 0s):
Sure. Also, pack a towel, not just a beach towel, but a Turkish towel. We all have one. It’s on our must-have travel gear list on our Amazon storefront. We’ll link it. I love them because you can fold them up so tiny, but they expand very large and they dry really quick. They’re cute
1 (3m 20s):
And Sand doesn’t stick to them like normal beach towels as well.
2 (3m 22s):
They’re amazing.
3 (3m 24s):
I really do like those. You know, when we first started talking about them, I was like, it’s just a towel. What are you talking about? Then you get it and then you realize they’re like, oh shit. Like it dries quick. It’s very thin so that it packs well and it’s Sand wicking, which is absolutely amazing. I hate a wet towel filled with Sand and then you need to use it on yourself. Solid, solid, having that Turkish towel. Another one ring your beach chairs. Beach chairs are great. You want to sit, you want a lounge, you wanna be comfortable, bring a beach chair.
2 (3m 49s):
There’s a lot of watering hole type things out here in Austin and every time we go we lay out our Turkish towel and our tapestry and I think, damn, I need a beach chair.
1 (3m 59s):
Yeah,
2 (3m 59s):
It’s like Rocky.
1 (4m 0s):
We got these ones at Costco and they’re Tommy Bahama and they have like a little insulated pack on the back of it. There’s a spot to hang your towel on the back of it as well. And they’re just really comfortable. We actually got to try them out When we were in the US, Virgin Islands, our Airbnb host had some and we’re like, we want these exact same ones. So we, we got some, they’re great. But another tip that we have for you is if you’re bringing alcohol to the beach, a lot of the times alcohol is not allowed on the beach, so make sure you pour it into another container. Kim and I have actually seen a guy get arrested because he was drunk on the beach and then some of the people that were watching this scenario were asking questions.
1 (4m 43s):
The police officer didn’t like that and he was asking them like, do you have alcohol in your cooler? It was like making the, they
2 (4m 49s):
Had an open can in their hands. Yeah, he was about to get them too
1 (4m 53s):
Y I know. And then like made them pour everything out. So make sure you put it in your Yeti, your Tumblr, whatever you want, but don’t bring it out in its natural form. Yeah,
3 (5m 4s):
If you’re gonna do it, do it on the down low. That’s the best way to actually do it and enjoy your time. Sit and relax and when you’re finding your spot in the Sand, avoid seaweed. It might seem tempting to get close to the water, but a lot of times, again, depending on the beach where you’re at, that seaweed is gonna wash a shore. You want to stay away from it because a lot of times you have the bugs flies and other things that are all around there and they will end up bugging you and annoying your beach experience and making it not the best that it can be.
2 (5m 32s):
Alright, diving right in. The first beach we wanna talk about is Coronado Beach in the San Diego area.
1 (5m 38s):
It’s definitely the best beach in the us. I’m just gonna go out and say it really. Whoa.
3 (5m 42s):
Rolling out on a limb right there Brit, and say, well
1 (5m 45s):
You know, it holds a lot of sentimental value Jamal and I got married at this beach, so you know, that’s why I say it. But it’s located in Coronado. Coronado is an island right off the coast of San Diego. It’s connected by a bridge. It’s a beautiful white Sand beach, it’s a long beach as well, and actually pretty wide. It’s like a mile and a half long. And along the Ocean front there are tons of beautiful mansions lining Ocean Boulevard. I’d love to have one of those homes. Oh my god. Yeah. And there’s Hotel Delve Coronado that’s also on this beach, which has bars and outdoor dining and in the winter they even have an ice skating rink set up.
3 (6m 22s):
I mean the hotel Dell has a storied history, not even just in San Diego, I mean really in the US I think it is still the largest standing structure, like completely made outta wood. Like in the United States it’s a Victorian Aris style hotel, beachfront hotel. So it just is this beautiful icon of San Diego and even the west coast of the United States, I dare say. Really?
2 (6m 47s):
Yeah, a lot of celebrities and certain famous people throughout history have stayed there.
3 (6m 50s):
Oh yeah, I forgot how many presidents it goes back. But I pretty much think every president since the 1950s and US president has actually stayed at the Hotel del Coronado when they come to San Diego for whatever reason on official purpose, even some royalty from the UK royal family have stayed out there. Celebrities. They filmed a Maryland Monroe movie there. I think some like it hot, I don’t remember which one, but movies are filmed there, so very iconic. But beyond the Hotel Dell itself, the beach is amazing, right? It’s that southern California water. So it is gonna be a little bit cold, but it’s a nice tranquil beach. It’s not a party beach really scenic. You can just really enjoy taking a stroll or putting your tower beach chair out and enjoying a beach day at the hotel Dell.
1 (7m 36s):
It’s such a big beach. There’s such a lot of room to spread out and like enjoy the area. You don’t feel like you’re on top of each other at some of the other Beaches. Yeah,
2 (7m 44s):
I’ve walked along this beach and found tons of
1 (7m 47s):
Sand dollars. Yeah, it’s a great place to go see dollar hunting.
3 (7m 51s):
So number two on our list, we’re gonna take you from the West coast on the Pacific and we’re gonna take you all the way East Coast Atlantic. We’re gonna go to Ocean City, Maryland now Ocean City if you’ve ever been there. Some might say it’s a tourist trap in terms of the the boardwalk that they have in food and you know, other types of attractions and maybe that’s the case, but it still is a fun city to go to. But we’re talking about Beaches. So with that ambiance in tote, this beach, I couldn’t even believe how long the beach was. It stretched literally for miles and not only was it a nice long beach, it actually had a good bit of length from the boardwalk all the way to the beach.
3 (8m 31s):
Like I would wager to say almost another like 800 to a thousand feet of just like Sand Sand from the boardwalk to the beach, let alone miles long of beach so you can find and post up in a spot on any hot summer day and really enjoy it. And like I said, some people may not like the flare that Ocean City itself brings in terms of its touristy of attractions, but I think it added to the ambiance of making this a unique east coast, beach town and city. And I would put Ocean City Maryland on this list as we have Great America Beach.
1 (9m 2s):
Yeah, there’s a lot of restaurant shops, hotels along the water, not the water but like the beach cuz there’s so much Sand and it has boardwalk. There’s boardwalk food. USA today rated it as one of the best boardwalk for food and even National Geographic put it on their top 10 list of Best Beach boardwalk in the US It’s very well known. There are theme park rights and attractions. So there’s a lot to do. Is it a tourist trap? To some extent, yeah, but there’s a lot going on so whether you’re on a date, whether you’re with your family, whether you just wanna go a place and try some new fried food because there’s not a fair round, this is a good place to do it sometime
2 (9m 39s):
Touristy things are good when you’re a tourist.
3 (9m 43s):
Exactly, exactly. And I wanna reiterate, the boardwalk itself is maybe the most touristy thing about it, but the beach itself is nice. So if we’re saying this, don’t, please don’t let it discourage you. We’re talking really best Beaches and with that ambiance it may not be your thing, but the beach itself pride.
1 (10m 2s):
So number three on our list is the lake beach that Jamal teased upon and it’s Sand Harbor Beach in Lake Tahoe. It’s specifically on the Nevada side. This is where that Sand Harbor Beach is and state park is. And it’s located along the largest alpine lake in North America, which again is Lake Tahoe. It has the most crystal clear water and these really large boulders inside the water. And these rock formations on Instagram and Social Media, it’s often looked at because they offer the glass bottom or clear bottom kayaks there where you can see like the really clear water where the rock formations, just making it really scenic so you can go swimming there, kayaking, paddle boarding.
1 (10m 47s):
I wouldn’t really recommend swimming because Lake Tahoe is always really, really cool.
2 (10m 52s):
I was just gonna say, I think this might be the coldest beach on our list.
3 (10m 56s):
It may very well be, unless we’re talking Atlantic in the winter or something, you know up there in Ocean, City Maryland. But yeah, I mean Lake Tahoe, it’s an alpine lake. Well how do you think it gets fed from that snow melt that comes from the Sierra Nevada mountains? But rest assured, even during summer it doesn’t get excessively hot. Maybe there’s the random heat wave that’ll hit that area, but for the most part, summer’s really gonna be the only time that you’re gonna get in the water. But even just going out to the beach, setting up a chair, enjoying just the different scenery of a beach itself with that crystal clear water and even going out and doing the kayak or paddle boarding so that you could actually see those boulders below.
3 (11m 37s):
Lake Tahoe was known in general for being a very clear lake. This area here on Sand Harbor Beach is known to have some of the clearest waters close to shore. So you really get to see the lake bottom where it’s at with those big boulders and it’s really cool.
2 (11m 52s):
I was in Tahoe once for 4th of July and we went to this beach and I did Swim in it and yeah it’s pretty cold but it’s not unbearable. You definitely can Swim and I remember there was somebody there from New England who was like, this isn’t cold.
1 (12m 6s):
Yeah, I’m sure
3 (12m 7s):
It’s all relative, right? Yeah, exactly. All relative. There’s
1 (12m 10s):
Also a little boardwalk that you can walk on to check out the different areas of this park because it is state park and Jamal and I did that. We walked to like a more remote area, got down into this really cool Bulger area, had the area to ourselves for a little while, we’re able to look at, look across the lake. That was really cool. So there’s more than just the beach there. There’s little nature trails and things to
2 (12m 32s):
Explore. Jamal, did you get in the water here?
3 (12m 34s):
I did not. So ironically when we had gone most recently it was in June, which you would think is kind of a good time start of summer and it was. But ironically at that time it was an overcast day and a little bit of rain and drizzle actually did come in in Lake Tahoe for us. So we didn’t go there to actually do swimming cuz we actually did hikes that day around Lake Tahoe came to the beach to just kind of see it cuz it’s been a while and really enjoy it. But we didn’t lounge this last time that we were there, but I did not get in the water. You know me with cold water, I’m not getting in. This is a more, that’s a trick question. This is more a standup paddleboard kayak type situation for good old Jamal.
3 (13m 16s):
And do keep in mind, like we said, it’s a state park, so they do charge an entrance fee. It’s $15 for out-of-state vehicles. If you have a Nevada plate or a Nevada resident, then it’s going to be $10. So I guess if you rent a car in Nevada and they don’t look at your driver’s license and see the plate, you may be in luck.
2 (13m 32s):
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2 (14m 38s):
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3 (14m 44s):
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1 (15m 6s):
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2 (15m 19s):
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3 (15m 37s):
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2 (15m 44s):
Beach number four, going up to Rialto Beach in Washington state. Pacific northwest, it’s also pretty cold up there so you might not get in the water, but this beach was super cool, rugged, that really Pacific northwest coastal rugged beach line that you think about. Well
1 (16m 2s):
What’s really cool is the forest really comes right up to almost the beach area. So you see the coastal forest and it meets the beachfront and then in the water you have those rock formations and sea stacks protruding from the Pacific. So super scenic. But also there was a day that we went and it was so windy,
2 (16m 19s):
It was very windy. It literally knocked Leah down while she was just standing there.
3 (16m 24s):
Oh yeah. Well what was unique like you said is even, and again this isn’t a beach Rialto Beach where you’re gonna really want to, oh I’m laying out and swimming. It’s a beautiful beach for you to enjoy the different type of beach environments that there are here in the United States. It’s
2 (16m 38s):
People were surfing out there,
3 (16m 39s):
They were. But in terms of like, oh I’m just swimming to Swim, it would be hard because even the beach is rocky. I don’t think there was really Sand, it was the bigger rocks that they actually have. So again, that Pacific northwest environment, but like you were saying Britney, how the forest just really comes up to the Ocean itself. So there is some down trees there and some logs that are coming in on the surf and creating this whole You driftwood. You driftwood. Yeah, this whole unique environment. I don’t think we mentioned this but this is located inside Olympic National Park, like this beach is inside a national park so it’s really enjoyable. Again, not the best in terms of, I’m actually having a beach day here, but what are the best Beaches in America in terms of giving you true scenic beauty of different styles of Beaches?
1 (17m 28s):
Number five on our list is Pfeiffer Beach, which is located in California on the Big Sur coast Jamal. And I did this of January, 2022. We went down and stayed in Big Sur, did a Big Sur road trip and we definitely hit up the speech. To get to it, you have to drive down a very long narrow one lane road and then you eventually hit a pay station so you do have to pay to park. But on the beach they have an iconic rock formation called Keyhole Arch and it’s a rock formation where there is a perfect arch carved out of the middle of it and you can see the waves coming and crashing through it. And it’s really popular in the winter months, especially at sunset because there’s a certain few months of the year where the angle of the sunset goes perfectly through the keyhole arch and it makes it for a really good picture.
1 (18m 20s):
And so tons of photographers flock to this beach and this area. Yeah,
3 (18m 24s):
I really liked Pfeiffer Beach. It’s again along the iconic California coast that is Big Sur. How many times have you guys heard us talking about Big Sur? Big Sur is beautiful, it’s iconic and it really is. And if you’re gonna stop at any beach along the way, Pfeiffer Beach really should be it. One for the very reasons that Britney had just mentioned. But on top of that, that central California coast that is Big Sur is known for, it’s like jagged sea cliffs. And so there really isn’t a lot of Beaches, it’s just cliff and then the Ocean itself. But here is an area where you really have true Sand Beaches, then you have some of the rock formations out in the water itself. We even had our lunch and a little picnic out there lounged a little bit.
3 (19m 6s):
So this is a very awesome beach in the center of California on that iconic Big Sur stretch.
1 (19m 11s):
Some of them Sand. As you walk along the B beach you might see a purple hue and there’s actually manganese garnet deposits running down from the hills and so that mineral is turning the Sand slightly purple. That’s cool. Yeah, it’s really pretty. I
2 (19m 26s):
Love seeing Beaches or mountains or anything in nature that naturally has turned like a rainbow color. I love
1 (19m 33s):
It. You know I haven’t been to a pink Sand beach but I would love to visit Aruba. Yeah, yes.
2 (19m 39s):
One of
1 (19m 40s):
Those peaks and Beaches,
3 (19m 41s):
Well we’ll have to put it on the list, but this one is domestic American US maybe international. When we go over there, that one will be on the list.
2 (19m 50s):
I realize in our list we do have a lot of west coast and we do have a little bit on the east coast too, but we haven’t been to a lot of east coast. So I wanna caveat that like North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, maybe they have nice speeches, maybe not so represented in this list. So as we explore more on that side of the country, maybe we’ll do another episode here.
3 (20m 13s):
Yeah and I’m actually kind of glad that you mentioned that. Good caveat to throw out two our squats. However the next beach that we are actually going to list is going to be in Florida, but this is going to ban in Dry Tortugas National Park, which is not on mainland Florida. It’s an island out in the Gulf of Mexico slash Caribbean sea. So even though we’ve all been to the Beaches in Miami or we all felt that it’s such a cliche thing to put they are nice Beaches, this and that, but we want to give some sort of underrepresented Beaches, right? Cause everyone knows Miami Beach and the Daytona Beach for that matter in those areas. So Dry Tortugas in the National Park.
3 (20m 54s):
So it’s located 70 miles off the coast of Florida. Now if you don’t know what Dry Tortugas is, basically it’s an old military fort that they have there. It’s a Brickstone building. They had civil war prisoners that were actually out there and a lot of other things. But truly it does protect natural wildlife that is out there in terms of like coral reefs. It’s called Dry Tortugas. So there are turtles out there. But we had an amazing beach and snorkel spot at South Swim Beach in Dry Tortugas National
1 (21m 25s):
Park. Yeah, just imagine it has crystal blue waters, you have the swaying palm trees, the soft powdery Sand. It’s truly like an island paradise. It’s a gray area for snorkeling. The only caveat though is you have to get to Dry Tortugas and that is a mission in itself, but it’s really beautiful and I do highly recommend this beach
3 (21m 46s):
And this area where we were at was actually really cool because it has the natural coral reefs but also in this area we were of the many little Islands that they have at Dry Tortugas, we were at the one that has the old prison and military fort. So they actually have old docking stations that were still there. So you can see the old wooden pylons that are now life to all the sea creatures and the coral that’s growing on that versus the natural coral coming from the Sand, the rock. So it created this whole unique environment. And again, beyond just the snorkeling, there really is a nice pristine little beach right there that you can enjoy and talk about major seclusion. It’s hard to get out there and by that you know not a lot of people go, you either have to have a seat plane or there’s only so many charters that go out a day.
3 (22m 31s):
So you have this in great seclusion to yourself. Ah,
2 (22m 34s):
Nothing is better than a beach to yourself. That’s nice. I wanna get out there. So how did you guys get out when you went there?
1 (22m 41s):
So we took a big ferry and so what was it called?
3 (22m 45s):
It was called like Yankee Doodle or something like that. Something Yankee. I know Yankee was in it.
1 (22m 50s):
Yeah. And so they, it was like an experience to get out there. I wanna say it took quite a while. It took a few hours to get from Florida and you have to leave outta the key west. So not only are you in Florida but you have to drive all
2 (23m 2s):
The way down to Key West. That’s a long drive.
1 (23m 5s):
Yeah. So then from Key West you get on the ferry and you go there, you have breakfast on the boat, then they provided, provided they dock and then you can come back onto the boat for lunch
3 (23m 16s):
Because there’s no food or anything on this national park. I mean you’re literally out there yourself if you have your own boat. And the only thing on that island, at least the one that we were on, is the old brick prison military fort that they have. So they don’t even have food or service station. So whatever. What’s Fort Jefferson?
1 (23m 33s):
Something
3 (23m 33s):
Like that. They really
2 (23m 34s):
Have to feed you. Exactly. I just love experiences where they feed you or they give you drinks. It just makes it so much better.
3 (23m 41s):
Yeah. So we gotta enjoy the fort, gotta enjoy the Beaches and snorkel, come back on the boat, have lunch. Then they took us back. So all in all it was about an hour and a half to two hours each way from Key West on that ferry that they took out. Oh wow.
1 (23m 56s):
And so there’s pretty much the only people there are the people that you arrive with on the boat. Other than that, there’s no one else there.
2 (24m 2s):
That’s cool.
3 (24m 3s):
We did see one sea plane come in though.
1 (24m 5s):
Yeah, that’s true. So like a sea plane with probably four passengers back.
2 (24m 9s):
That would be another cool experience. A sea plane like landing on water, I’d be kinda skinny. Yeah, this is our small too. Well
3 (24m 17s):
When we go to Alaska we’ll probably have to end up doing that.
2 (24m 20s):
I took a very small plane in Alaska, I think it maybe fit 12. Oh wow. From the Anchorage airport to the Kenai airport.
3 (24m 28s):
We had a few small planes on our Uganda trip.
2 (24m 30s):
They’re a little sketchy,
3 (24m 32s):
They’re scary if you think about them. Absolutely. But why don’t we get into number seven on our list.
2 (24m 38s):
I hear you pausing cuz you know this is my beach. Yeah, I
3 (24m 41s):
Was waiting, I was waiting for you to take it. This is your old stopping ground
2 (24m 44s):
Mission Beach and Pacific Beach in San Diego we list them both because they’re very close together and they touch and you really can’t tell like where’s one star in the other and they’re just along the same boardwalk. And this is just a great, great southern California beach. Now if you think about Venice, which a lot of people know in LA it’s got a huge boardwalk, big beach, tons of people, vendors, all of that. And if you take it down a couple notches you, it gives you kind of an idea of what to expect in pb. There’s still a lot of bars, restaurants, people, boardwalk, tons of things going on selling but it’s not as crazy.
1 (25m 23s):
It’s definitely a good beach for people watching that’s for sure.
3 (25m 26s):
It’s a good beach for people watching. And I would also say it’s a good beach for families. It’s a good beach for partiers. It’s a good mix of everything without having to get too wild or too dirty. I mean realistically on the Mission Beach portion you have the famous Belmont Park, which is the seaside amusement park. You have the classic wooden roller coaster, just lining beachfront right there. Also other sorts of amusements and entertainments that you have there. Then working your way up to Pacific Beach, you’ve mentioned Boardwalk, it’s not like a true boardwalk of wood but it’s actually paved. So there’s a lot of bikers, roller bladers and that’s all on the beach promenade. And guess what? There’s shops and houses along the way so you wanna stop and have a cocktail with an Ocean view as you’re go for beach, one beach to the next.
3 (26m 9s):
Or if you wanna just lounge on lounge on the beach. So I feel like Mission Beach pb, it’s a twofer but it really is a classic southern California beach that has all that you need with excitement but not being too crazy either.
2 (26m 23s):
It’s a pretty long stretch. If you were to go from like the tip of PB all the way to the end of Mission Beach, it’s a few miles so you could really spend a lot of time out here. It’s great for laying out if you wanna just sunbathe, it’s good for swimming. I think July and August the water is warm enough where you could get in even you Jamal. Oh
3 (26m 41s):
Even me. And it’s a good surfing beach too. Not that surf living there, but it is a very popular surfing beach.
1 (26m 47s):
Fun fact. I actually went to surf camp for a week on Mission Beach when I
2 (26m 51s):
Did you get up on the board? Yes. And then you just didn’t continue with our passion.
1 (26m 57s):
My mom, like one year sway brother and I for surf camp one week during the summer when we were coming to stay down with my sister. So every day we would like have little warmups on the beach where we had to run and do like little exercises and then we like practiced getting up, trying to get up on the board on the Sand and then they were trying to show us that in the water. I definitely got up a few times, my brother was a lot better at it than me. But yeah, fun fact, I learned to surf on Mission Beach long time
2 (27m 25s):
Ago. Wow.
3 (27m 26s):
Well if you can’t still surf, I wouldn’t say you learned to surf. You attempted to surf. You
2 (27m 30s):
Can learn something and forget it.
1 (27m 33s):
I’m,
2 (27m 33s):
It’s not like riding a bike.
1 (27m 36s):
And you know Jamal you mentioned you can see people rollerblading here and I remember like even when I was young there was a guy and he’s still there, slowmo Slowmo, he roller blades all over the Mission Beach area.
2 (27m 50s):
He’s pretty much out there every single day and he rolls very slow literally. And if you’ve seen videos or pictures, it is like that in real life.
3 (28m 0s):
He’s almost to Mission Beach and pv what Bushman was to San Francisco. Rest in peace Bushman. That was national news when he actually had passed away. And if you don’t know who Slowmo or Bushman is, just go ahead and Google it. But nonetheless, number seven, coming in hot on this list with a twofer Mission Beach and PB probably other than Coronado favorite Beaches in San Diego. Yeah,
2 (28m 21s):
I know we have two kind of San Diego area ones on here but
3 (28m 23s):
They’re such great Beaches
2 (28m 24s):
And we live there for so long, you know. But I used to live in PB and was like two blocks away from the Ocean so I would come out here all the time and I loved being able to just walk down the street, lay out for even 30 minutes and walk back. Ugh, I missed that.
3 (28m 41s):
Or watch the sunset.
2 (28m 43s):
The sunset.
3 (28m 44s):
Beautiful West coast, sunset, sunset
2 (28m 46s):
Will stop a population of humans in their tracks like a sunset
3 (28m 50s):
And you can see them all stopped watching it on the Pacific front right here,
2 (28m 54s):
Cars pulled over. It’s a really, really great place. I think everyone should experience it.
3 (28m 59s):
Moving on number eight on our list is going to be Makena Beach all the way. Taking you island life Hawaii
1 (29m 5s):
On your favorite island. Jamal in Maui.
3 (29m 8s):
Maui. Is that a hint of sarcasm on my favorite Hawaiian island? Did
2 (29m 11s):
You like this island or this beach?
3 (29m 14s):
I did like this beach actually. I really did. Like if there was one highlight that was Maui, it may have been this, actually take that back. There was two highlights that was Maui, this was number two. Number one was the national park, which is Holly Aala National Park, top of the volcano. It’s red, it looks like you’re on Mars. You can see 360 around the entire island. So that was pretty cool. But Makena is coming in hot at number two. And I would say that this was my second favorite experience and I would put this beach on this list as we have, cuz it was a really cool beach. You see those big pipeline waves coming in that you see as like stereotypical Hawaii. They were coming in hot here. Like I was almost like, oh fuck, I don’t know if I wanna get in this water. Like these are like 10, 15 foot waves.
3 (29m 56s):
They’re were surfers. Absolutely surf.
1 (29m 59s):
Yeah, this is one of Maui’s signature Beaches. This is a long beach as well. It’s like two thirds of a mile long and it goes into different beach areas but it’s one of the largest undeveloped Beaches in Maui. It’s really calm and relaxing like on the Sand front. But we were trying to figure out where we were gonna lay in the Sand and we thought we had a good spot until we saw all of the waves crashing in and they were coming up really high cuz the swells were so big.
3 (30m 27s):
I, I mean honestly we were 50 feet back from literally where the waves were crashing. But when some of the big waves crashed and came in, the people who were sitting in front of us by like five feet, the waves came in and soaked their towels and everything and just barely missed us. And they’re like, that’s 50 feet back. Like it was coming in hot. Like really, really cool.
1 (30m 47s):
Yeah, some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen. We were trying to take pictures but like pictures never do. Yeah. Need your Justin.
2 (30m 54s):
Why is that?
3 (30m 55s):
Even the videos didn’t do it justice unless you have like a high def camera or video camera that professional photographers have that are filming for National Geographic or Planet Earth. I mean you just can’t capture it. It was like we were blown away by the waves. Makena Beach but beyond the wave, the great beautiful beach Also, you know
2 (31m 14s):
What’s funny about Beaches is the moment when you get down into the Sand and you’re trying to find your spot and you’re just moving around and you’re like needy over there and you get there and maybe you put down or you find a little better spot and it’s like, well you find the one you’re like this is the one,
3 (31m 30s):
This is the spot. It’s like it calls to you, does
2 (31m 33s):
It? Yeah it it’s the same feeling every single time.
1 (31m 37s):
I know what you mean. And then it you always have that wonder like how close should I be to other people? Where’s a good spot to go to?
2 (31m 43s):
Yeah. I hate when somebody comes and they put their stuff like right in right of
1 (31m 47s):
View. Yeah.
3 (31m 50s):
Yes. Makena Beach is one of two things that saved the Maui trip from being a major disappointment.
2 (31m 55s):
Well it must be a good beach then.
1 (31m 57s):
Well we’re gonna move on to a beach that I know you like Jamal. Oh
3 (32m 0s):
I didn’t like I loved
1 (32m 2s):
It’s number nine on our list. It’s Maho Beach in the US Virgin Island. It’s located on the island of St. John and it’s a gorgeous white Sand beach and it’s famous for the sea turtles. We’ve talked about it in several episodes, but there is a seagrass bed right near the shore and so you can pop in the water even from the shore, you can see the turtles, pop their little heads up for air and then go back down. We got to just like snorkel and follow them around for a bit. We even saw one chomp down on jellyfish eat its lunch. But that was really cool.
2 (32m 36s):
Was it on the beach when it was
3 (32m 38s):
Chomping? No, no, no. In the water. Like in the water. We were swimming with it and then jellyfish rules up and then it’s like, oh here’s a jellyfish. Let me just wow eat you a little bit here.
1 (32m 47s):
And the sea turtles, they have a little bit of, I don’t know, like algae on their shell almost. And so they have these sharks that follow the, these baby sharks that follow them around. They attract small fish and so they like wait to eat some of the stuff near the sea turtle. So they have like friends.
3 (33m 6s):
I don’t think you mentioned it, you said it was on St. John but Maho Beach is within the National Park. Virgin Islands National Park. So it’s a nice protected area. Really beautiful beach and I absolutely enjoyed it out here at Ma.
1 (33m 21s):
Yeah, the beach is long so there’s a lot of space to spread out. But in terms of like how much Sand there is from the shore to the road is actually really short. There’s not a lot of, it’s
3 (33m 32s):
Like 10 or 15 feet wasn’t it? It was a
1 (33m 34s):
Little bit more like probably like 15 to 25.
2 (33m 38s):
And would it be made smaller by the tide coming in?
3 (33m 42s):
Potentially, yeah, but we went a couple times to this cuz we spent a week in the Virgin Islands and we went to this beach a couple times and I don’t think it really loses too much because of the tide, but it’s one of those things from like the, the parking lot area. It’s such a little narrow strip of Sand but it’s a nice long one so it creates an even more unique environment and you’ll for sure see, see turtles out here. You can go and Swim try to find it or what we actually did a couple times as you just sit there in our chairs and you can see the turtles popping up for air and you’ll see their head come out and it’s like, oh there’s a turtle, let’s go fucking Swim to it. And you know exactly where to go. You start following this one for a while, it’ll meet up with another one, then they’ll maybe Swim together or separate, then you follow the other one.
3 (34m 27s):
So you can literally spin the whole day just turtle watching here at Maho Beach.
1 (34m 31s):
We spent a lot of time in turtle watching that’s for sure. And what’s great about this beach is it’s a family friendly beach. The water’s very calm, it’s, and it’s not super crowded and there are a few small shady areas as well. But this was I think one of my favorite Beaches to visit in the Virgin Islands and just kind of in general below Coronado though of course
2 (34m 53s):
Our 10th and final beach on our list is Hollywood Beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. One more east coast beach for you. There you go. We loved this beach. It was gorgeous. White Sand, powdery clear. No seaweed. The waves were mild so it’s easy to Swim. The water is warm. I love this beach and I, we kind of stumbled upon it cuz we were just looking for somewhere to eat our public sandwiches.
3 (35m 18s):
Oh yeah. I didn’t work our way to the Fort Lauderdale airport cuz we were flying out of there. Not the Miami WA, but I
2 (35m 24s):
Wish we had more time to just lounge and relax and Swim. I could have literally just spent a weekend in this area and well
3 (35m 30s):
It’s one of the things I know I said earlier in this episode, you know like Miami Beach, we all know it, it’s crowded, it’s beautiful, right? But cliche in the sense of like it’s just gonna be thrown out. Same with Daytona, it’s known for spring break and partying, Hollywood maybe to like locals, but even tourists coming like I feel like a lot of people don’t think, yeah, let’s go to Hollywood Beach in Fort Lauderdale. It’s not one of those big name wands, but it’s sitting there right between those locations and it’s a lot more mellow, beautiful like beachfront properties and promenades that you can stroll getting food, drinks, et cetera.
1 (36m 4s):
It was really long. Yeah, it was like two and a half miles long a beach
3 (36m 7s):
There. And I love when they’re paved and you could bike or roller blade and do all that type of stuff along the beach. Not on the street, but they actually have that area that acts as the boardwalk that’s paved with concrete. It’s like one of my favorite things. We
2 (36m 20s):
Couldn’t necessarily find any like shower station,
1 (36m 23s):
Right?
2 (36m 25s):
So we did have to go into some random yards and find a hose to reach our feet off. There was
1 (36m 30s):
Like, was it an apartment building? I think it was, yeah, it was like a small apartment building they had outside of it, a hose and Kim and I are like, well this is gonna have to do. So you just like turned on the, the water spigot and rinsed our feet. But yeah, it was, it was worth the stop.
2 (36m 47s):
Really good beach.
3 (36m 48s):
Definitely worth the stop travel and leisure ranked it one of America’s best beach boardwalk. Right? So it has that type of notoriety. And I’m not gonna sit here and say it wasn’t popular, but going back to what I said of like the other Florida Beaches we talked about, I feel like this one to an extent is a hidden gem of sorts and probably not popular for tourists.
2 (37m 7s):
All right, here we go. Questions of the week. And we actually have a few good questions this week. First one coming in, is the Stingray shuffle a real thing?
1 (37m 23s):
I don’t even know what it is.
2 (37m 25s):
Have you heard of it Jamal?
3 (37m 26s):
I think I have, but I’m not too sure. Is it the way that you enter water to make sure that you don’t step on a like stingray or get stung isn’t something to that effect? Yes.
2 (37m 36s):
Enter or exit the water. Wait, if you’re in the beach, you’re walking out to the Ocean. Some Beaches are known to have stingrays, in fact some in San Diego. And so instead of picking up your feet and walking like normal, you just drag it along the Sand so you don’t accidentally step on one and get stung and you know, oh my god,
3 (37m 54s):
Die. So you kind of like kick it in the bottom really? If you’re dragging across, you
2 (37m 57s):
Kind of stub your toe on it. Yeah. Instead of stepping on it and getting stung. And I actually did use this once, you know you, you hear about Insignia, which is why I’m surprised you’ve never heard of it because people do throw it it out all the time. Go
1 (38m 11s):
To the beach cuz Jamal doesn’t like Beaches
3 (38m 13s):
Don’t just like Beaches the water in San. Diego is cold. It’s nice to, yeah, it’s nice to enjoy scenic wise. And that’s why we put those San Diego ones on the list. Am I getting in there swimming? No. Am I gonna go in these tropical locations like Hollywood, Beach, Maho, Beach, all that stuff. You bet your ass. I’m getting in the water
2 (38m 32s):
And there’s more to do at Beaches than just Swim. So I’m glad we acknowledged those Beaches. Yes, but the Stingray shuffle. So one time I was out at Black’s Beach in San Diego, like North San Diego and I went out to pee and I was out there probably up to like my knees in the water, like I guess starting to make my way back. And I look down the water’s clear and I see stingrays everywhere. Yes. Oh wow. Like all over. And it just clicked Stingray shuffle. And I just start shuffling my way back as fast as I can and I made it out unscathed. But that was the most scariest thing I’ve ever experienced.
1 (39m 15s):
I’d be scared too.
2 (39m 16s):
Yeah, totally. And then I hear people talk about it all the time. Seeing a bunch of stingrays at that specific beach. Really?
1 (39m 22s):
Okay, well good to know. Maybe I’ll drag Jamal to that beach. We can check out the stingrays. Do the sting. Stingray shuffle.
3 (39m 29s):
Well thank you for enlightening us. And our Squad is on the stingray shuffle cuz that is news to me. But I, I thought I knew what it was when you asked and I was kind of close on it. That point when
2 (39m 38s):
You need it, you need it. Exactly. Throw that away.
3 (39m 42s):
Our next question coming in from one of our listeners, they’re asking what’s an international beach that’s on the top of your list? Ooh, good question. Since we talked about America right now, but there are some international beach destinations that we definitely want to go to. We kind of said Aruba earlier for the pink one, but that wasn’t on top of my mind until we said that. But that’s kind of there
2 (40m 3s):
Also in that Caribbean area. There’s a pig beach. I would love to go to that one. Oh, that’s
3 (40m 7s):
The one in The Bahamas isn’t Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or they have the wild pigs. Yeah,
2 (40m 12s):
They’re so
3 (40m 12s):
Cute. I hear they’re aggressive. They’ll bite you and do all sorts of things.
2 (40m 16s):
I’m there to feed them. Like I’ve heard a lot of things don’t
1 (40m 18s):
Get bit like I heard people were feeding them alcohol, making them drunk. And I know that’s true. Causing problems with with that, which is really sad. But I would love this one with a little
3 (40m 29s):
Piggy. I think that would be fun too. I know I said that they, I know I said that they could be aggressive, but I would still do it. But Aruba, I’ve mentioned that cause we kind of brushed upon it, talking about it. But realistically for me, probably beach location, I would say Maldives or Sias. And if you don’t know what Als are, it’s basically like the African, it’s basically the African equivalent to the Maldives. So instead of the Indian Ocean, I’m being part of Asia, these Islands are part of Africa. And I would even say like scenic wise, maybe beauty rivals really what you see in the maldive, but the maldive are built up more for that type of tourism, overwater, bungalows, things of that nature.
3 (41m 11s):
But seashells high on the list for beach location.
2 (41m 15s):
I would love to go to Pasano in like the southern coastal area of Italy. So gorgeous. Yeah, it
1 (41m 20s):
Is really gorgeous area. I definitely want to
2 (41m 23s):
Go from a yacht even better. Very
3 (41m 25s):
Nice. Kim all about that yacht live.
1 (41m 27s):
There’s a place in the Philippines called Coone and it’s really scenic. It gives off like Thailand vibes, almost water, super clear, beautiful lot of those sea stacks with protruding from the water. But they have some of the best Beaches, snorkeling, and I def, we’ve been to the Philippines, but we didn’t make it here. And I wanna go back to the Philippines and go here. Well
3 (41m 51s):
The location that we were at AO Corona is actually really, really close to it. We probably could have gone, but we for whatever reason, time-wise didn’t, and again, we were traveling with Britney’s mom and family, so a lot of factors played into it. But I would definitely go back here too. That’s actually a really good one that you threw on there with Corona.
1 (42m 11s):
I thought so. Yeah,
3 (42m 11s):
That’s what, and you see a lot of the Instagramed, like Philippine locations, I wager to say 75% of them are where they’re going into those like crystal clear, like lagoons and beautiful Beaches.
1 (42m 22s):
Yes. But I do wanna visit a pink Sand beach. And I know we talked about that a little bit. I don’t know where there’s like some in The Bahamas, Bermuda, Indonesia, I think there’s like seven in the world, so I’m gonna find the best one and go there. We’ve been to white Sand, Beaches, black Sand Beaches greet, we’ve been to the Green Sand beach, so you know, gotta hit up all these colors. So pinks next I guess. All right, squats, squaddies,
2 (42m 48s):
While you have your summer plans ahead of you. Thank you so much for tuning into our episode this week. Keep the adventures going with us on YouTube Instagram TikTok at Travel Squad Podcast, and send us in your questions of the week.
3 (43m 0s):
If you found the information this episode to be useful or if you thought we were just playing funny, please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and tune it in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.
1 (43m 14s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode. We have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you.
3 (43m 19s):
Bye everybody. Bye.
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