Free Republic

Chincoteague, Va. — Over the years, residents and tourists in this picturesque resort town have been guided by five gentle words: “Relax, you’re on island time.” But these days, laid-back Chincoteague is on edge. In a new plan to deal with beach erosion and prepare for sea-level rise, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed changes that the mayor, the chamber of commerce and homeowners say would eventually drive away summer tourism and drive down the economy that depends on it. Some of those changes would involve closing the beach and its parking lot, then opening a beach with parking...

ERICA WERNER (AP) - Associated Press EDGARTOWN, Mass. President Barack Obama enjoyed some beach time Sunday with his family on Martha's Vineyard, though not before getting briefed on developments in Libya. Under sunny skies, Obama, wife Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha spent the morning on a private beach in Edgartown. The outing came on the third full day of Obama's 10-day summer vacation and was his first excursion with his full family in tow. First, though, Obama was briefed by national security aides on developments in Libya, where rebels advanced on Tripoli, threatening Moammar Gadhafi's hold on power. White...

A 16-year-old girl was killed and four people were wounded by gunfire Thursday after two groups clashed on a crowded Brooklyn boardwalk, cops and witnesses said. Two of the victims were bystanders, sources said. One man used an umbrella to crack another man in the head as the fight erupted on the Brighton Beach Boardwalk near Brighton Sixth St. about 5:20 p.m. Suddenly, a gunman squeezed off about eight rounds, first shooting in the air before aiming at the brawling crowd, cops and witnesses said. Onlookers scurried into nearby stores and restaurants, huddling in fear as the bullets flew near...

Five people were shot along the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Thursday afternoon during a mini heat wave that had packed the city’s beaches. Two of the victims are badly wounded, the authorities said. The shooting took place around 5:20 p.m. on the boardwalk near Brighton Sixth Street, the Fire Department said. The shooting unfolded on a day when a mini-heat wave and a school holiday sent hordes of people to Coney Island and Brighton Beaches, which were teeming with beachgoers — many of them teenagers — trying to escape temperatures approaching 100 degrees.

A teenage girl was killed and four men were wounded when two gunmen opened fire on the Brighton Beach boardwalk that was crowded with people seeking relief from Thursday's heat, police said. The shooting erupted at about 5:30 p.m. at Brighton 4th Street and Brighton 6th Street. Police spokesman Paul Browne says the shooting occurred during an altercation on the beach. He did not know if the people shot were intended targets or bystanders. He described the situation as "chaotic.'' Police believe it may be gang-related. The 16-year-old girl who died was identified as Tysha Jones. She was shot under...

Weeping, grief-stricken mourners today are pouring into the Harlem home of a vivacious 16-year-old girl gunned down in a senseless bloodbath at a Brooklyn beach where thousands of kids had gathered to enjoy a hot and sunny day off from school. High schooler Tysha Jones had been frolicking at Brighton Beach and joking and laughing with friends on the boardwalk when she was caught in a senseless hailstorm of bullets fired into the youthful crowd around 5:20 p.m. yesterday. She died later at Coney Island Hospital.

A whale that appeared to be dead washed ashore on Atlantic Beach, Long Island Wednesday. [snip] Typically, when dead mammals wash onto beaches, marine experts are brought in to assess the animal.

Rochester, N.Y. – A busy Memorial Day evening at the beach ended abruptly when fights broke out among at least 100 youth. Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies shut down Ontario Beach Park, prompting a traffic jam. Large crowds of youth ran south on Lake Ave.　 Sheriff’s and Rochester police arrested 13 people on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to drug and alcohol offenses. Erica Blake, 34, allegedly assaulted a deputy who responded to the scene. She’s been charged with second-degree assault. Police say the deputy was scratched on the face as he was pulled into the fracas.　 Witnesses said there were...

Beach in Portugal Click to see the original 10x larger.

One of the latest four sets of remains found on a Long Island beach linked to the Craigslist Ripper belongs to a baby or child - and not a grown woman, it was revealed today. The remains were found last week among four sets of bodies several miles away from where the bodies of four prostitutes were located in December. But the victim may not be related to the other New York murders as a young person’s body ‘would not fit a serial killer’s pattern’, according to law enforcement sources.

KANEOHE, Hawaii (AFP) – President Barack Obama went to the beach on the first day of the new year Saturday, three days before his return to Washington, journalists following him on his winter vacation said. Taking advantage of the balmy 79 degree Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius) weather, Obama took his family to a beach on the US Marines base at Kaneohe, near his rented seaside vacation house 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Honolulu. He celebrated the New Year in private Friday with his wife, their daughters and friends, taking part after dinner in sketches and musical numbers in the...

Difficult to remember now that only a few months ago.. we were doing this...

A family dispute at Beach Place on Wednesday afternoon ended with a man fatally shooting his sister and then turning the gun on himself as they stood next to their mother, police said. Juan Alicea Orozco, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, died shortly afterward at Broward General Medical Center. His sister, Jesnishia Alicea Orozco, 25, of Oakland Park, died that evening at the same hospital. Their mother was not injured, police said.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There is a mystery for marine biologists out on San Francisco's Ocean Beach. On Monday morning, a badly decomposed whale washed ashore, but it's probably not a species we are used to hearing about in these waters. A 50-foot long, badly decomposed whale washed-up on the beach between the base of Lawton and Kirkham streets.

LONG BEACH -- Home to the nation's largest port complex and near almost half of California's 21 oil refineries, Long Beach is a community crisscrossed with hidden, aging pipelines pumping hazardous and flammable materials in every direction, around the clock, 365 days a year. Buried beneath major thoroughfares and snaking under homes, schools and businesses, hundreds of miles of pipe transport petroleum, natural gas, chemicals and other materials to distribution centers and customers who rely on the fuels.

WEST PALM BEACH — Thousands of people are lined up this morning outside the Palm Beach County Convention Center - some arriving by the busload, hoping the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America will help them save their homes. They are here from throughout the country, including Detroit and California. "I'm here because I have to be," said P. Reed, who drove all night from South Carolina. "They put me in foreclosure last week."

Recently, the California “Crash Tax” has received national attention as Sacramento is one city on a growing list to potentially adopt a measure imposing fines on out-of-town drivers that wreck in their cities. The measure is supposed to increase revenue for local fire and rescue budgets that are strained from accidents resulting from careless visitors to popular tourist destinations.

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) ― Tens of thousands of dead fish have washed ashore along the Delaware Bay in southern New Jersey. State environmental and wildlife officials say it's not yet clear what killed the fish, which appear to exclusively small menhaden, also known as peanut bunker.

Virginia Beach examines driver's record, Facebook postings VIRGINIA BEACH The city trash truck driver who ran over and killed a homeless man sleeping on the beach in June had a series of driving violations that the city now says it’s examining. Between 2004 and 2008, Heather Boyd was ticketed at least eight times, according to Virginia Beach and Chesapeake court records. Boyd had at least four violations on her record when she was hired as a driver by the city in 2007. The city says it monitors the records of its drivers after they are hired and warns department heads...

Ambulances were called to La Jolla Wednesday afternoon after at least 30 people were stung by sting rays. The attacks happened at both La Jolla Shores and Blacks Beach up the coast to the north. Lifeguards said that at one point, they were treating 11 or 12 people at the same time. Paramedics were called in to assist with triage because of the abundance of victims. Source: 30 Stung By Stingrays; 2 Swimmers Hospitalized | NBC San Diego

What used to be just tar balls are now pools of oil on Pensacola Beach. (06/28/10)

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Teenager Jeffrey Aronson lucked into a thrilling opportunity at the U.S. Open: caddie for a practice round. Aronson, a 13-year-old junior golfer who just finished seventh grade back home in Los Angeles, was with his mother, Shelly, watching players on the putting green Sunday when amateur Russell Henley approached him to see if he would carry his bag for Monday's round at Pebble Beach. "It's a great way to kick off the summer," Aronson said. "I'll do whatever he needs, get range balls and carry his bags. It's perfect." That was a no-brainer for a kid...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Florida can undertake beach-widening projects without paying beachfront property owners who lose exclusive access to the water. The court, by an 8-0 vote, rejected a challenge by six homeowners in Florida's Panhandle who argued that a beach-widening project changed their oceanfront property into oceanview. Justice John Paul Stevens took no part in the case in which the court affirmed an earlier ruling. Private property advocates had hoped the court would rule for the first time that a court decision can amount to a taking of property. The court's four conservatives —...

Checking Florida beaches for signs of oil?

This video about a beach in Louisiana which was contaminated by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from over a month, sadly kills a bird in the process. A legacy of President Barak Obama.

On April 28, Palm Beach County’s school board voted unanimously to amend their Equal Opportunity Policy and its Policy Prohibiting Discrimination and Harassment to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.” Both policies are expected to be formally ratified at a public hearing within a few weeks. Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC) is a non-profit organization that seeks to end discrimination towards the LGBT community in the county, founded by Rand Hoch, a Civil Rights Attorney. Since 1991 PBCHRC has asked the county’s school board to prohibit discrimination against their gay employees. Hoch says in 1991 there...

A dead, fish-hooked, pregnant hammerhead shark washed ashore on Delray Beach, but its 35 pups could not be saved, despite efforts by researchers, police said. The 13-foot shark washed up around 3 p.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of North Ocean Boulevard and a large crowd gathered around it. A fish hook had to be removed from the shark's mouth. Police are not investigating because it is unclear where the hook came from and whether a crime was committed, police spokesman Jeff Messer said.

Siesta Beach and Village is a great place to spend Spring Break! Beautiful girls ride the Segway on the Siesta Beach, experts play volleyball on the whitest finest sands in the world and dancers wait for sunset and get ready to party into the night. OK, let's go!

ADELAIDE, Australia -- Two 8-year-old boys in a young lifeguards training program rescued a man who was struggling in the ocean off Australia's east coast. Jake Satherley told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that he and friend Spencer Jeams saw a middle-aged man having trouble Sunday off Northcliffe beach, in Queensland state. "We saw him put his hand up and saying, 'help, help,' so we went over to him and pulled him on our board," Satherley said Monday. The boys are part of the under-14 lifeguard training program at Northcliffe Life Saving Club. Club president David Shields said he'd never seen...

Vilano Beach begins North of St. Augustine Inlet and runs to South Ponte Vedra. There are large deposits of Coquina clam shells, the main ingredient in Coquina rock, the material used for the Spanish forts here. On the white sand areas there are black streaks of Titanium ore. Ponte Vedra was once home to a Titanium mining operation. The "red shell" has been a traditional place to test beach buggies and 4WD vehicles, it is easy to bury your wheels up to the hubs if you get off the hard pack.

Here is a video report on a Rhode Island 17 year-old who was rescued from an 6-8 foot hole he dug on the beach that filled with sand and collapsed in on him, burying him. The boys father was able to get his mouth and nose clear of sand so he could breathe, but rescuers took two and a half hours to free him from the sand. He was airlifted to a hospital "conscious and alert." . . . . (Watch Video)

MEXICO CITY – Surprised tourists found their little piece of Cancun beach paradise ringed by crime-scene tape and gun-toting sailors on Thursday. Environmental enforcement officers backed by Mexican navy personnel closed off hundreds of feet (dozens of meters) of powder-white coastline in front of a hotel accused of illegally accumulating sand on its beach. Mexico spent $19 million to replace Cancun beaches washed away by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. But much of the sand pumped from the sea floor has since washed away, leading some property owners to build breakwaters in a bid to retain sand. The practice often merely...

I was by Paddys at Misquamicut Beach, Rhode Island, it USED to be NON-state beach, no lifeguards anyways, I was 50 to 60 yards offshore, bobbing in the water, I am 6'4" so I need deep water to float 30 yards inland, 10 to 15 yards from the waterline, there was a sandbar, the waves were breaking over the sandbar, kicking up sand, making the water brownish lifeguard came over, blew his whistle for 2 or 3 minutes, I didn't know it was for me, I ignored it Some guy swam out to me, called me, I went in to...

Alaska Wildlife Troopers ran a widespread bust targeting illegal clam diggers on Kenai Peninsula beaches over Memorial Day weekend, citing at least 22 people for misconduct with mollusks. Unusually low tides, the holiday weekend and the irresistible lure of fresh clams drew hundreds of mud-diggers to Kenai Peninsula beaches over the three-day weekend. Soldotna wildlife trooper Sgt. Paul McConnell said the law was out in full force to watch. Violations included taking undersized or too many clams and clamming without a fishing license. "It was good timing as far as a three-day weekend, people kind of head down there anyway...

OC Family Grateful Editor: Saturday, April 25, 2009 was a beautiful day, and it was made even more wonderful by the outpouring of affection expressed toward Captain Robert S. Craig at his Beach Memorial Service. The Craig children and family appreciate all that was done to honor our “Pop,” a man so many in Ocean City have known and loved for so many years. The Beach Memorial was truly memorable and more special than we could have possibly imagined. We have many people to thank for their efforts in making it happen. We learned very quickly that organizing such an...

(At right) Flanked by friends and family members, a wreath is carried down the beach to be released into the ocean in memory of Craig, "founding father" of the Beach Patrol. Carrying the wreath is the current head of the organization, Capt. Butch Arbin, who is flanked by Craig's son, Robert Craig, and grandson, Christopher Craig. (Above) Sean Williams pushes a surf board, carrying the wreath and the ashes of Capt. Craig, toward a Coast Guard boat, which released the wreath farther from the shore.

News Release: April 8, 2009 Memorial Service planned to honor Captain Robert S. Craig Ocean City, MD – A memorial service for Captain Robert (Bob) S. Craig will be held 3 p.m. Saturday, April 25 on the beach at North Division Street. Captain Craig passed away on Saturday, March 28 at the age of 90. Captain Craig joined the Ocean City Beach Patrol in 1935 and served as its captain from 1946 until retiring in 1987. Captain Craig is credited with building the Ocean City Beach Patrol into the professional organization it is known as today. When Captain Craig turned...

(April 3, 2009) The man who not only epitomized the Ocean City Beach Patrol, but also built it into a serious and professional organization, passed away Saturday. When Capt. Robert (Bob) S. Craig turned 90 last July, a competition, dinner and slide show honored him for his 52 years as a town employee and member of the Beach Patrol. Thousands knew Craig from his years guiding the Beach Patrol and taking it from a small, relatively unskilled group of young men to a large group of highly skilled young men and women. Capt. Butch Arbin, the current head of the...

OCEAN CITY – Ocean City lost a treasured icon this week when Captain Robert S. Craig, who shepherded the Beach Patrol through decades of change and inspired his young charges for half a century passed away at the age of 90. Captain Craig, as he was known for decades not only by the thousands of lifeguards who worked with him and for him but also by the countless millions of local residents and visitors to the resort area, passed away last Saturday at the Coastal Hospice in Salisbury at the age of 90. A former schoolteacher and coach, Captain Craig...

This happened because I was looking at a picture of Australia from space and I said to myself, "What is that island off the coast from Adelaide?" Here's a map: So this island is Kangaroo Island, and it has a rock formation called Remarkable Rocks. I recommend a Google image search for them: if you include the name of the national park (Flinders Chase), you'll find quite a few. Below is one example This is probably the most photographed one:

I'm keeping things low key this weekend, my new meds make me groggy so I take pics between naps.

First picture comes from the link in the header. Others I found. Got inspired when I found an old National Geographic at the dentist's office. Click for larger size Speaking of NatGeo (half-size, click for full. Desktop download) Next two are the only size I could find; wow.

It's prime time and CNN's Ed Henry is standing on the white sand of Waikiki Beach, reporting live on President-elect Barack Obama's holiday vacation in Hawaii. With the volcanic mountain Diamond Head in the distance, Henry is flanked by palm trees, bikini-clad babes and surfer dudes...."No offense to the people of Crawford, Texas, but taking the presidential retreat from Crawford to Honolulu is change anyone can believe in," Henry says, borrowing a phrase from Obama's campaign.

SNIPPET: "The Indian beach resort of Goa, a major destination for Israeli backpackers and holidaymakers, is at risk of being struck by al-Qaida, a local politician warned over the weekend." SNIPPET: ""Today, Goa faces serious threat from terrorists and there were specific inputs that al-Qaida would target certain [tourist] installations in Goa. Goa has a coastline of 105 km., major sea ports and beaches," the state's chief secretary, J.P. Singh, wrote in a memo, according to Indian media." SNIPPET: "Dr. Ely Karmon, an expert on Islamist movements and terrorist organizations, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Israelis should reconsider...

HUNTSVILLE, ONT. — ARTICLE SNIPPET: "On Friday, Aug. 8, a vehicle pulled into the Pow Wow parking lot and discharged six men, all dressed in what the locals would call "city clothes" - including dark slacks and leather-soled dress shoes. Without bothering to check with the office, they went down to the beach and began taking photographs of each other, each time with Deerhurst - including the cupola that rides over the main building - in the background." ARTICLE SNIPPET: "These six English-speaking men appeared to be of Middle-Eastern origin. But what really set them apart was their complete unfamiliarity...

Architecturally Awesome Sand Castles for Summer's End The best buildings sculpted from sand require the skills of an architect—sudden structural collapse is a significant risk—and the details depicted by some well-packed granules rival the most ornate towers and palaces you'd find on terra firma. Any of the examples here could be widely regarded as significant structures—if only they hadn't washed away hours after their completion. According to Ted Siebert's 1990 book, The Art of Sandcastling, "Seawater is an ideal bonding agent for a sand castle. As seawater in a sculpture evaporates, salt crystals remain, forming a thin crust over the...

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- A surfer in New Smyrna Beach was caught on tape kicking and paddling frantically after spotting a shark closing in on him a day after a boy was bitten in the same area. A TV news helicopter spotted the surfer paddling in the water unaware that a shark was nearby. Video showed the surfer eventually noticing the shark and then fleeing. He is seen kicking when the shark is near his feet. Just hours before the encounter, a 15- year-old was hospitalized after jumping on a shark. "It appears that he actually just put his...

<p>He said that police were called by four enraged Arabs who were sitting on the sand when Miss Palmer and fellow Briton Vince Acors began having sex in front of them on a sun lounger.</p>

Myrtle Beach officials: No more biker ralliesPosted on Wed, May. 28, 2008 MYRTLE BEACH — Furious and frustrated after the weekend shooting death of a 20-year-old Coastal Carolina University student, Myrtle Beach City Council members said Tuesday that they do not want motorcycle rallies in the city any more. A group of local ministers and a bike-rally event promoter spoke to the council at a morning workshop Tuesday and implored the city to help them "do something" about the behavior they witnessed during the past weekend. Other groups have complained to city officials in previous years after the Atlantic Beach...

Viking treasure found on Silloth beach By Sarah NewsteadLast updated 11:28, Thursday, 27 March 2008 TREASURE has been unearthed on a Silloth beach by a man out with a metal detector. Rare find: The silver Viking handle found at SillothCarlisle Coroners’ Court heard that a silver Viking jug handle discovered at Beckfoot could be over 2,000 years old. The court heard the handle, dating back from between the first and fourth centuries by the British Museum, is made mainly from silver and is in the form of a stylised snake’s head. North and West Cumbria Coroner, John Taylor, ruled yesterday...