Getting into Hot Water Beach, New Zealand

A uniquely Kiwi experience, famous Hot Water Beach is on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island.

Narnia Magic and Volcanic Rocks at Cathedral Cove, New Zealand

Te Whanganui-A-Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve is on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It may be familiar to an armchair traveler as the setting for opening scenes of the Narnia movie Prince Caspian, itself based loosely on C.S. Lewis' famous novel. It was one of the several stunning New Zealand locations for that film series.

Cathedral Cove. It's yet another one of my many favorite beaches. The surrounding, glaringly-white cliffs and sea stacks are composed of massive ignimbrite, composed of angular fragments of pumice in a fine matrix of rhyolitic ash, a type of silica-rich volcanic rock that is formed during explosive, violent eruptions. The immensity of these formations is evidence the landscape has changed many times, and it will change again, however timeless every moment in the cove might feel. There would be no tranquil, wide strand of fine, white sand without the violence of storms and volcano.

Laupāhoehoe Point Beach Park, Hawai'i

I have an uncle who lives in Hawai'i, and he told me that the best way to experience the Big Island is, "if you see a road, take it." We followed this good advice and learned a couple of things. First, you can't get lost; it's an island after all, no matter how big. And, some of Hawaii's hidden treasures are at the end of these roads-less-travelled detours, just off the main highways.

Yanchep's Blue Lagoon, Western Australia

The world has its share of beaches where the point is to be seen. Waikiki, Bondi, Ipanema – nature doesn't always provide the main scenery. But if you want to see some of the world's best beaches in solitude, there may be no better place than Western Australia, where your own private sandy paradise is only a short drive away from the capitol city of Perth. A family-friendly favorite of ours is the Yanchep Beach lagoon, just 56 kilometers (35 miles) north of the central business district.

Protected by a finger reef of gritty Tamala limestone that formed during the most recent ice age, water in the lagoon is no deeper than waist-high for the the average adult. The calm, turquoise waters are a perfect natural swimming pool for families with young children who are just learning to swim, particularly at the sheltered southern end of the main pool. There can be a strong current near the mouth of the inlet. Occasional schools of small fish will entertain young snorkellers. And, the clean white sand is an ideal playground for future architects armed with only a bucket, a plastic shovel and dreams. On a crowded summer day there will be no more than a handful of beach-goers.

A First Day on O'ahu

Renting a car and exploring at your own pace is the best way to see any of the main islands in Hawai'i. The aloha spirit isn't the polished clockwork of a German village. Behind the tourist facade, many countryside residences are rustic and a little bit weatherbeaten, much like the islands' ancient volcanoes themselves. This is a place where people actually live and pay taxes, not just play in a Disneyfied paradise. And, scheduled excursions are the antithesis of island life. Still, a little planning can maximize your adventure and comfort. 

Honolulu on O'ahu is sprawling, and traffic can be congested. There are a lot of one-way streets, so a GPS or your mobile phone map app will be invaluable. I'll swear the freeway lanes are narrower than I'm used to on the mainland. I was constantly running over the lane-side (warning) rumble strips, which at least kept my wife alert. One good thing, when you leave the city to explore in the morning and return in the afternoon, you will be going against the flow of rush hour traffic.

Maybe this is your first full day in Hawai'i, and you find yourself bright-eyed and ready to go in the darkness of 5:00 am? This was our condition on our first morning. An early morning climb in the crater of Diamond Head was the perfect way to offset the effects of jet lag.

Sculpture by the Sea - Photo Essay

Some beach-side castles aren't made of sand.

Sculpture by the Sea is an annual arts exhibition on Cottesloe Beach, perhaps the most popular beach near Perth, Western Australia. It is a companion event to an annual exhibition that began on the other side of Australia in 1996, on Bondi Beach near Sydney. 

Every year, more than 70 local and international artists transform Perth's most popular beach into a world-class sculpture park. The displays--the world's largest free-to-the-public sculpture exhibition--are a March tradition for residents of Perth since 2005, attracting nearly 100,000 visitors in 2014. There are even more avian tourists, as thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--of raucous rainbow lorikeets flock to the stately norfolk pines overlooking the beach each evening to watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean.

My kids enjoyed visits to the beachside sculpture park between 2008 and 2010. It was their first introduction to the arts, as it is for many families. Many of the pieces are tactile and interactive, and the atmosphere is relaxed.

Everyday Things to do and See on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

It's January or maybe February in the northern hemisphere. The holidays are over, and suddenly snow isn't quite so merry. The cold seems more biting than crisp. This is when I dream of beaches and tropical breezes to transport me to that summer siesta I crave without wishing months of my life away. That dream might take me to Grace Bay on Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos.

Providenciales, called Provo locally, was rated the best beach destination in the world by TripAdvisor in 2011. I have my own favorites elsewhere, but I won't hotly argue the point. The electric-blue waters surrounding the islands, technically part of the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Caribbean, are simply stunning. The Turks and Caicos are geographically part of the Bahamas Islands group (or vice versa), but--resorts aside--the T&C have an upscale, much less developed and tacky feel than many parts of their Disneyfied northern neighbor.

The World's Most Beautiful Beach?

Who is the world's most beautiful woman? Where is the most livable city? The combination of individual answers to only a handful of such subjective questions is unique to any one person. I'm not sure my personal preference can be effectively weighed against someone else's. And, popularity doesn't always equal "best."

So it is with "best beach." Best for swimming, surf or snorkelling? Most beautiful? Most secluded or best to be seen at? Myself, I might have a different answer for each scenario, so I'm always puzzled by Internet lists on popular websites (CNN or such) that attempt to quantify such a thing, sometimes with a different top-ten list every year. Just how does a beach drop or gain in rank? Was there a lot of erosion this year?

Picture of the Moment - An Invitation from Lowlands Beach

I love everything about this picture my wife took in June of 2010 -- soft winter's lighting of a late afternoon highlighting individual tufts of grass and distant hills, the beckoning of the stepped, sandy bush track. Even now I can feel it inviting me in. What could await you down below, where the winding path disappears into mystery?

And then there are the memories... We knew our time in Australia was coming to a close, the bitter-sweet end of something wonderful, like a warm bed the instant before your alarm rings on a cold morning, you appreciate it most at the last.

Lowlands beach is located near Denmark, on Western Australia's southwest coast. Drive west about 30 Km from Albany via Lower Denmark Road and turn left onto Tennessee Road S, following it until the end. The last 1.5 kilometers are unsealed. From Denmark, head west via the South Coast Highway (1) to where it intersects Lower Denmark Road.

You'll find a beautiful, white sandy beach nestled between granite cliffs.

Pictures of the Moment - All-natural beaches of Turks and Caicos

Summer has finally arrived in the northern hemisphere. That gets me in the mood for a beach, and I can't help but think of all my favorite beaches, including this one on Little Water Cay in the Turks and Caicos. We visited here in April, 2013. Forget the crowds at Bondi, Jones Beach, or Waikiki; I'll take the solitude of a lonely strand.

I want to be here right now. It's the kind of weather you wish you could bottle up and open in February. Maybe the only other place I've seen water such an electric blue was Twilight Beach, in Esperance, Western Australia.

No crowds here, unless you count the iguanas. And they keep to themselves.

Little Water Cay is also known as "Iguana Cay." April, 2013.

Corfu - Burning on the Beach and Steaming in Church

Corfu is the second largest Ionian island, roughly shaped like an upper-case Σ (sigma), which is fitting for a Greek isle. It's hard to write anything about 'a day in Corfu' that sums the essence of such a big island. However, if you focus your visit on beaches, forts and monasteries, I think you'll have as much success as can be had. The mythical Jason and Odysseus also visited here by boat, and Hercules figures in local legend. All three tarried here with beautiful women before there were the forts or monasteries, so the island has that going for it.

A typical view of the rugged coastline from the monastery at Paleokastritsa.

Clocks were set forward an hour last night, so my son Tom was especially difficult to wake up this morning. As if on cue, once we were in the ship's theater waiting to debark, several people proved it's possible to stuff up even the simplest instructions, like lining up single file. I wonder how much of the theoretical work on chaos theory was inspired by cruise ship passenger behavior.

Unexpected Detour from 35,000 Feet to Paradise

Several hours after departing Sydney, flight AC34 began to bank and the captain's voice came on the tinny intercom, usually not a good sign so deep into a transoceanic flight. Passengers and crew had discovered an acrid, burning smell coming from one of the business class washrooms. Now that they mentioned it, I noticed the sharp, electrical odor. Our next stop was clearly not going to be Vancouver. The captain continued to say the closest airport that could handle a Boeing 777-233(LR) was Fiji, about an hour back along our route. As a frequent business traveller, I'm not typically fond of deviations from plan, but this had the element of novelty.

The detour to Fiji seemed interminable. I wasn't overly concerned in terms of safety, but when your ride is smoldering at 35,000 feet you don't have the consolation of terra firma. However, we landed at Nadi International Airport without further incident at 5:49 pm local time on June 16th, 2013.

A couple screen captures of AC34 landing in Nadi from Youtube. A short video can be found here, posted by BonnieBula. Don't expect any fireworks.

Picture of the Moment - Breaking Surf at Yallingup, Western Australia

The surf breaks at Yallingup, Western Australia make for one of the premier surfing destinations in the world. I don't surf, but when we visited here in July, 2008 I built up a healthy respect for the people who ride these house-high monsters.

Surf Breaks at Yallingup, Western Australia. July 2008.