loveliness.

Tag: beaches

• thousand steps beach

  Posted at 11:20 am by jasminedesirees, on September 15, 2015

  We were in L.A. last weekend for a birthday party and visiting some of The Boy’s family. On Sunday morning we got up early (we left Long Beach at 5:30 am, nobody knows why) and drove to Laguna to Thousand Steps Beach.

  

  

  

  

  We were there for sunrise, it was pretty empty except for a few people doing yoga and some surfers and boogie boarders. I think it gets pretty busy there later on so it was nice to chill out and enjoy the quiet.

  

  

  

  

  Thousand steps is a little misleading, it’s probably not even a quarter of that, so I wore my runners and brought a bottle of water, expecting a treacherous climb, but I wasn’t worried after Pura Lempuyang last year. That actually was 1,700 steps, and that was only once you were at the very top. So this wasn’t quite the workout I was expecting.

  

  

  We walked down the beach to the end to watch the surfers and check out the tide pools, they are man made, with cement around them, and they are tucked away in the back corner of the beach. It’s such a great idea, I’m surprised there aren’t more around.

  The whole cove around the beach is filled with the most amazing houses, it would be the best view to wake up to every day.

  

  

  

  

  Before we left, we walked down to the other end of the beach to check it out, and we saw a viking, Deadpool, and some kind of princess fighting with the cops because they had slept on the beach (it was Long Beach Comic Con last weekend).

  They were yelling, and I’m pretty sure the viking got arrested, but it was pretty hard to take his righteous indignation seriously when he was wearing a horned helmet and fur vest.

  

  

  

  

  

  After the beach we grabbed breakfast at a little restaurant with a beach view in Laguna, and then headed for home. We ended up driving down the PCH instead, and added an extra 45 minutes to our drive, but it was worth it for the views, and to be by the ocean for a little bit longer.

  We basically decided then and there that we don’t care where we go after Arizona, but it needs to be near the sea.

  

  

  

  Posted in beach, California, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 2 Comments | Tagged beaches, California, hiking, pura lempuyang, thousand steps beach, tide pools

• hideaway

  Posted at 8:36 am by jasminedesirees, on June 22, 2015

  One night in Kauai we went out to Rob’s Good Times Grill, we ended up hitchhiking there from Kapaa (it seemed like a good idea at the time). We were going to hike the Na Pali coast the next day (we did, and it was amazing! More on that later) and someone at Rob’s told us we should also check out Hideaway Beach.

  

  

  

  

  Hideaway beach is on the north shore of Kauai. It’s supposed to be similar to the Stairway to Heaven on Oahu, but down instead of up. which is pretty much the only thing I want to do before I die, but unfortunately it was damaged in a storm this year and will likely be taken down. It was always illegal to do but it was possible, and I wish I would have done it when I had the chance.

  

  

  

  

  Hideaway Beach is pretty cool, but it’s hard to find if you don’t know what you are looking for. It’s right near the St. Regis resort, right before you get to the resort you’ll see a little parking lot surrounded by chain link fence, this is the parking for Hideaway. If you hit the gates to enter the resort, you’ve gone too far.

  

  

  

  

  You walk down a little sand alleyway to the edge of the cliff, and that’s where you’ll see the stairs. Be very careful with the stairs, they are old and rusted and broken in places. There are a few very jagged pieces where the railing has broken off, but it’s not a terrible hike down, only 5-10 minutes.

  

  

  

  

  The beach at the bottom is beautiful, and good for swimming. You can also do a little bit more exploring around the area, there are rock cliffs you can crawl up to keep going one way or another around the little cove.

  

  

  

  Hideaways can also be reached by Kayak, or by swimming around the point from the St. Regis, but descending the stairs overgrown with lush green plants against the backdrop of the bright blue ocean is pretty spectacular.

  

  

  

  Posted in Hawaii, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged 808, beaches, Good Times Grill, Hawaii, Hideaway Beach, hideaways, kauai, Stairway to Heaven, travel, usa

• island hopping in el nido: part 1

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on April 16, 2015

  We only had a couple of days to spend between El Nido and Coron, so after taking the night bus from Puerto Princessa to El Nido, hunting aimlessly for our hostel, and then getting 3 hours of sleep, we were up at 7 am to take the El Nido Island Hopping tour the next day.

  

  

  

  There are 4 tours that take you to different beaches and coves, but we were told tours A and C were the best, and they looked like the ones we would enjoy the most. We ended up choosing Tour C, which included stops at Secret Beach, Matinloc Shrine, Hidden Beach, and Talisay Island.

  

  

  

  There were about 10 people in our tour group, from all over the world, and they were all pretty cool. We spent the initial boat ride chatting about the Philippines, places we’d been, and places we’d like to go. Our first tour stop was Hidden Beach, and that’s where most of the pictures in this post are from because it was absolutely awesome.

  

  

  

  Our captain parked the boat, and encouraged us to get off and look around. We got off the boat onto a shallow little rock ledge, and weren’t sure exactly what we were looking at, the cliffs were pretty, but nothing amazing. I guess that’s why they call it Hidden Beach? Cleverrrr…..

  

  

  

  He directed us to walk to the right towards an opening in the cliffs, which we did, with some difficulty, as the waves were crashing against the rocks, and people kept losing their balance and falling over. It was actually pretty funny, except most of us, including me, were a little scraped up by the time we got to the opening. Do not attempt this journey without some kind of shoes, you’ll be sorry.

  

  

  

  Once we got through the opening, we were faced with one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. The towering cliffs loomed overhead, hundreds of feet in the air, almost completely surrounding the beach except for the openings at each end. The water was crystal clear turquoise, and it was so peaceful and serene inside.

  

  

  

  We spent about 40 minutes there, taking pictures and then swimming and relaxing and just enjoying it. Once we were back on the boat, we set off for the Matinloc Shrine, more pictures of that in my next post.

  

  

  

  The Island Hopping tours are an absolute must if you are in El Nido, it was one of the best days of our entire trip. The tour only makes 4 stops, but there are so many beautiful beaches and rock formations in that area that the entire day on the boat feels like part of it, you don’t feel like you are just commuting from sight seeing point to sight seeing point.

  

  

  To Be Continued…

  

  

  Posted in Philippines, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged beaches, el nido, island, island hopping, palawan, philippines, tour c, travel

• lost in bali

  Posted at 8:54 am by jasminedesirees, on February 25, 2015

  While we were creeping around South Kuta, we spent a lot of time just cruising around exploring on our moped.

  We got lost a few times, but always found our way back eventually.

  One day we got lost as the sun was starting to go down, and I wasn’t too excited to be riding around on a moped, lost, in the dark, but after a few more turns we wound up driving down a road made entirely of white rock, and ending up on a beach covered in mossy green tide pools where locals were BBQing, swimming, and watching their kids play in the water.

  Some of the best places are the ones you find when you aren’t looking.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Posted in Indonesia, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged Bali, beaches, Indonesia, South Kuta, travel

• south kuta beaches

  Posted at 8:19 am by jasminedesirees, on February 5, 2015

  After our exertions on Mount Rinjani on Lombok, we took the ferry back over to Bali. It was about 4 hours, but there was lots of snacks, so it worked out. D had some family coming to visit, but we had a few days to kill, so we found an amazing surf house to stay at via AirBnB, and settled in for a few days in South Kuta.

  

  

  Please note that there is a huge difference between South Kuta, and Kuta proper. I spent about an hour in Kuta, and that was enough for the rest of my life. It’s ridiculously busy and it’s Hard Rock Cafe’s and Starbucks as far as they eye can see.

  

  

  South Kuta is a lot quieter, with some amazing beaches, and some of the best surfing spots in Indonesia, and some cute restaurants too. Our few days there were pretty much perfect. We would sleep in every day, have mango for breakfast, lay by the pool for awhile and then set out on our rented moped to explore the beaches.

  

  

  We stopped in at so many different ones that I can’t remember all of the names, but my favourites were Uluwatu and Dreamland Beach (not to be confused with Dream Beach).

  

  

  Uluwatu was amazing, we sat in a bar nestled into the rocks, and watched the surfers for hours. It’s weird how watching someone who is really good at something makes you feel like it’s easy and you are probably good at it too?

  

  

  By the time we left there it was taking every ounce of my self restraint to not grab a surf board and paddle out, because I knew in the depths of my soul that I would be a world class surfer, if I could just get over my fear of sharks, and large waves, and learn to stand up on the board (I have actually been surfing lots of times, but these were BIG waves).

  

  

  

  A few days after we were at Uluwatu, there was a killer whale out playing in the waves with the surfers, wish we had been there to see it, but also I probably would have had a heart attack from the stress.

  

  

  

  Dreamland beach was gorgeous, it was a bit off the beaten path, down the kind of dirt road that can only lead to somewhere amazing, or certain death, but absolutely one or the other.

  

  

  

  There is a big hotel there, it was still being worked on when we visited, but it has a huge infinity pool, and you can go hang out there for the day, it’s $10.00 to use the pool, but you get a voucher to spend it on food and drinks, so it’s not too bad.

  

  

  On our way back one day we rode past a house that had a door that my dreams are made of. It was purple, and beautiful, and we will be together one day, I’m sure of it.

  

  

  Posted in Indonesia, travel | 3 Comments | Tagged Bali, beaches, dreamland, Indonesia, kuta, South Kuta, surfing, travel, uluwatu

• lombok: kuta beaches

  Posted at 10:07 am by jasminedesirees, on January 19, 2015

  As I mentioned in this post, the beaches in Kuta Lombok are some of the most beautiful out of everywhere we visited.

  We spent one whole day on a moped going around to see as many of them as possible, and we didn’t even make a dent in how many there are to see (there is one with pink sand, but it’s a bit of a struggle to get to).

  

  

  Our first stop was Mawun beach, about a 20 minute moped ride from Kuta. I must have taken about 500 pictures while we were there, I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was.

  We arrived around 9 a.m., and there wasn’t a single soul there except for two ladies selling fresh mangoes from a little hut.

  

  

  I’ve heard that Maya Bay in Thailand is the most beautiful beach in the world, and it’s gorgeous, but Mawun should definitely be in the running, and we had the entire thing to ourselves.

  Apparently the tourists usually don’t get there until later in the day, and the locals come and go early.

  

  

  

  After Mawun we stopped in at Seger Beach, Tanjung A’an, and Gerupuk, which is a great surfing beach for beginners. We didn’t really have any idea where we were going, except for Mawun, we were just exploring and creeping around everywhere, taking rights and lefts to see where we’d end up.

  

  

  We eventually drove east of Kuta until the road ended at one last beach. We were pretty sunburnt by then, so D stayed on the moped under a thatched awning, and I went down to check out the beach.

  

  

  

  I can’t remember the name of it, but it was breathtaking, and there were dozens of fishermen standing in the water up to their waists all along the cove, wearing straw hats and trying to catch their dinner.

  

  

  

  We eventually found our way back to town, where I bought 5 popsicles and then passed out in a heat stroked coma for the rest of the day.

  

  

  Posted in Indonesia, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged beaches, beautiful beach, Indonesia, kuta, Kuta Lombok, lombok, mawun, travel

• clarke’s beach

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on November 7, 2014

  Clarke’s is the main beach in Byron Bay. It stretches all the way down through the whole cove, and it’s a popular hangout for locals and tourists alike.

  

  

  The beach is very long, and very wide, but pretty flat and even, so it’s basically the perfect running beach. We stayed at the Aquarius Backpackers in Byron for a couple of weeks, and I went for a run on the beach nearly every morning.

  

  

  It’s also a popular beach for surfers and swimmers. Unfortunately, while we were there a man was bit by a great white shark and died from his injuries. It is pretty unusual in Byron, but I was terrified to go into the water after that, even after it had been confirmed that the shark was no longer in the area.

  

  

  At the very end of the beach is a rocky outcropping, and a little lookout platform where you can watch the surfers or checkout what is happening in the next bay over at Watego’s Beach.

  

  

  It was a little bit cloudy the day I brought my camera along to take these pictures, but most of the time we were there it was sunny and gorgeous. We had picnics for at least one of our meals, sprawled out on Clarke’s Beach, nearly every single day we were there.

  

  

  Posted in Australia, beach, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged Australia, beaches, byron bay, clarke's beach, sharks, surfing, travel

• whitsundays

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on October 23, 2014

  A few more shots of the Whitsundays, just because I really can’t get over the colour of that water.

  The first two pictures are of the amazing beach that you always see pictures of when anyone is talking about the Whitsundays, where the sand and the water look like they are swirling together into an underwater river.

  It’s not quite impressive when not seen from the air, but it’s still pretty stunning.

  We also did a cruise around the islands one day, and that picture of us was taken by a couple in their 70’s who had been married for most of their lives, and were traveling the world together. They were having so much fun with each other, laughing and joking the whole time, even when huge waves were coming over the side and we were all getting soaked.

  They asked me to take some pictures of them so they could send them to their grandchildren, and they told us that we made a really cute couple. I wanted to tell them that they were the cutest couple I’ve ever seen, but I was worried that it would sound insincere, so I didn’t say anything, but I wish I had.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Posted in Australia, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged airlie beach, Australia, beaches, travel, whitsunday, whitsunday islands

• whitehaven beach: whitsundays

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on October 22, 2014

  The day we visited Whitehaven beach was probably one of the best ones I’ve ever had. There really isn’t anything I can say to describe Whitehaven, you just really need to go and see it for yourself.

  

  

  Our boat captain set us free for a few hours to explore, but warned us against trying to walk all the way down the beach, because it’s seven kilometers to the end and lots of times people try it and miss their ride back.

  

  

  The sand on the beach is exactly the consistency of brown sugar. I spent about ten minutes taking close up photos of the sand so I wouldn’t forget. It didn’t taste like brown sugar though. I’m assuming…I obviously didn’t lick it just to be sure.

  

  

  We ate lunch at a little picnic area back in the trees, and it was really nice, except for the monitor lizards creeping around everywhere. They have been living there for so long, and seen so many people come through that they aren’t afraid anymore, and they will literally crawl over your feet hoping you’ll drop some food for them.

  At least 3 times I turned around to find one directly behind me. Luckily I was too terrified of them to take a step backwards without checking first, otherwise I would definitely have lost a toe. It didn’t help that we had just been to Indonesia, and these little guys looked exactly like baby Komodo dragons.

  

  

  There were also a few snakes around, one in particular would not be deflected and kept trying to crawl up the table legs while we were eating. The boys thought this was quite entertaining, but me and the other girl at the table were not very amused and ended up standing on top of our chairs to finish our meal.

  After lunch we wandered off into the trees, there are a few different walking trails that take you to different places around the island. The one we followed was only about ten minutes of walking before we arrived at an amazing lookout point.

  

  

  

  Eventually we tore ourselves away and went back down to the beach to walk as far as we could before it was time to go. We only had about 3 hours on Whitehaven beach, but I loved every second of it.

  It’s kind of crazy that places that beautiful even exist in real life, and it’s even crazier to think that I got to see it for myself.

  

  

  Posted in Australia, beach, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged Australia, beaches, boating, travel, whitehaven, Whitsundays

• airlie beach: whitsundays

  Posted at 6:28 pm by jasminedesirees, on October 16, 2014

  We spent almost a week in Airlie Beach, and I loved every minute of it. It was so beautiful there, it was kind of like a dream.

  

  

  It actually really felt like a dream because to get to Airlie Beach, you have to drive down this quiet highway through small farming communities, it actually really reminded me of the small towns in Saskatchewan where I grew up.

  But then you take two rights, and drive 20 minutes past a field full of kangaroos, and emerge on a beautiful white sand beach and turquoise sea.

  

  

  

  We stayed at the Magnum’s Backpackers, and it was great. Magnum’s is right in the middle of town, so it’s really easy to walk everywhere, and it’s right beside the Woolworth’s, and it has a nice big kitchen, so we were able to save a lot of money by cooking almost all of our meals, rather than eating out.

  Also, they have live music almost every evening, and falling asleep to acoustic guitar music every night was lovely.

  

  

  We also did the Airlie Beach Pub Crawl one night, and it was actually really fun. We met a group of Aussies from Brisbane who were in Airlie on vacation, and a girl from Texas who was WOOFing in Australia on a chicken farm, and had a great time with all of them.

  

  

  Airlie Beach has a huge park along the water with a gigantic, free swimming pool for everyone to enjoy, and it has a walking/biking path that stretches 5 KM along the ocean. We rented bikes one day and cruised the boardwalk.

  

  

  

  We also found a hike that would take us up to the top of the hills to see the view of the Whitsundays, but we only made it about ten minutes in before we saw a snake on the path, and then we spun around and ran as fast as we could back the other way.

  

  

  Airlie Beach is a pretty small town, and it doesn’t have a lot of diving, so even though our original plan was to stay there and try to find jobs, we decided pretty quickly we wouldn’t be able to stay there long term, but our time there was amazing, and I would absolutely recommend it to anybody who is traveling through Australia.

  

  

  Posted in Australia, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged airlie beach, Australia, beaches, islands, Whitsundays

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