Panama City Beach, Fla

Panama City Beach, Fla:

The world’s most beautiful beaches will soon be getting a little bit of cosmetic work. The Panama City Beach Tourist Development Council and Convention and Visitors Bureau have approved a plan to renourish the beaches. Beach renourishment is basically taking sand from offshore and using it to repair the beach where erosion has occurred. The TDC began renourishing the beaches back in 1999 and the last dredging took place back in 2006. And with tourism being a huge part of the beach’s revenue source, the TDC says it’s one of the most important projects they fund.

Crystal clear water and paper white sand make Panama City Beach the world’s most beautiful beaches. Part of making sure they stay the same sugary white means renourishing the beach. Mike Bennett with the TDC believes that “The beach itself supports the largest industry in bay county. 6 million tourists a year come through here.”

That’s why the TDC has given the go ahead for engineers to begin the permit process. Dan Rowe, the TDC president says they’ve now “...approved for our coastal engineers to start moving into the permit phase of getting two new sand sources..you know…for future projects.” These two sand sources will help supply renourishment for the next fifteen to twenty years. The areas considered are off the coast of Thomas Drive and off the coast of Shell Island.

Panama City Beach is famous for its white, sandy beaches. The challenge with a beach renourishment is to find the whitest sand for the cheapest cost…and any sand dredged from Shell Island will be the whitest. But will cost a lot to transport. And of course funding is always an issue.

The third penny of the TDC bed tax is used for beach renourishment activities and that will be a major source of funding for it, but the TDC also gets a cost share from state revenues. The TDC expects some trouble getting a permit to dredge near Shell Island, but the area off Thomas Drive is expected to sail through the permit process.

Everything you need to know about Tioman Island

Tioman is one of Malaysia’s most popular small islands, at 39 km long and 12 km wide, located off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia.

Such is its popularity that Time magazine has even called Tioman one of the world’s most beautiful islands.

The rainforest that covers Tioman is rich in life and the waters littered with numerous white coral reefs, making it a much-sought after destination by divers across Asia.

Accessible by speedboat or ferry from Mersing, Tioman has several resorts to accommodate visitors on vacation.

There are many things to do here; primarily snorkelling and scuba diving. If you’re into nature, then the island has some fascinating flora and fauna to discover.

Where to stay in Tioman Island??

No matter where you stay on Tioman Island, you are guaranteed of crystal clear waters, perfect tranquility and a magnificent view. No matter what your budget, there is a wide range of accommodation available around the island, from luxury studio suites such as Berjaya Tioman Suites, to the humble wooden chalets by the beach.

Beaches

The sandy bays and white sand make Tioman a place to relax for beach-bummers and families. The island’s resorts are quite well-developed as tourism has become the main source of income for the island.

There are many rest-houses, chalets and hotels available for accommodation but despite the development, Tioman still remains a beautiful place.

Water-sports such as jet-skiing can be done at certain parts of the island. The best beaches are found in Salang, Juara, Air Batang and Bunut.

Snorkeling & Scuba Driving

The islands around Tioman have been gazetted as a marine park and are thus protected by law. While not as pristine as some spots like Redang and Perhentian Island, Tioman does have a nice sea bed to explore. Divers can expect visibility to between 5-10 metres in the water. This is enough to admire the beauty of its coral reefs, an underwater garden of colourful marine life.

The reefs around Tioman are believed to be thousands of years old and hence hold many varieties of coral and tropical reef fish, as well as larger species such as turtles and sharks. The rare giant clam is also found here. Fishes such as parrot fish, butterfly fish, Napolean fish and silver snappers will come right to you so do bring along an underwater camera to snap those moments. If you don’t want to get wet, you can charter boats with glass bottoms, enabling you to view the marine oasis below.

The popular reefs for diving include those of Pulau Tulai, Pulau Renggis, Pulau Sepoi and Pulau Labas. There are even underwater caves at Pulau Chebeh to explore.


Nature & Based Activity

Apart from the beautiful beaches and rich marine ecosystems, Tioman has a protected rainforest brimming with life. Visitors can opt to explore the natural scenery through jungle trails that start from Tekek and Juara.

If you’re lucky, you might be able to spot one of the 45 mammal species on the island, such as the binturong (bearcat), long-tailed macaque, slow loris, black giant squirrel, brush-tailed porcupine, red-giant flying squirrel, common palm civet and mouse deer.

Tioman is also a haven for bird-watchers; some 138 species of birds have been recorded on the island, including hill mynahs and swifts. Snakes in all sorts of colours such as the twin-barred and paradise tree snake slither among the trees. It is indeed an experience to walk through the jungles and discover Tioman’s rich eco-system.

Beaches In Malaysia (overall)

Malaysia Beaches

It would be an impossible task to describe every one of Malaysia's thousands of beautiful beaches. Ranging from the powdery stretches of sand that characterize the eastern coastline of Peninsular Malaysia to the black sand beach of Pantai Pasir Hitam and the smooth pebble beach of Pantai Batu Kerikil, Malaysia's shores offer more idyllic locales than one could explore in many lifetimes.

In addition to the plenitude of beaches along the the peninsula and the coast of Eastern Malaysia, the country also possesses over a hundred tropical islands. Many of these are so beautiful as to have entered into legend centuries ago, like the islands of Langkawi remain desert isles, marked , or Pulau Tioman. Others only by the imprint of the South China Sea on their sands.

Despite such abundance and variety, Malaysia's beaches are noticeably different from those in other parts of the world. They are often less differentiated from the shoreline than those of the Caribbean, for example, tending instead to be almost nestled up against the lush forests that this nation is famous for. The color palette is different as well--golden sands and emerald waters imbue Malaysian beaches with an air of succulent sweetness that isn't found in the cool whites and blues of many western strands.

The result is that these beaches impart a very different sensation, a sense of languid peace and a distinct feeling that the division between land and sea is less a sharp line than a smooth continuum

Beaches as habitat

A beach is an unstable environment which exposes plants and animals to changeable and potentially harsh conditions. Some small animals burrow into the sand and feed on material deposited by the waves. Crabs, insects and shorebirds feed on these beach dwellers. The endangered Piping Plover and some tern species rely on beaches for nesting. Sea turtles also lay their eggs on ocean beaches. Seagrasses and other beach plants grow on undisturbed areas of the beach and dunes.

sea turtles

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seagrasses

Ocean beaches are habitats with organisms adapted to salt spray, tidal overwash, and shifting sands. Some of these organisms are found only on beaches. Examples of these beach organisms in the southeast US include plants like sea oats, sea rocket, beach elder, beach morning glory aka Ipomoea pes-caprae, and beach peanut, and animals such as mole crabs aka Hippoidea, coquina clams aka Donax, ghost crabs, and white beach tiger beetles.^[2]

Beaches and Recreation

Beaches and recreation

Many beaches are very popular on warm sunny days such as Joss Bay beach in southern England.

Many beaches are very popular on warm sunny days. In the Victorian era, many popular beach resorts were equipped with bathing machines because even the all-covering beachwear of the period was considered immodest. This social standard still prevails in many Muslim countries. At the other end of the spectrum are topfree beaches and nude beaches where clothing is optional or not allowed. In most countries social norms are

significantly different on a beach in hot weather, co

mpared to adjacent areas where similar behaviour might not be tolerated.

In more than thirty countries in Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Costa Rica, South America and the Caribbean, the best recreational beaches are awarded Blue Flag status, based on such criteria as water quality and safety provision. S

ubsequent loss of this status can have a severe effect o

n tourism revenues.

Due to intense use by the expanding human population, beaches are often dumping grounds for waste and litter, necessitating the use of beach cleaners and other cleanup projects. More significantly, many beaches are a discharge zone for untreated sewage in most underdeveloped countries; even in developed countries beach closure is an occasional circumstance due to sanitary sewer overflow. In these cases of marine discharge, waterborne disease from fecal pathogens and contamination of certain marine species is a frequent outcome.

Classic Caribbean beach on the island of Martinique - Les Salines

Definition of Beach

Definition

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, or cobble. The particles of which the beach is composed can sometimes instead have biological origins, such as shell fragments or coralline algae fragments.

Beaches often occur along coastal areas where wave or current action deposits and reworks sediments.

Although the seashore is most commonly associated with the word "beach", beaches are not only found by the sea or ocean: beaches also occur at the margin of the land along lakes and rivers where sediments are reworked or deposited.

Ölüdeniz (Dead Sea) Beach, Fethiye, Turkey

The term 'beach' may refer to:

• small systems in which the rock material moves onshore, offshore, or alongshore by the forces of waves and currents; or
• geological units of considerable size.

The former are described in detail below; the larger geological units are discussed elsewhere under bars.

There are several conspicuous parts to a beach, all of which relate to the processes that form and shape it. The part mostly above water (depending upon tide), and more or less actively influenced by the waves at some point in the tide, is termed the beach berm. The berm is the deposit of material comprising the active shoreline. The berm has a crest (top) and a face — the latter being the slope leading down towards the water from the crest. At the very bottom of the face, there may be a trough, and further seaward one or more longshore bars: slightly raised, underwater embankments formed where the waves first start to break.

The sand deposit may extend well inland from the berm crest, where there may be evidence of one or more older crests (the storm beach) resulting from very large storm waves and beyond the influence of the normal waves. At some point the influence of the waves (even storm waves) on the material comprising the beach stops, and if the particles are small enough (sand size or smaller), winds shape the feature. Where wind is the force distributing the grains inland, the deposit behind the beach becomes a dune.

These geomorphic features compose what is called the beach profile. The beach profile changes seasonally due to the change in wave energy experienced during summer and winter months. The beach profile is higher during the summer due to the gentle wave action during this season. The lower energy waves deposit sediment on the beach berm and dune, adding to the beach profile. Conversely, the beach profile is lower in the winter due to the increased wave energy associated with storms. Higher energy waves erode sediment from the beach berm and dune, and deposit it off shore, forming longshore bars. The removal of sediment from the beach berm and dune decreases the beach profile.

The line between beach and dune is difficult to define in the field. Over any significant period of time, sand is always being exchanged between them. The drift line (the high point of material deposited by waves) is one potential demarcation. This would be the point at which significant wind movement of sand could occur, since the normal waves do not wet the sand beyond this area. However, the drift line is likely to move inland under assault by storm waves.