#sapphire-coast

#sapphire-coast

Wales has a beautiful roughness to it. Its beauty is not immediate and hard-won; visitors will have to trek, drive and withstand the rain in order to find it. But it's worth every step of the journey.

"It's not exactly a dream vacation to come and be harassed by mosquitoes," says Hervé Bossin, director of the medical entomology laboratory at Tahiti's Institut Louis Malardé.

These reefs are living, breathing snapshots of a watery world that you can peek into: refreshing oases where the noise of the land falls away; in its place, an intricate and utterly at-ease slice of life that you're lucky enough to witness.

Vilanculos is predominantly used as a jumping-off point for the archipelago, just a 10-minute helicopter transfer away, or 20-60 minutes by boat.

Located within the Maddalena Archipelago National Park, Rosa dei Budelli is one of the Mediterranean's most closely protected beaches. Its pale pink hue, created by microscopic organisms mixed with crushed coral, has made it famous, but access is tightly regulated. Visitors may arrive only by boat and must admire the shoreline from designated areas offshore.

I get there, I look and here's this little crocodile swimming around in the water. The sighting occurred at Federal Park in Wallsend, close to a local pool and primary school. Kirsop said she was met with initial disbelief when she contacted the wildlife rescue group Wires, and the Australian Reptile Park.

Svalbard was ranked as the least crowded island in Europe, according to retreat booking platform BookRetreats.com, which looked at tourism patterns across Europe's islands. The study, which drew on European Commission data measuring overnight tourist stays per square kilometer, found Svalbard boasted just 2.4 overnight stays.

On an empty beach at the bottom of the world, the waves that roll over the sand are midnight blue and lit by the stars and a waxing moon. I'm only vaguely familiar with the constellations that hang above Great Barrier Island, known for centuries to the Māori as Aotea, some 56 nautical miles northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. I'm not all that used to seeing them so clearly,

The government said the plans would increase the number of England's official bathing sites to 464. An official bathing spot on the Thames in London would mark a "vast transformation" in water quality in the river which was declared biologically dead in the 1950s due to pollution, officials said. Water minister Emma Hardy said rivers and beaches were "at the heart of so many communities, where people come together, families make memories and swimmers of all ages feel the benefits of being outdoors safely".

This golden strip of sand, fringed by turquoise waters, is part of the popular Abel Tasman National Park on Tasman Bay (also known as Te Tai-o-Aorere) at the top of the South Island. Awaroa Beach is nothing if not beloved. So much so that in 2016, almost 40,000 Kiwis banded together to buy the beach from a private entity for more than $2 million and donated it to New Zealand's Department of Conservation.

Africa is home to 39 countries that claim a coastline, giving travelers plenty of beaches to choose from. You'll find everything from palm-studded postcard perfection in Mozambique to rugged cliffs that sank many a ship attempting to cross South African seas during early colonization expeditions.

For travelers looking to get to know the many-varied charms of the Golden State, discovering it through the best beaches in California is never a bad idea. The state's coastline spans a vast 3,427 miles after all. Among its 420 public beautiful beaches are plentiful opportunities to swim, lay out, look at tide pools, surf to your heart's content, or watch the sunset.

For decades, whale watching has been a seasonal ritual along the Sonoma Coast, drawing locals to wind-swept bluffs, binoculars in hand. Now the pastime has earned national notice: Travel + Leisure has declared Sonoma County the best place in the country to see whales. In a story published Feb. 3, the magazine said there is no better place in the United States for whale watching than the stretch of coastline from Bodega Bay to Gualala and no better time than now.

For decades, whale watching has been a seasonal ritual along the Sonoma Coast, drawing locals to wind-swept bluffs, binoculars in hand. Now the pastime has earned national notice: Travel + Leisure has declared Sonoma County the best place in the country to see whales. In a story published Feb. 3, the magazine said there is "no better place" in the United States for whale watching than the stretch of coastline

When the new Sydney Fish Market flung open its doors for the first time on Monday morning, one regular clientele was notably absent. There were no seagulls. And, by extension, no poo. I've been waiting 50 years for this, one man carrying several shopping bags told me as he exited the shiny new building. I couldn't bring friends here from Europe to sit out there [at the old market] with the birds and the shit.

It might be only 40 minutes by ferry from Brisbane, but when North Stradbroke Island, or Minjerribah, comes into focus - a soft line of bush, dunes and open water - and you roll off the barge, the city skyline feels like a sci-fi memory. It's no wonder that the locals and in-the-know Brisbanites guard this island with a conspiratorial hush.

"I've had my fair share of beach vacations, but I'm telling you, there's no place like Margaret River," Hardy, the vice president of Friends of the Cape to Cape Track, shares in his tour of his home region. "You don't have access to waves like this anywhere else in the world." While Hardy happens to be a seasoned local, he explains that it's still a wave for everyone, especially at spots like Gnarabup Beach, with plenty of surf schools around to show you the ropes.

This December, I was on the inaugural United flight from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Adelaide Airport (ADL), the first-ever direct flight connecting the U.S. and South Australia. The nearly 16-hour flight will be happening three days a week with United Economy, Premium Plus, and Polaris business-class seats available, making it easier than ever to reach this part of Australia.

On a cool, rainy afternoon in the wilds of Laikipia, Kenya, I am lying in savasana, or corpse pose, beside a log fire in the pool house of Enasoit Camp. The teacher, Laura Bunting, gently intones a yoga nidra to our small, all-female group, during which I slip in and out of a hypnotic half-light state, only vaguely aware of the sound of rain on the thatched roof and the percussive efforts of a nearby woodpecker.