Do Americans ever go to the beach?
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I'm under the impression that you USians don't really partake in beach activities. Of course I'm not speaking to the weirdos from the square states
Like, supposedly, nobody goes to the beach much in NYC or surroundings. In fact the stereotypical retreat for Newyorkers is the Hamptons. Likewise, the Bay Area isn't really renowned for beachgoing. The only exceptions I can think of is SoCal and (parts of) Florida.
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@admiral_p People very much do go to the beach. Long Island beach is famous, as are many beaches down the Atlantic.
Now, on the other hand, beach-going is something most people do on vacation, and a beach vacation often involves a trip to Florida or California. Because cold-water beaches aren't tons of fun.
Remember that unlike Western Europe, the Atlantic state beaches are COLD. You are either on the Mediterranean (which is warm) or have the warm Gulf Stream flowing by. You have to get down to the Washington DC area before the water gets up to "normal" temperatures (80+ F).
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I'm under the impression that you USians don't really partake in beach activities.
Why?
Around here popular destinations are Rehoboth Beach (Delaware), Ocean City (Maryland), Virginia Beach (Pennsylvania), Outer Banks (North Carolina). Most people don't live super near but beach vacations are pretty common.
I've been in Hilton Head (South Carolina) and met people from Ohio and Michigan and New York who traveled there to golf and go to the beach.
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@Benjamin-Hall said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Remember that unlike Western Europe, the Atlantic state beaches are COLD. You are either on the Mediterranean (which is warm) or have the warm Gulf Stream flowing by. You have to get down to the Washington DC area before the water gets up to "normal" temperatures (80+ F).
Pacific beaches are much colder at similar latitudes.
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@boomzilla right. I was comparing beaches on the same body of water, but yeah. That's why beaches are the big draw of Hawaii and socal--they're actually warm enough. Not just the water, but the general climate.
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@boomzilla it's just that, for instance, in pop culture, the beach doesn't seem as prevalent as it is in the Latin countries. As I said, for instance, the stereotypical break for Newyorkers is back in the Hamptons. Besides, us (Southern) Italians living by the sea usually go to the beach (or even just rocks) even during workdays (of course, we usually work separate shifts, like 9-13/17-21) and the idea of going to the beach every day is quite normal. Even if you work one single shift, many people will just go for a dip after work, considering that it doesn't get dark till 20.30-21 in summer.
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@boomzilla said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@Benjamin-Hall said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Remember that unlike Western Europe, the Atlantic state beaches are COLD. You are either on the Mediterranean (which is warm) or have the warm Gulf Stream flowing by. You have to get down to the Washington DC area before the water gets up to "normal" temperatures (80+ F).
Pacific beaches are much colder at similar latitudes.
Yup. Bay area beaches are typically wet (or dry) suit required type temperatures. Plus the normal coastal fog keeps the air temperature rather cool. But Santa Cruz is still a popular place. (also remember that much of NorCal coasts involve steep rock faces dropping to beaches that disappear at high tide!)
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@boomzilla it's just that, for instance, in pop culture, the beach doesn't seem as prevalent as it is in the Latin countries. As I said, for instance, the stereotypical break for Newyorkers is back in the Hamptons.
What you've ignored at least twice is that the tempeture of the water isn't exactly enticing. Another reason American's probably don't rate it as highly is the distance away from the beach. In Italy you're probably no more than hour and a half away from a beach nomatter where you live. In America most of the country is a few hours away.
The Irish don't go in for beaches much either. Mostly because the water around our island is akin to an ice bath most of the year. We tend to go nice sunny places with beaches on holiday though.
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@DogsB said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
What you've ignored at least twice is that the tempeture of the water isn't exactly enticing. Another reason American's probably don't rate it as highly is the distance away from the beach. In Italy you're probably no more than hour and a half away from a beach nomatter where you live. In America most of the country is a few hours away.
Yeah. However, if you do (during beach weather) go it's probably packed.
@Benjamin-Hall said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
socal--they're actually warm enough. Not just the water, but the general climate.
The climate is for sure. You're lucky if the water gets up to 70 at the height of summer. For instance, Surf City, USA:
Huntington Beach sea temperatures peak in the range 18 to 22°C (64 to 72°F) on around the 3rd of September and are at their coldest on about the 3rd of February, in the range 13 to 16°C (55 to 61°F). The warmest Huntington Beach sea temperatures at the start of September require something like a 3/2mm fully sealed wetsuit. The coldest sea temperatures at Huntington Beach at the start of February are ideally suited to a 4/3mm wetsuit + 3mm boots, although a 5/3mm wetsuit may be preferable for longer sessions and cold windy days.
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@DogsB said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
What you've ignored at least twice is that the tempeture of the water isn't exactly enticing.
I agree this is probably a major part of it, and one people underestimate almost all the time. I live within about 5 minutes’ walk of a beach (that I hardly ever go to, and when I do, it’s not to lie on it) but every year, the tourists who flock here in droves make the same mistake: when the weather is nice (15–20 degrees, sunshine) in April or May, they decide to take the plunge — and come running back out of the water because it’s so cold. It takes until June–July for the water to get warm enough to be comfortable, and this is with us being on the end of the Gulf Stream.
Of course, at the same time most of the tourists who come here in autumn don’t even think about taking a swim because they think the water will be cold, when in fact it’s still quite warm at that time.
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@DogsB in the other hand, the coasts are populous and people don't necessarily have to swim in the water (many don't here, they just soak in the sun or go in knee-deep). But I didn't ignore it, in fact I didn't know that the water was so cold even at latitudes as low (high?) as New York or SF. But what about Texas? The Gulf of Mexico?
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@boomzilla it's just that, for instance, in pop culture, the beach doesn't seem as prevalent as it is in the Latin countries.
You've never seen Baywatch?
Beaches are crazy crowded up and down the east coast.
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
in fact I didn't know that the water was so cold even at latitudes as low (high?) as New York or SF.
Just looked it up... In SF, the ocean actually gets as high as 60F/16C
The temperatures, given in both degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Celsius, are long-term averages.
The water is measured at Fort Point, which is near the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge and at the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
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@admiral_p Of course they're going to the beach. Utah, Omaha...
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@heterodox said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@boomzilla said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Virginia Beach (Pennsylvania)
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Are they not close together?
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I'm under the impression that you USians don't really partake in beach activities.
Are you also under the impression that a significant portion of America is beach and do find it strange that Americans aren't naturally doing beach things?
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@Jaloopa said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@heterodox said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@boomzilla said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Virginia Beach (Pennsylvania)
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Are they not close together?
They're like, three fingers away on the map!
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@Tsaukpaetra lengths or widths?
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
they just soak in the sun
Come to Arizona, there's plenty of not-a-beach area for you to do that.
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I'm under the impression Canadians don't partake in beach activities either.
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@Tsaukpaetra as I said: except the weirdos in the square states. And by extension, all those states which are inland. A large part (most?) of the population of the US is, predictably, along the coast.
So, take out Washington (the state) and Oregon, far up north. Take out all the states north of New York. Anyway, such pissy replies. Take it easy, sheesh!
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Of course they don't, you can't drive a mobility scooter in the sand.
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
as I said: except the weirdos in the square states
I don't understand what that means.
@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
And by extension, all those states which are inland.
Can't extend an understanding from confusion. Though some entities here might try to convince otherwise.
@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
A large part (most?) of the population of the US is, predictably, along the coast
Citation? Maybe that's why the city I live in seems essentially deserted...
@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Anyway, such pissy replies.
Start with a pissy assumption and get upset at pissy replies.
@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Take it easy, sheesh!
You realize what category you posted to, right?
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Anyway, such pissy replies.
Yeah, I've pissed in the ocean, too.
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@Benjamin-Hall said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Remember that unlike Western Europe, the Atlantic state beaches are COLD. ... You have to get down to the Washington DC area before the water gets up to "normal" temperatures (80+ F).
We have rather different definitions of COLD and "normal". The warmest ocean water in California is in San Diego in August, where it gets up to maybe 75 (historical average is 72), in the warm, sheltered water of the bay. The warmest open-water temperatures are 68–70. Northern California water temperatures don't get above about 62.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
as I said: except the weirdos in the square states
I don't understand what that means.
I assume he's referring to Colorado and Wyoming, which are rectangular, not square (ignoring the distortion due to being "latitude-longitude rectangles", not true, planar rectangles), and very far inland.
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@Benjamin-Hall said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
the Atlantic state beaches are COLD
And usually smell of rotting crustaceans.
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@DogsB said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
In Italy you're probably no more than hour and a half away from a beach nomatter where you live. In America most of the country is a few
hoursdays away.FTFY
I live in the Midwest and it is a ~12 hour drive to the closest ocean. But we go to freshwater beaches quite often.
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I'm under the impression that you USians don't really partake in beach activities. Of course I'm not speaking to the weirdos from the square states
Like, supposedly, nobody goes to the beach much in NYC or surroundings. In fact the stereotypical retreat for Newyorkers is the Hamptons. Likewise, the Bay Area isn't really renowned for beachgoing. The only exceptions I can think of is SoCal and (parts of) Florida.Oh dear. How shall I explain this?
Let me tell you about something that the late Mrs Cynic said to me one time.
Background: She was born in El Paso, TX, and lived in various parts of the south-west corner of the US - Texas (duh), New Mexico, various bits of California - before moving (before I met her) to Massachusetts. The reasons for the move aren't relevant, but get caught up in something called "Palace Chase".
Anyway, she was flummoxed by a number of things that people did in the Boston end of Massachusetts, as compared to what people did in California, and one of those things was what people meant by "going to the beach".
So when some people asked her where the beach was (this was well inland, in Framingham or Natick, somewhere like that), she looked surprised and told them that they'd have to go out to the Cape (Cape Cod, duh). When she told a co-worker about how strange a question this was, the answer was, "Well why didn't you tell them how to get to the lake?"
Why? Well, because, as she related it, to those people (and as I heard it in other parts of the north-east, specifically Endicott, NY), "going to the beach" might mean an oceanic beach, or it might mean what she (in West Coast vocabulary) would have called "the lakeside".
Remember that even in the non-square states, very large quantities of each state are long distances from the ocean. Endicott is about 150 miles from NYC, so going to an oceanic beach for the afternoon is less than totally practical, but the "beach" at the lakeside in the county park (Broome County, duh) is quite feasible.
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@Zecc said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I'm under the impression Canadians don't partake in beach activities either.
Can you call it a beach if it's a bunch of sand that butts up against solid ice?
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@Zecc said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I'm under the impression Canadians don't partake in beach activities either.
Allow me to link this illustrative animation:
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@Steve_The_Cynic said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Endicott is about 150 miles from NYC, so going to an oceanic beach for the afternoon is less than totally practical
Even here in Silly Valley, where the ocean is just over 30 miles (50 km) away, it's an hour drive over a mountain road that is frequently the scene of accidents, landslides (mostly in the winter rains), and heavy congestion; that one hour drive may be two hours on nice summer weekends. SF Bay is much closer, but it doesn't have much in the way of beaches; wharves, mud flats and salt evaporation ponds make up most of the shoreline. For lakes, I can think of a couple of tiny man-made lakes in city parks, one of which has a tiny swimming beach — which is sometimes closed due to some nasty skin irritant — fungus, or something; I'm not sure what — in the water. (Also, the water is contaminated by mercury; fishing is allowed, but you can't eat your catch.) Other lakes are reservoirs, which are generally closed to swimming, although some allow boating.
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@HardwareGeek said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
For lakes, I can think of a couple of tiny man-made lakes in city parks, one of which has a tiny swimming beach — which is sometimes closed due to some nasty skin irritant — fungus, or something; I'm not sure what — in the water.
Likely a sudden growth of cyanobacteria as they produce toxins.
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@JBert Could be. It's been almost 9 years since I lived close enough to that lake to care, and I don't remember any more.
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The nearest beach is something like 1500 miles away from me.
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I'm under the impression that you USians don't really partake in beach activities.
They do. I saw it in a documentary once.
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@loopback0 Not to forget about the documentary of the other side of the USA:
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Like, supposedly, nobody goes to the beach much in NYC or surroundings.
I haven't read the rest of the thread...so probably
ed but 
.When I fist moved to NYC, I had never been to an NYC beach but once married to my husband we go to Rockaway Beach (in Queens) most weekends over the summer.
That area was devastated by Hurricane Sandy and took some time to rebuild. So which specific beach we go to has changed over the years and Rockaway versus Far Rockaway (both are on the same island but just opposite ends). There are often surfers on a section.
One summer, a weekend after a hurricane, the wouldn't allow swimming but still allowed surfers. If you had a board you could go into the water. My husband walk back to where the shops are until he could find a couple boogie boards so we could spend some time in the water.
Normal (as much as you can consider me normal), NYers, rather than celebrities and other reality TV go to beaches in NYC. I personally have never been to the Hamptons or the Jersey Shore (ok, I was the Jersey Shore once--but because I was doing a seminar at a hotel right on the beach).
I love the ocean, I love waves, and while I don't tolerate heat very well, being at the beach makes up for it.
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@Karla said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I love the ocean, I love waves, and while I don't tolerate heat very well, being at the beach makes up for it.
The best part of all is when you're on a quiet beach (doesn't have to be sandy either) and can can just stand there and watch and listen to the waves come in. Big waves thundering in, little waves making slight chuckling noises, they're all great…
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@dkf said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
The best pawt of aww is when you'we on a quiet beach (doesn't have to be sandy eithew) and can can just stand thewe and watch and wisten to the waves come in. Big waves thundewing in, wittwe waves making swight chuckwing nyoises, they'we aww gweat…
I've always wondered at this. Never did see the appeal of ocean noise myself...
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@dkf said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
The best part of all is when you're on a quiet beach (doesn't have to be sandy either)
Since you’re from the UK, your choice of beaches to go to would be severely limited if you did insist it to be a sandy one.
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@Gurth said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
Since you’re from the UK, your choice of beaches to go to would be severely limited if you did insist it to be a sandy one.
It depends on which coast. Some are sand, some are rocks, some are pebbles, and some are mud. Muddy coasts aren't much fun, even though they're very good for wildlife.
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@dkf my basic understanding is that the only beaches worth going to for actually bathing are basically those on the Channel. I've been to Redcar or Scarborough countless times (my mum's from up North) and not only the temperatures are low, but the water is gray.
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I've been to Redcar or Scarborough countless times (my mum's from up North) and not only the temperatures are low, but the water is gray.
Yeah but if your main examples of British beaches are Redcar and Scarborough then you're on the wrong beaches.
At the very least there are several good beaches on the Norfolk/Suffolk, Welsh or Cornish coasts.
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
I've been to Redcar or Scarborough countless times (my mum's from up North) and not only the temperatures are low, but the water is gray.
The sea temperatures tend to be better on the west side, but it's a very different coastline.
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@admiral_p said in Do Americans ever go to the beach?:
@Tsaukpaetra as I said: except the weirdos in the square states. And by extension, all those states which are inland. A large part (most?) of the population of the US is, predictably, along the coast.
So, take out Washington (the state) and Oregon, far up north. Take out all the states north of New York. Anyway, such pissy replies. Take it easy, sheesh!
Again probably
but no. Even in NYC it is 90 - 120 min train ride or 50 min drive with horrible parking.The rest of New York State is even further.
