During our stay in Seville, Florida, my friends and I were looking to venture off premises to see a bit of the area. Our Airbnb host suggested we check out some of the natural, freshwater springs in the area.
She mentioned Salt Springs as one of her favorites because of the freshwater pits that we could explore. As soon as I heard we could free-dive into them and that there were even some little creatures we would find there, I was hooked! We had to go!
We packed up my car with snacks and headed there on our second day in Seville.
So many beaches, so little time. That may be what you're thinking as you consider the 15 beach access points I will describe in this post. But, honestly, all the beaches are easily accessed across 2 days in Grand Cayman.
The 7-Mile beaches are the most accessible and typically frequented by tourists visiting Grand Cayman. You can hit these up in a day with ease. But I encourage you to branch out. There are 4 additional parts of Grand Cayman to explore (West Bay, South Shore, Gun Bay, and North Side), all possible to see in a day's drive.
Every beach is unique from the other. Spoiler alert—all of them cost nothing to enjoy!
My Airbnb location on Oahu was literally steps from the North Shore beaches. And I took full advantage!
While staying near the town of Haliewa in January, I had the perfect vantage point from which to explore the many beaches of the North Shore. I easily fell right back into the island, beach-bum lifestyle that I had grown to love while exploring Ko Tao, Paihia, Niue, Bali, and other locations around the world.
The North Shore of Oahu is yet another location I have fallen in love with. The only conflict is that there are almost too many beach options! To help with this "problem," I've put together a list of what I think are the top 10 North Shore beaches, including their highlights.
View My Interactive Map of Oahu to easily locate all of these beaches and more!
Whales and dolphins bring in the majority of the few thousand tourists who visit Niue every year. This South Pacific island country and “coral atoll” has the ideal conditions for seeing (and hearing) these beautiful marine creatures who play within 50 meters off shore. It’s also one of the few places in the world allowing visitors the chance at getting in the water to swim with whales in their natural habitat!
The whales and dolphins were a bit too preoccupied to swim with us during my time in Niue. But I had an amazing experience seeing them almost every day and closer than I ever have before. I also became a bit of an expert on the tours offering the chance to swim with them. While the tour company we used turned out to be a huge disappointment, the other one we heard about may be your ticket to a better experience!
After over 4000km of driving up the East Coast from Melbourne, I made it to my final destination: Cairns, Queensland. I had spent the prior 10 days behind the wheel viewing sandy beaches and coastlines without the right weather conditions in which to indulge in a swim. Now that I had made it to the far North, the air was finally warm enough to allow for a dip in the sea.
But in Cairns there are no swimmable beaches. I assumed this coastal city would have plenty of sandy beaches like the rest of my East Coast drive. Oh no—it’s a muddy wasteland complete with dangerous creatures ready to attack anyone who enters the water! Luckily, Cairns more than makes up for its lack of beaches with tons of free beachside activities to choose from—including a salt water lagoon that easily became my favorite hang out in town.
As a solo traveler and generally independent person, I really, really enjoy my alone time. Most of my time spent traveling has been spent with other people. My adventures around New Zealand involved spending almost 24 hours a day camping, hiking, and driving with at least one other traveler.
It’s nice to share travel experiences in the moment with a companion. But not every moment. So how did I, as a solo traveler in New Zealand, get alone time away from my travel companions? I took a hike.
The tent was packed and our bellies were full with a carb- and protein- packed breakfast by the time dawn broke. The 2-hour drive ahead would take us on the scenic Takaka Valley Highway to the car park for the Abel Tasman hike—one of 9 New Zealand “Great Walks.” Birgit and I decided to walk in part of the way from the end of the track to spend the night at one of its pristine beaches on Anapai Bay.
The two days we chose to do the hike were sunny and hot. Despite the sweaty conditions, the hike was enjoyable due to native bush shading the trail and sandy beaches with cool ocean water toeing at our boots. The paradise-like features of Anapai beach and the comfortable camping conditions made Anapai Bay the best beach I have been to in all of New Zealand.
There was an excitement in the air each morning at the Big Bubble resort just after the sun had broke over the bay’s southern hills. Five of us divers would scramble to gather equipment and load it onto the small boat to carry out to the big boat where a large group of people would meet us from a neighboring resort. We’d travel out to our location, anchor up to the mooring, then jump in and descend.
After 3 days of these diving adventures, it was time to do something different. But I was not ready to leave the island yet. I ended up staying for an extra two nights. During this time, I got to experience more of the island life, connect with the local Thai people, swim and snorkel at the beaches, and celebrate a new friend’s birthday.
Considered the “capitol of northern Iceland,” Akureyri sits at the Eyjafjörður fjord and is the second largest city with just under 18,000 people. We decided to make it our first and only two-night stopover after Mývatn’s flies ran us out of town the night before. Fabrice and I had no plans except to make new friends again since the group we met the night before had split up and left town—Canada and England were traveling south and France, Germany, and Wales were traveling to the northwest fjords. We had a great experience hanging out with them so we were craving more interactions just like it. Good times with new people can be rather addicting!
Having missed out on the hot springs in Mývatn, we decided to go to the Akureyri public pools. While these were not exactly natural hot springs, they were a welcomed alternative to dealing with the flies! On the way to the pool, we got to witness a bit of the charm of Akureyri. Small parks and cute shops lined the streets.
![Attempting to swim with whales and dolphins in Niue [Video]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53b6ec86e4b09a1fb529c6b8/1489712629493-0EH4S87BJPDKFWE2WIH6/dolphinniue2.png)
