usvi-on-line
Hauling stuff to the beach..how do YOU do it?
We don't normally bring in chairs or food, because we don't hang out on the beach. We are either in the water or at the villa. John carries in our snorkel gear and towels in a medium size wide-mouth duffle bag from LL bean.
I carry a backpack that has our cameras, bottled water, all our sunscreens, bug juice, an extra hat each, and t-shirts to wear into the water. I also carry a couple of gallon size ziplocs, which I put our wet t-shirts into when we are ready to leave.
If I know we are going to more than one beach in a day, I put extra t-shirts, towels, and rinsing water (empty bottles of water refilled from the tap) for my hair and John's feet in the back of the jeep and then change out the backpack between beaches.
I carry a backpack that has our cameras, bottled water, all our sunscreens, bug juice, an extra hat each, and t-shirts to wear into the water. I also carry a couple of gallon size ziplocs, which I put our wet t-shirts into when we are ready to leave.
If I know we are going to more than one beach in a day, I put extra t-shirts, towels, and rinsing water (empty bottles of water refilled from the tap) for my hair and John's feet in the back of the jeep and then change out the backpack between beaches.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
-
Jumbiegirl
- Posts: 301
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:30 pm
- Location: Holland, MI
I just love this thread - it made me laugh because its just like us. We have sometimes wished there were "beach Sherpas" to carry our stuff. We are the type that (usually) like to take all the conveniences to the beach, including chairs, food and books if we plan to hang out on the beach.
We bought a net/backpack combo at our local dive shop. It fits all the snorkel gear for the 2 of us (we have big fins and booties, inflatable vests and skins, so its bulky), plus has pockets for lotion and other small things. It is a great pack, but a bit heavy. (Hubby lifts weights for exercise so he carries it.) You can also carry it like a normal gear bag if you don't want it on your back. If we are going for the day, we take a soft-sided cooler that is in the shape of a big beachbag. Its nice because it has shoulder straps. We'll take sandwiches, fruit, snacks and plenty of water and ice cold drinks. If we take chairs, then we just take one beach towel since we dry our faces with the towel, then air dry our bodies.
When we hiked to the beach at Waterlemon the first time last year, we weren't sure how difficult a hike it would be, so we minimized our stuff. Turns out it was easy and not that long, but would be a pain if you carried a bunch of stuff. We just took snorkel gear, lotion, towel, nuts and water because we didn't plan to hang out there. Turns out that beach was very crowded that day, compared to every place else we went (even by STJ standards), so we were just as happy to leave after our (wonderful) snorkel and go out to lunch. Other beaches we went to were very short walks from the parking lot (Trunk, Hawksnest, Francis, Lameshure), so carrying stuff was not a problem. I would like a Sherpa for the trek to Honeymoon where we spent a very nice day, but its a pretty good walk from Caneel.
I carry a big bottle of partially frozen water in an insulated "water bottle pack" that has a strap for easy carrying whether we are hiking, shopping or touring.
We are considering taking our full foot fins which are smaller and lighter on this trip to lighten the load.
Jayseadee - your comment about not being able to fit your day stuff into carry-on made me laugh. I've wondered how people go with just carry-on.
Chrisn - I am also a beach bag junkie, but I think its genetic because my mom is also a "bag lady".
We bought a net/backpack combo at our local dive shop. It fits all the snorkel gear for the 2 of us (we have big fins and booties, inflatable vests and skins, so its bulky), plus has pockets for lotion and other small things. It is a great pack, but a bit heavy. (Hubby lifts weights for exercise so he carries it.) You can also carry it like a normal gear bag if you don't want it on your back. If we are going for the day, we take a soft-sided cooler that is in the shape of a big beachbag. Its nice because it has shoulder straps. We'll take sandwiches, fruit, snacks and plenty of water and ice cold drinks. If we take chairs, then we just take one beach towel since we dry our faces with the towel, then air dry our bodies.
When we hiked to the beach at Waterlemon the first time last year, we weren't sure how difficult a hike it would be, so we minimized our stuff. Turns out it was easy and not that long, but would be a pain if you carried a bunch of stuff. We just took snorkel gear, lotion, towel, nuts and water because we didn't plan to hang out there. Turns out that beach was very crowded that day, compared to every place else we went (even by STJ standards), so we were just as happy to leave after our (wonderful) snorkel and go out to lunch. Other beaches we went to were very short walks from the parking lot (Trunk, Hawksnest, Francis, Lameshure), so carrying stuff was not a problem. I would like a Sherpa for the trek to Honeymoon where we spent a very nice day, but its a pretty good walk from Caneel.
I carry a big bottle of partially frozen water in an insulated "water bottle pack" that has a strap for easy carrying whether we are hiking, shopping or touring.
We are considering taking our full foot fins which are smaller and lighter on this trip to lighten the load.
Jayseadee - your comment about not being able to fit your day stuff into carry-on made me laugh. I've wondered how people go with just carry-on.
Chrisn - I am also a beach bag junkie, but I think its genetic because my mom is also a "bag lady".
-
Xislandgirl
- Posts: 4163
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:03 pm
- Location: Slightly left of center
Marybeth if you are a bag whore than I must be the "madame" of the house.
I have well over 60 purses and bags and I am always looking for more. I told Chip that I needed a new backpack for beach stuff for vacation. I will not repeat what he said, although I did buy one from e-bay with my bonus from work. shhhh, he will never know.
I have well over 60 purses and bags and I am always looking for more. I told Chip that I needed a new backpack for beach stuff for vacation. I will not repeat what he said, although I did buy one from e-bay with my bonus from work. shhhh, he will never know.
Beach Packing
We take the minimalist route also. Leave the chairs home. Leave a well stocked cooler in the car. A couple of mid size back-packs are more that enough to carry snorkels, fins, masks, towels and cameras. Two to four bottles of water in the outside pockets and perhaps a couple of snack bars. Voila!
So glad to hear we are not the only ones with this dilemma (which gets worse as we get older). In addition to the chairs, cooler, snorkel equipment, books, lotion etc, we also carry two beach umbrellas. We tend to spend the entire day at the beach and cannot be directly in the sun all that time. Last year when we came back we saw a beach cart with very large wheels. We bought it and saved the box and are thinking we might ship it down next time.
-
MarciaMarciaMarcia
- Posts: 159
- Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:02 pm
- Location: Cape Ann, Massachusetts
See? I knew marrying an ass would come in handy! I'm TOTALLY kidding honey! No, the truth is he loves to carry the stuff. Since we eat and drink with abandon on vacation he looks at it as exercise. He carries the collapsable cooler and beach bag with towels/ books and sunscreen. That's heavy! I carry our two chairs. The teen carries the snorkle gear for 4 and his own chair and the tween carries his own chair and whatever other amusements (frisbees, floats, etc.) It's a good system.
-
traveler22
- Posts: 853
- Joined: Fri Dec 29, 2006 5:17 pm
- Location: New Jersey
We were just there in January and missed our back pack chair that the princess and I use during the summer at the Jersey shore. The last day of our trip we stop to see St. John Ruth at her stores to get the kids stuff and she had two backpack chairs in the corner for I think $22 each. If we knew that we would have brought them the first day and donated them to the villa we stayed at. I do think this is a great suggestion to villa owners for beach chairs. We also used the lind point trail down to Salomon and Honeymoon and the a fairly large backpack usually does the trick.
Scott
Scott
Here's what I do:
Snorkel gear is in a sling-style gear bag (mask, fins, booties, defog, sunscreen and towel usually fit in). If the towel doesn't fit, I put it over my shoulders, then the bag on that to help prevent sunburn and chafing.
I carry another sling bag (one slung each direction) or fanny pack that holds my book, camera, wallet, bottled water and/or small snacks.
If you're counting, that means both hands are still free and I've already got most of the stuff I need.
A couple of us haul the chairs and the other couple of us tote the cooler. (All the drinks and all the snacks go in the cooler with frozen bottled water doubling as ice and drinks.)
Snorkel gear is in a sling-style gear bag (mask, fins, booties, defog, sunscreen and towel usually fit in). If the towel doesn't fit, I put it over my shoulders, then the bag on that to help prevent sunburn and chafing.
I carry another sling bag (one slung each direction) or fanny pack that holds my book, camera, wallet, bottled water and/or small snacks.
If you're counting, that means both hands are still free and I've already got most of the stuff I need.
A couple of us haul the chairs and the other couple of us tote the cooler. (All the drinks and all the snacks go in the cooler with frozen bottled water doubling as ice and drinks.)
Jennifer
My husband carries two beach chairs, neat sheet, two towels, two sets of snorkel gear in an over-sized duffel bag. We each wear a fanny pack with our water bottles. I carry a small softsided cooler with a few beverages and light snacks or sandwiches....
This has worked well for us. We do leave the chairs home when we go to more remote locations (e.g., Brown Bay)
This has worked well for us. We do leave the chairs home when we go to more remote locations (e.g., Brown Bay)
