Bal Harbour Beach in Florida

Beach Patrol, a photo by Mark A. Vargas on Flickr.

These women are health conscious. They seem to take a brisk walk on the wet sands of the beach at Bal Harbour. While they walk through the sand and the lashing small waves, they seem to enjoy talking and laughing too. That is a nice way to burn away some excess fat deposits and fight obesity.

Unlike the name suggests, Bal Harbour is a village Florida’s Miami-Dade County. Most of the traffic running south to north through Bal Harbour is Collins Avenue, that is, the Florida State Highway A1A.

Bal Harbour is an small but affluent Village that is home to Bal Harbour Shops, one of the richest shopping areas in the world in terms of revenue yield per square foot area. It is home to some of the topmost international designer brands. Interestingly, the neighboring Indian Creek boasted of the highest incomes in the United States in the late twentieth century.

Yoga and meditation at the beach

Photo above: Pavlina wearing G-strings tries to calm her nerves and soul sitting next to the waves, practicing Yoga at the beach.

Pinagbuyutan Private Beach: a young woman, wearing a blue thong, sitting on a beach and practicing Yoga

Anyone can find any number of articles on the history of bikini that invariably leads to all kinds of underwear, lingerie, swimsuits, bathing suits, etc. But these articles and historical write-ups are rather speculative, as they are written later than the periods of their origin and hence speculative and contradictory. Hence, the origin of the term G-string is also obscure.

According to some accounts, since the beginning of the 19th century, the term ‘geestring’ referred to the string which held the loincloth of Native Americans (American Indians), and later it referred to the narrow loincloth itself. But interestingly, or by coincidence, it structurally is the same as the G-strings (Konaan or Konakam) traditionally worn by the Indian men of the Indian subcontinent, especially Southern parts of India.

William Safire in his ‘Ode on a G-String’ quotes the usage of the word ‘G-string’ for loincloth by Harper's Magazine 15 years after Beadle's and suggested that the magazine confused the word with the musical term G-string (the string for the G note). Safire also mentions the opinion of linguist Robert Hendrickson that G (or gee) stands for groin, which was a taboo word at these times.

It may be a reference to the period when Britain was gripped in the strangleholds of Victorian Prudery, when even showing lowest parts of the legs of women were considered obscene, indecent and antisocial. The times were worse than the restrictions existing now in some Middle East countries. And there are stories that showing or talking about legs of anything, including legs of tables were against Victorian prudery and people used to make covers for table legs so that they are not naked (read A Criminal History of Mankind by Colin Wilson).

But Edgar Rice Burroughs dressed his fictional character, Tarzan, in a G-string for the first time in his book ‘The Son of Tarzan’ (1914, chapter 26). However, Korak, son of Tarzan, used a G-string before his father Tarzan did in the same book (chapter 20).

Kim Kardashian wet in spotted bikini

Photo: Heidi Montag in Mexico

This photo shot on a beach in Mexico shows Heidi Montag in bikini when she and Spencer Pratt spent some newlywed time there. Then it was back to work for Heidi as she was actually there to shoot a music video for her "Black Out." At that time the couple were married just days before in Pasadena.

Tunisia - Holiday at El Hana Beach

American Beaches

Till Light Breaks

Big Sur: Portal of the Sun

"This photo is a winner in the 2009 Nature's Best Ocean Views competition!", says the author of this wonderful photograph. He adds further as follows:

"The dim last light of a fading sun sets through a portal on California's Central Coast… This sea arch opening in a cliff face at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur allows large waves to come through at high tide before a big storm. The waves often fill the entire portal to the top, and the portal becomes a giant water shotgun! The Tufoni formations in the rock are incredible and should be seen in person. The sun was only like this for about 30 seconds so I had to work fast. Fortunately, the sunlight was dimmed by high clouds and low fog but there was still enough light to reflect onto the rock face from the cliff behind the camera. Usually, it is not possible to get this shot because the sun is WAY too bright." Click on the photo to go to the original photo and to see the rest of the great collection of his photos.

Tumon Beach, Guam, Micronesia

Tumon is an area located on the west coast of the American Island of Guam, an island in the Western Pacific Ocean and the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.

Lake Tahoe, California

Emerald Bay, one of a few bays in Lake Tahoe: Lake Tahoe is the third deepest lake in North America and the tenth deepest in the world - Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest at over 4,600 feet. Tahoe's deepest point is 1,645 feet near Crystal Bay. The average depth of Lake Tahoe is 989 feet. It is 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and covers a surface area of 191.6 square miles, and has 72 miles of shoreline. It is a freshwater lake.

California Beach

Priceless by Maria Daniela

Priceless, well that is the title given to this really priceless shot by the gifted photographer Maria Daniela. This is one such shot that I come across only once in a blue moon.

Sieving sand through my fingers

President Barack Obama at the Oil Spill

President Obama at the Oil Spill, originally uploaded by Greenpeace USA 2010.

President Barack Obama, National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, and Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph look at the effect the BP oil spill has had on Fourchon Beach in Port Fourchon, LA., May 28, 2010 - Official White House photo by Pete Souza.

The big question of 1953: nude beaches?

South Beach Beauties

Gorgeous South Beach Beauties - Exquisitely flat, slightly wide and thick muscular booties - 2oo9 JiMmY RocKeR PhoToGRaPhY, originally uploaded by jimmy-rocker.

Bikini girl at Sandy Beach, Hawaii

Bikini Babe at Sandy Beach, Hawaii !, originally uploaded by Hawaiian Sea.

Italian Girls in Hawaii

4 Italian Girls in Hawaii, originally uploaded by L S G.

Diamond Head, view from Rainbow Tower, Hawaii

Diamond Head - The most awesome view, originally uploaded by garyhymes.

Malibu Coastline

Malibu Coastline, originally uploaded by videoal.

The author of this photo says, "The City of Malibu, California was incorporated March 28, 1991. It has 21 miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean and its population is around 13,000. Malibu is home to many celebrities". True, from the photo itself one can make out how beautiful Malibu is, with its crystal clear beaches, emerald sea waves gently lapping the shore and the Eden-garden like landscape!

Thanks giving week in Miami South Beach

Surgeon General Advice for South Beach, originally uploaded by Ricardo Carreon.

This is a photo showing a funny notes for visitors, but there is news that two persons who were stranded high in the air aboard a stalled fair ride have been rescued after nearly an hour. Footage from media showed the riders turned horizontally in their seats, with their feet dangling above the fairgrounds. Around 2:45 the ride was shown slowly moving again toward the ground before the people got off. A spokeswoman from the fire department said a call came in at 1:54 PM on Tuesday to report the stalled ride at the Miami-Dade County Fair.

Yoga Stretch at Miami

Peaceful Stretch..., originally uploaded by eyecbeauty.

Ready to snorkel at Tunnels Beach

23 Elizabeth ready to snorkel at Tunnels Beach, originally uploaded by MiguelVieira.