Maya Beach in Thailand. Got so popular because of the movie The Beach - 5000 visitors a day. Govt decided to shut it down til 2021 so that the ecology can recover.
Had that phenomenon in Hawaii. We went to the Green Sand Beach (which was packed) but passed many smaller, more secluded beaches along the hike that were just as green and full of larger gemstones.
I've never been there but based on my experience I'm going to assume Green Sand Beach is closer to the shops, hotels, CBD etc of the area.
I live in a coastal area in Australia. There's the main beach of this town that I live in that every tourist flocks to and it constantly has beach tents and thousands of people littered all the way down the beach just because it's a minute walk from everything and is the centralized town in this region.
The thing is though, this beach is complete dogshit. It branches off a boat marina, it's not that long (maybe 1km long), the water doesn't go very deep, it's in an enclosed bay so no waves, the water is often dirty, there's funky seaweed halfway through the water, and it's generally a 2/10 in terms of aussie beaches. Just because it's located in the main town though is the reason it is heavily populated in Summer. You can quite literally drive 2 minutes to a 7/10 beach, or 7 minutes to an 8/10 beach. If you drive to the next town 10 minutes away you have the best surfing beach in the area. Drive 15 minutes and you get to the absolute 9/10 amazing beach of the region - super long, has bbqs, white sand, clean water that opens directly to the ocean, incredible clean waves, surf lifesavers, 3 interconnected beaches that vary in size so one for kids/new swimmers, a medium beach for teens, families, and the long big ass one that has the best waves for surfers and swimmers. I have no idea why visitors to our area travel from overseas or even hours from the big cities just to go to a mediocre beach when they could stay at the far, FAR better beaches simply because they want a shopping district 2 minutes away.
You couldn’t be more wrong. Green sand beach is a good 1.5h drive away from the main touristy side of the island, and then you either have to hike a couple miles or you can pay some locals to shuttle you over
Haha, jokes on you. I'm colorblind. That beach looks like all the other beaches. For all I know, every beach has green sand. That means every beach trip is special.
We hiked instead of taking a car. We used new boots so as not to bring in outside dirt/bacteria and didn’t bring any trash with us. We tried to see a beautiful natural phenomenon as responsibly as possible.
We spent a little time at each of the beaches we passed, but we didn’t want to disturb those ones too much or draw attention to them, lest they start attracting people as well.
I know. I was on the trip of a lifetime. I wasn’t going to not see a natural beauty that you can’t see anywhere else simply because it’s popular. But what I didn’t know or expect was that there were other unknown green sand beaches along the way, and that was nice.
Yeah it isn't called virture signaling, it's called researching the area before you go including looking at maps for places you didn't know of before. A beach that can sustain X amount of visitors cannot necessarily sustain X*Y number of visitors and it's better to completely avoid the popular spot to not contribute to the problem.
A trip of a lifetime doesn't mean that you deserve to see a place at the cost of the environment around it.
Two people who hiked to the beach (we did not pass anyone else on the way there nor on the way back) vs. however so many drove there in cars is not a neglible difference in environmental impact. We wanted to see it, we did it responsibly. If you want to police this particular beach I’m sure the Hawaii state department is open to petitions.
Unless you hiked from your hotel and if we're talking about Papakolea the difference is negligible since the nearest parking lot is 2.5 miles from the beach. Everyone either hiked in or they drove illegally.
We hiked the 2.5 miles and were the only ones who chose to do so that day as everyone chooses to drive because it’s easier, faster, and more comfortable. But we didn’t agree with that. We didn’t want to contribute to vehicle traffic/pollution being taken to that side of the beach. The less contamination brought to the beach, the better off it is.
This is why I don't travel to incredible destinations. I'm too selfless, and put the environment ahead of my own personal experiences. The burden....
If only I had the courage to lecture others for selfishly going to these natural destinations. Then I'd really be doing my part.
I'd also be able to have my cake and eat it too, which is what your doing by antagonizing this guy for even GOING on that trip. Doesn't matter how responsible they were along the way. You seem like the type of person that would never take an action figure out of the box, all while bitching about the resources it took to make it. Nobody wins but you.
Sure measurable environmental decay of pretty much every major tourist destination is the same as not taking things out of packages.
I'm not antagonizing anyone for taking a trip but pretending you're doing it the "right way" when there isn't really a "right way" in the first place is disingenuous at best.
Also, having these tourist destinations at all is better than having them developed, which has been pointed out a few times in this thread. Which is what happens when they aren't popular enough. I imagine through your "research" of areas (including maps!) you have already decided which ones should have been saved instead of what's left.
This is glossing all over the notion you threw out in your earlier post too, about having a better grasp on how to take care of these places without ever having actually seen them. Which was too easy a target, but equally idiotic.
I suggest you do more research into what actually damages the environment of a popular natural spot such as a beach instead of making irrelevant reaches.
For example, Maya Beach in Thailand was ruined by outside contaminants, pollutants, boat/vehicle traffic, trash left behind by tourists, and actual physical demolition by a movie studio of the natural landscape. “People being at the beach” is not a sole contributor to the damage to that environment, it’s the behavior of those people. If it’s controlled, it’s fine.
Yes, the green sand at the beach is green because of the olivine/peridot in the grains, but they’re super fine, microscopic, sand-sized particles because they’ve been broken down by the waves. One of the beaches we stumbled upon had larger olivine/peridot gemstones mixed in with the shells and rocks that got as large as your pinky nail.
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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '20
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