Category — Beaches

Islands rank high in travel daydreams. Everyone has a list of islands. Travel and Leisure’s 2008 Best Islands is one of the most recent, but if you want to really delve into island dreams,  National Geographic Traveler’s Nov/Dec 2006 issue listed 111 of the best islands and archipelagos and ranked them in terms of sustainable stewardship.

It’s a little light on iconic tropical beaches-the 522 experts polled found that crowds and cruise ships can kill and island quickly. I don’t know how many of these picks have since been defiled by development (the article ran in 2006), but it is great daydream fodder. I’m clearly island deficient-of the 111 ranked, I’ve only seen 15. 

 Islands Magazine has several  island lists:  Check out the 23 best islands for snorkeling , the best islands for art , and, if you want to dream really big, the best islands to live on.

Though it’s less than an hour south of San Francisco and hour west of Silicon Valley, the stretch of Highway One along the California coast between San Francisco and Santa Cruz seems oddly remote. The drive passes windswept beaches, foggy canyons, and solitary lighthouses, but only one or two small towns.

Although sunbathing is likely to be out of the question, nature conspires to make this stretch of wild seaside particularly attractive in late winter. If your timing is right and luck is with you, you could score the California coast wildlife trifecta: elephant seals, gray whales, and monarch butterflies.

This is pup time at the 4,000 acre Ano Nuevo State Reserve elephant seal rookery. Visitors are greeted by a cacophonous symphony of squealing, grunting, and roaring elephant seals on ranger lead guided walks through the elephant seal breeding grounds during the breeding season (December through March.) The males battle for mates on the beaches and the females give birth to their young on the dunes. The elephant seals are unperturbed by humans, so the guided walks get remarkably close to these huge animals. [Read more →]