10 of the best beaches near airports

Grab some sun during a layover

Talk about close to the airport: Dockweiler Beach lies directly under the LAX flight path. 

Sleep pods, beauty spas and gourmet restaurants are all well and good for passing time during a layover, but some major airports go one better.

They've got a beach.

Well, almost. They've got a beach that's just a short hop from the terminal, allowing adventurous travelers to soak up some sunshine and surf while waiting for their next flight.

Here are the best sands within striking distance of some of the world's biggest business hubs.

Superstorm Sandy six months on

A home destroyed by Hurricane Sandy six months on as it was left by the superstorm, in Mantoloking, New Jersey
Picture: EPA

Natural World Phenomena

From the vivid colors of a beautiful hot spring to a random rock formation that looks just like an elephant - these are the extraordinary phenomenons of the natural world. The outlandish landscapes might look like something from another planet but they are in fact completely natural eccentricities. And while these mind-blowing quirks of Mother Nature might continue to puzzle scientists, they also continue to draw in tourists fascinated by the surreal spectacles.

The Puente del Inca natural rock bridge in Argentina - Bright orange and yellow bacteria mats are created by natural sulphur springs which cover the rock walls. PIC BY STEFFEN AND ALEXANDRA SAILER / ARDEA / CATERS NEWS

Italy's Mount Etna erupts

Lava flowed during an eruption of the snow capped Mount Etna volcano, near the Sicilian town of Catania, southern Italy, on Apr. 11.

Ground Zero View

The view of the Manhattan skyline from the observation platform on the 100th floor of One World Trade Center at the Ground Zero site in New York City. One World Observatory, which is situated more than 1,250 feet over lower Manhattan, will open to the public in 2015 and will include a pre-show theater, multiple spaces that allow for panoramas of the New York City region and numerous dining options. When completed, One World Trade Center will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 1776 feet.

Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Hanging Bridge in the Zillertal Alps

A family is spotted crossing the Drahsteg pedestrian hanging bridge in the Zillertal Alps in Austria. The Zillertal Alps are a mountain range of the Central Eastern Alps on the border of Austria and Italy. The range is named after the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) on its north.

The range is bounded by the Tuxerjoch mountain pass to the north (separating it from the Tux Alps); the Birnlücke – Forcella del Picco pass to the east (separating it from the Hohe Tauern); the Eisack and its tributary the Rienz to the south (separating it from the Southern Limestone Alps); and the Brenner Pass to the west (separating it from the Stubai Alps). 

Harbin International Ice Festival

The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival has been held since 1963. It had been interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution but had been resumed by 1985.

Harbin is located in Northeast China under the direct influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia. The average temperature in summer is 21.2 degrees Celsius, -16.8 degrees Celsius in winter. Annual low temperatures below -35C are not uncommon.

Macro Insects Photography

Nature is an endless inspiration for designers, photographers and artists alike. After all, nature has managed to create a complex self-sustaining system of life supporting millions of species over billions of years that has given rise to some of the most beautiful and elegant living beings that we have ever gazed our eyes upon. Evolution has resulted in transforming these living beings over the course of several millions of years. Today, there are literally millions of species of plants, animals and insects that inhabit the blue planet. And it is beyond the scope of our comprehension about how each one of these species are so unique in terms of its appearance and behavior. They are unique in terms of their organization, the way they protect their own species and also by trying to survive using complex defensive tactics that we are yet to fathom completely.

Despite their reputation as pests, the trillions of insects, bugs, and spiders that inhabit the Earth can make some of the most fascinating and dramatic close-up photography subjects.  Insects and their tiny environments offer the macro photographer an unlimited amount of color, texture, and physical architecture to explore.  They are as unique as we are, and they are obviously much more plentiful.

A Desert Oasis in Libya

In this jaw-dropping aerial by George Steinmetz, we see the volcanic crater of Wau al Namus (‘hole of mosquitoes’) in southern Libya. Steinmetz says of the photo:

“This massive (and apparently dormant) volcano can be easily be seen in satellite views of Southern Libya, as a large black smear in the wind-scoured sands of the Sahara. The inner crater is bordered by a chain of small salt lakes which are sumps for the r w (seemingly potable, at least they tasted okay to me before I spat out a handful of brackish water from a depression adjacent to a palm tree) spring waters that feed the craters vegetation. Outside the outer rim of the crater are small black dunes of windblown volcanic ejecta. The winds here were very strong, at sunrise they were averaging over 60 kph at 300m above the rim of the outer crater, and about 20 kph at ground level.”

This is just one of 150 incredible photos from Steinmetz’s latest book Desert Air, the first comprehensive photographic collection of the world’s “extreme deserts,” which receive less than four inches of precipitation per year. George has spent 15 years on this epic body of work, capturing beautiful visions of deserts, from China’s great Gobi Desert to the Sahara in northern Africa to Death Valley in California. You can find even more images from the book on George’s official site.

Titanic’s Engines Underwater

This is one of the many incredible images highlighted in National Geographic’s feature story entitled, “Unseen Titanic“. The story first appeared in the April edition of National Geographic magazine and is now available online.

In this underwater photo we see two of Titanic’s engines lying exposed in a gaping cross section of the stern. They are draped in “rusticles”—orange stalactites created by iron-eating bacteria. It’s remarkable to imagine these massive structures, four stories tall, once powering the largest moving man-made object on Earth.

Turkey Roasting Tips

Let's dispense with the regular turkey gobbledygook that permeates the media at this time of year and get down to basics: You've got a big, raw bird sitting in your fridge, a bunch of guests coming with holiday-high expectations in tow, and you need help. Sure, you may have heard all kinds of rules, lore, and even a few horror stories, but here's what you really need to know to successfully roast a turkey on Thanksgiving. 

1. Don't Wash the Turkey

This directive alone will probably shock you. And it holds true for chicken, too. Would you believe it comes directly from the super-cautious folks at the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a division of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)? They've been advocating sparing your birds a bath for several years. 

Here's why: The moment you run water on your poultry, you start spewing a mist of unwanted pathogens all over the sink and nearby items, such as your dish rack, where clean plates and flatware are probably air-drying. You probably think you are washing bacteria off the bird--but you aren't. Instead, the easiest and most effective way to eliminate bacteria is to kill them in the heat of the oven. So get that bird onto the rack in your roasting pan, and then dry it inside and out with paper towels. Or if you're brining your bird, put it directly into its salt bath (more on that next). 

And don't forget to wash every surface the turkey or its juices might have touched. Use hot soapy water, and it doesn't hurt to follow up with disinfectant. When that's done, wash your hands well with warm soapy water. Pretend you're a surgeon prepping for an operation, and scrub both sides of your hands and under your nails. 

Turbines Above the Fog

Redditor and iron worker iron_mike34 took this amazing shot from a height of approximately 325 ft, as he stands atop the nacelle, which is the cover housing that contains all of the generating components in a wind turbine. This includes things like the generator, gearbox and drive train.

To get to the nacelle, workers must scale ladders which are located on the inside of the wind turbine. There’s a resting platform about every 60 ft. iron_mike34 took this shot on a particularly foggy day in Bishop Hill, Illinois.

Observable Universe in Perspective

The age of the universe is about 13.75 billion years. The diameter of the observable universe is estimated at about 28 billion parsecs (93 billion light-years). As a reminder, a light-year is a unit of length equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres (or about 6 trillion miles).

The Observable Universe consists of the galaxies and other matter that we can, in principle, observe from Earth in the present day—because light (or other signals) from those objects has had time to reach the Earth since the beginning of the cosmological expansion.

The word observable used in this sense does not depend on whether modern technology actually permits detection of radiation from an object in this region (or indeed on whether there is any radiation to detect). It simply indicates that it is possible in principle for light or other signals from the object to reach an observer on Earth. 

The numbers are pretty hard to comprehend even when you know what each unit represents. To even think of how long 10 trillion kilometers might be, let alone 93 billion times that distance, can cause your brain to hurt. Andrew Z. Colvin has attempted to put some of this incomprehensible size into perspective by starting with our own planet and zooming out from there.

World's Most Endangered Species

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna – Tuna is perhaps the most high profile victim of unregulated and uncontrolled overfishing. Bluefin tuna populations have declined alarmingly over the past few decades. World Wildlife Fund has put together a top 10 list of endangered species to be on the look-out for in 2012. 

World Wildlife Fund has published a top 10 list of endangered species, which includes the Javan rhinoceros, along with the Asian elephant. Twenty-five species of monkeys, langurs, lemurs and gorillas are also on the brink of extinction and need global action to protect them from increasing deforestation and illegal trafficking. Help protect their future by visiting www.WorldWildlife.org/how to see what you can do to make a difference for our planet.

Mount Fuji From Above

In this jaw-dropping photograph we see the majestic Mount Fuji soaring above the clouds. The picture, along with two others (that are equally amazing), was posted to the Chinese website news.mydrivers.com. I was unable to find the name of the photographer but this aerial capture was too incredible not to share.

Located on Honshu Island, Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776.24 meters (12,389 ft). Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707-8. Located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Tokyo, the mountain can be seen from the metropolis on a clear day.

The mountain’s symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and is frequently depicted in art and photography. It is one of Japan’s “Three Holy Mountains” along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. 

Most Famous Photograph in the World

Recognize this photo? It’s the default wallpaper for Microsoft Windows XP. Released in 2001, there were over 400 million copies in use as of January 2006 (not including pirated copies). Now imagine how many friends, family members, work colleagues and people using public workstations have no doubt used a computer or peered over someone’s shoulder with this very same desktop background.

It’s easy to assume that the image has been seen billions of times the world over. While many may have assumed this image was computer generated, or some kind of composite digital manipulation; it’s indeed a real location, shot by a real photographer who stakes his professional career that it wasn’t enhanced or manipulated.

Tropical Storm Isaac from Space at Night

Early on August 28, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of Tropical Storm Isaac and the cities near the Gulf Coast of the United States. The image was acquired just after local midnight by the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses light intensification to enable the detection of dim signals. In this case, the clouds of Isaac were lit by moonlight. 

Hurricane Isaac was downgraded to a tropical storm earlier today but continues to impact Louisiana with heavy rains and ferocious winds. Isaac started losing strength earlier in the day with sustained winds of 75 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. Late Wednesday afternoon, Isaac was located about 50 miles west southwest of New Orleans moving to the northwest at 6 mph. Widespread flooding was reported in New Orleans and other coastal cities. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu issued a curfew for the city, set to start Wednesday night and last until further notice.

Morning View from Washburn Point, Yosemite

The shot was was taken in the early morning, just down the road from Glacier Point. Many commenters were also quick to draw comparisons of this incredible landscape shot to the popular video game Skyrim.

Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in the central eastern portion of California, United States. The park covers an area of 761,268 acres (3,080.74 km2) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Over 3.7 million people visit Yosemite each year and it was designated a World Heritage Site in 1984. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness.

For more pictures visit www.jesselsummers.com

Cliff Camping in Norway

In this stunning evening photograph, we see a group of hikers camping out on the famous cliff of Preikestolen in Norway. In English this place may be known as Preacher’s Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, or by the old local name, Hyvlatonna (“the carpenter-plane’s blade”).

Preikestolen is a massive cliff 604 meters (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Ryfylke, Norway. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres (82 by 82 feet) square, almost flat, and is a famous tourist attraction in Norway.

A trip to Preikestolen from the closest car park takes about 3-4 hours for a round-trip hike. Even though the elevation differential is only 334 metres (1096 feet) and the walk is not particularly long (3.8 km each way), the total elevation gain and loss over the course of the hike is more than one might initially expect, as the path climbs and descends various ridges. 

Colour Striped Icebergs

Icebergs are formed when large blocks of ice breaks off from glaciers ice shelf and is floating in open water. Because glaciers are built up from snow falling on the Antarctic continent over millennia, this ice consists of pure fresh water. This floating chunk of freshwater ice then interacts with seawater beneath them it.


As seawater is drawn deep under the ice shelves by the oceanic currents, it becomes supercooled and freezes to the base of the ice shelf. Because this ice is formed from seawater that contains organic matter and minerals it causes variety of colour and texture to the iceberg. As the bergs become fragmented and sculpted by the wind and waves, the different coloured layers can develop striking patterns.