10 Unusual Beaches: Glowing Water, Black Sand, Sea Glass and Tidefalls

Some beaches are memorable for their colour, some for their shape and some for the strange story behind their sand. These ten unusual beaches span five continents: glowing water in Australia, a waterfall that pours onto the sand in California, black volcanic sand in Hawaiʻi, a pebble spit that changes shape with the wind in Croatia, and a shore made of sea-polished glass.

1. Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Jervis Bay, about three hours' drive south of Sydney on the New South Wales South Coast, covers 102 square kilometres and is famous for sand that has been recorded as among the whitest in the world. Its southern headland is Booderee National Park, handed back to the Wreck Bay Aboriginal community in 1995 and jointly managed with the Commonwealth government.

On some nights the bay's water glows electric blue. This is bioluminescence: light produced by living organisms through a chemical reaction. In coastal water it usually comes from microscopic plankton that flash when the water is disturbed by waves, paddles or footsteps. NOAA notes that marine creatures use such light to deter predators, attract prey or communicate. Displays come and go with the plankton, so treat a sighting as a lucky bonus.

2. McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, California

On the Big Sur coast, about 60 kilometres south of Carmel, McWay Falls drops some 24 metres (80 feet) into a small cove. It is one of only two "tidefalls" in California, waterfalls that flow directly into the ocean, though since 1983 it reaches the sea only at high tide. That year record rains triggered a huge landslide north of the park; Highway 1 closed for about a year, and the waves carried the debris south to build the sandy beach now at the foot of the falls.

The beach itself is off limits and surrounded by cliffs. The view is from the half-mile (0.8 km) Overlook Trail, which starts at the parking area east of Highway 1 and passes through a short tunnel under the road. The overlook stands where Waterfall House once did, the home of Lathrop and Hélène Brown, who donated the land in 1961 on condition that the park be named after their friend Julia Pfeiffer Burns, a local pioneer.

3. Algarve, Portugal

Portugal's southern coast between Lagos and Albufeira is a maze of golden limestone cliffs, arches and sea caves. The most famous is the Benagil Cave near the hamlet of Benagil in the municipality of Lagoa. It is the only cave on this stretch of coast eroded from both the side and the top, and sunlight pours through the round hole in its roof onto a small beach inside.

Access is now tightly controlled. Only authorised tours may enter, boats and kayaks may no longer land on the cave's beach, and since August 2024 the number of vessels inside at once is limited, with each visit capped at two minutes.

4. Mautohe Cathedral Cove, Coromandel, New Zealand

On the Coromandel Peninsula near Hahei, the Mautohe Cathedral Cove track leads about 1 hour 30 minutes return to a huge natural archway at Mares Leg Cove, framing the rock stack Te Hoho. The coast is protected as the Te Whanganui-o-Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve, and the cove can also be reached by boat or kayak from Hahei or Whitianga.

The track starts at the top of Grange Road in Hahei, where there is only a drop-off zone; park at the Hahei visitor car park and walk about 30 minutes, or use the shuttle from the Cathedral Cove Park and Ride. The cliffs have a history of landslides and rockfall, so the Department of Conservation advises walking through the arch quickly, not sitting under the cliffs and checking tide times, since the beach can be cut off at high tide.

5. Anse Source d'Argent, La Digue, Seychelles

La Digue is one of the granitic islands of the Seychelles, just 5 kilometres long, with about 2,800 residents and bicycles as the main form of transport. Its most photographed beach, Anse Source d'Argent, is famous for the massive weathered boulders that break the shore into a series of small coves of white sand and shallow turquoise water.

The beach lies inside L'Union Estate, a former coconut and vanilla plantation, and a small entrance fee is charged. La Digue has no airport: fly to Mahé, then take the ferry, usually via Praslin, to La Passe, where bikes are rented near the pier.

6. Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach, Hawaiʻi

Punaluʻu, in the Kaʻū district of Hawaiʻi Island between Pāhala and Nāʻālehu, owes its jet-black sand to basalt lava that shatters and cools when it meets the sea. Endangered green and hawksbill turtles often bask on the sand; visitors must stay at least 20 feet (6 metres) away. Cold freshwater springs bubble up into the bay, and the name puna luʻu is linked to divers who once collected fresh water from beneath the sea.

Hawaiʻi County's lease on the beach park ended on 29 August 2026 and the park closed. In October 2026 the county announced a tentative deal to buy the 6.8-acre property and keep it open to the public permanently; check the county's announcements for reopening news.

7. Menorca, Spain

Menorca, the quieter sister of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, covers about 696 square kilometres and has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1993. Its south coast is lined with pine-backed coves and limestone inlets, such as Cala Galdana, Cala Trebalúger and Cala En Porter, where the water is startlingly clear over pale sand. The capital, Mahón (Maó), sits on a deep natural harbour at the island's eastern end.

8. Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique

Off Mozambique's coast, the Bazaruto Archipelago is a group of five islands with white beaches and turquoise channels. It became a protected area in 1971 and the national park now covers about 1,430 square kilometres of land and sea. It holds East Africa's last viable population of dugongs, alongside whales, manta rays, dolphins, marlin and nesting turtles. Around 7,000 people live on the three inhabited islands, and since December 2017 the park has been managed by African Parks with Mozambique's conservation agency.

9. Zlatni Rat (Golden Horn), Brač, Croatia

About 2 kilometres west of Bol on the island of Brač, Zlatni Rat is a spit of white pebbles that juts south into the Hvar Channel. Its tip moves with the wind, waves and currents: in summer the afternoon maestral wind usually keeps it straight or bent eastwards, while in storms it can swing from one side to the other within hours. In 2015 its eastern beach measured 377 metres and its western beach 479 metres. The reliable maestral has also made it a favourite windsurfing destination, and the pine forest behind the beach hides the remains of a Roman villa.

10. Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California

From 1906 to 1967 the people of Fort Bragg dumped their rubbish into the ocean at three sites. After the dumps were closed, the waves spent decades grinding the bottles and pottery into smooth, rounded pebbles of green, brown and white glass. Site Three, the original Glass Beach, has been next to MacKerricher State Park since 2002.

The glass is slowly disappearing as waves wear it down and up to 1,200 visitors a day in summer take pieces home. Rangers ask visitors to leave the glass where it is so others can see it.

For more coastal ideas, see our six different kinds of beach days, and for another glowing shore, Japan’s sea-firefly photography.

Related reading

• Twelve Clear-Water Settings: Islands, Rivers and Coastal Bays
• Ten Beach Landscapes: Islands, Cliffs and Sheltered Shores
• Johan Lolos’s New Zealand Campervan Photo Journey
• Fourteen Unusual Coastal Scenes: Beaches, a Lagoon and an Airport
• Six different kinds of beach days
• Japan’s sea-firefly photography

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