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Saturday, February 22, 2014

24 beach photos that'll make you drool

They're almost unbelievable. Impossible blues, electric greens, depths as clear as glass -- all bathed in blinding sunshine.

But that's why we like snapshots of beaches: someone lived that saturated fantasy, giving cubicle dwellers hope.

Most of these locales are sizzling right now, and a few may need a little more time to heat up, but they're all primed for a daydream visit.

<a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082913'>Troy L. Snyder</a> and his new bride soaked up this scene at Trunk Bay Beach in Virgin Islands National Park on their honeymoon last summer. Imagine yourself on the beach ...

Now take a dip in this placid water. "This is my wife of 25 years enjoying our day! Everyone I showed this to thought she was in a swimming pool and not the ocean," said <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082995'>Brian Crews</a>. The Caribbean Sea at West Bay Beach in Roatan, Honduras, was really that clear.

No fair. <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1078639'>Sarah Lopez</a> lives a "30-second bicycle ride" from Sunset Beach on the north shore of Oahu. She shot this photo in October. "It shows how magical and breathtaking Hawaii is during sunsets. It was also the beginning of the first big winter swell of the season, and so the waves were rising steadily that evening."

This little guy has the right idea. Last year, <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1078386'>Joyce Xu </a>visited Malaysia's Sapi Island, where she encountered the most beautiful beach she had ever seen.

Care to lounge? <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1078272'>Tracy Bond</a> took this photo at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park near Destin. "Each sunrise or sunset is unique and beautiful."

<a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1078677'>Lee Gunderson</a> of Calgary, Alberta, stumbled onto the beach at La Jolla Cove in California by accident while hiking the cliffs doing bird photography. He called it a "kid heaven" where "local families come from all around to picnic, swim and enjoy the abundant wildlife."

Travel writer <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082827 '>Karen Elowitt</a> was living on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, last year and took a day trip to several of the smaller British Virgin Islands. Her group stopped at Jost Van Dyke's White Bay Beach and hung out at the Soggy Dollar Bar, "so named because you have to swim from your boat to the beach." Rough life.

Tour guide <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1081553'>Scott Isom</a> shot this photo on Menai Bay, on the southern end of Zanzibar's Unguja Island, during a day-long Indian Ocean safari that included snorkeling, swimming in a mangrove lagoon, spotting dolphins and a seafood barbecue lunch.

"So pristine and untouched ... absolutely mesmerizing!" <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1080208'>Pankaj Purohit </a>said of his visit to Pink Sand Beach on Harbour Island in the Bahamas.

Heron Island along the southern Great Barrier Reef was the highlight of <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082718'>Andy Hamilton's </a>11-week trip through Australia. "No TV, Internet, phones or roads," he said. Just "lots of spectacular tropical fish and an unspoiled beach."

Sugarloaf Mountain in the distance "adds a beautiful backdrop for laying out on the sand and enjoying the Brazil sunshine" at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, said <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1083063'>Keith Johnson</a>, who visited in May.

Have a beverage with your beach. <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082773'>Rick Lindo</a> grew up in Jamaica and visits often. "I try to take my family to different parts of the island so they can get the full experience of Jamaica and realize it's not just a tourist destination."

To <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082771'>Kirk Ross</a>, the perfect beach is "in a cove with the land rising up behind the beach creating a 'theater effect' to start, some nice surf to play in, not too many people, but some. ... I like to have about 400 square feet all to myself (and my wife). There needs to be some good food available on the beach, and of course some good drinks." Smuggler's Cove on Tortola has all those things, he says.

<a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082776'>Michelle Sweeney</a> says a storm had passed through the day she arrived at Pensacola Beach, Florida, in November, and the sand was covered in seashells. She spent hours finding treasures to add to her collection.

Sweeney has lived in Florida for most of her life, "but somehow I had never been to Sanibel Island, which is famous for its seashells." She finally made it there for Thanksgiving and is planning another trip in May.

Travel agent <a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1082521'>Mackenzie Melfa </a>took this shot of the view of Boiler Bay from St. Croix's Point Udall. "The colors on the east side of St. Croix are amazing. The blues and greens are so vibrant!"

<a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1078686'>Matt Swinden</a> captured turtle tracks in the sand at sunrise on a Cancun beach.

<a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1083062'>Keith Johnson</a> says Maya Bay, on Ko Phi Phi Le island in Thailand, "is by far the most beautiful place I have ever been in my travels." The popular diving spot was also the prime filming location for the 2000 movie "The Beach."

Keith Johnson shot this sunset from Ao Nang Beach right after he returned from a longtail boat excursion.

<a href='http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1083049'>Keith Johnson</a> spent a day in 2012 exploring the Mayan ruins at Tulum and the beach below. 
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Click the double arrow to see more photos.

Link to source: http://www.cnn.com

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