Beach Umbrellas Save the Day

Beach umbrella or no beach umbrella?  Some people like to travel light to the shore, but end up regretting it later when the sun glares down at noontime.

I spend a lot of time at the beach and I have found that an indispensible part of my family’s beach gear is a really sturdy beach umbrella.

The sun can be brutal at peak hours (from about 10 a.m. until about 2 p.m.) and during this time it is important to stay out of the sun.

We like to go to the beach and stay the whole day… we pack a picnic, bring along a good book, stay for several hours.

We always use sun block, but when the kids are playing in the water and sand, it can get rubbed off pretty quickly. Even though we reapply sunscreen frequently, it’s very important to get into some real shade during the peak sun hours.

Normally the kids are ready for a break during this time, so it’s great to get under the umbrella and unpack the picnic and have a leisurely lunch in the shade. Sometimes they even take a quick nap after lunch to recharge their batteries for another round of playing in the waves.

For me, the best thing is to be able to relax and read a nice book under the umbrella and not have to worry about getting my back and shoulders scorched! I have been known to ignore the obvious and get quite a nasty burn, so it’s important to me to use the umbrella and avoid the problem completely.

The beach umbrella we use had a wide dome (nearly 2 meters), so it creates a nice area of shade for us. some beach umbrellas have a mechanism that drills down into the sand to really plant the pole well. Mine doesn’t have this feature, but I find that rotating the pole while inserting it into the sand secures the pole quite well.

My beach umbrella also comes with a really handy carrying case with a carrying strap. The pole breaks into two sections and the whole thing collapses down to a narrow size and slides into the case easily. When your hands are full with towels, cooler, beach bag, and so on, it’s nice to have a carrying case with a strap to sling it over your shoulder and go.

Another thing to think about it the color of the beach umbrella you are going to buy. Mine is red and this can be helpful with little kids at the beach. It’s helpful to have a distinctive color that your kids can spot from anywhere on the beach. These are a few of the things to think about when you buy your own beach umbrella.

Technorati Tags: beach umbrela, beach umbrella, beach umbrella color, beach umbrellas, folding umbrella, outdoor umbrella, picnic umbrella, pole umbrella, shade umbrella, sun umbrella