Despite the influx of daytrippers, the island of Porquerolles is wholly unspoilt: most of its whitesandy beaches and pine woods are protected by the Parc National de Port-Cros.
The small surf town of Cayucos has remained miraculously immune to over-development for decades, despite its great wines to the east and whitesandy beaches to the west.
On any other warm summer day, the whitesandy beaches here around Jieh - a resort town about 15 miles south of Beirut - would be packed with sun worshippers.
The tourist nation -- whose whitesandy beaches lure well-heeled Westerners -- wants to set aside part of its annual billion-dollar revenue into buying a new homeland, he said at the time.
Aside from its sandywhite beaches that draw big tourism dollars for the Kenyan economy, Mombasa features a large port that is used for transportation by neighboring landlocked countries.
The White House says that the president was updated through the night as Hurricane Sandy carved its way up the coast - signing two declarations of disaster.