Beach

The unclothed body of a Northeast Philadelphia woman washed up early yesterday on an Atlantic City beach. Authorities identified the body as that of Patrita D. Lee, 25, of the city's Summerdale section, and an autopsy by Atlantic County Medical Examiner Hydow Park determined that she had drowned. Why she drowned was under investigation. Two people walking near Florida Avenue discovered the body at 2:30 a.m. and called police. Lee's clothes and purse were found nearby, a police spokeswoman said.

You brought the blanket, the suntan lotion, the soda, the radio, some snacks and, of course, the towel and the pillow. Then you started your trek. You waited all week for this. You drove 50, 60, even 70 miles to get to the beach and to set up camp in your own little sandy square to start a tan. You found the sweet spot on the blanket, lay back, closed your eyes, and felt how soothing was the sound of the gentle surf, how blissful the breeze on your face. Then without warning, first the buzz and then bam!

Yes, there are timeless, wonderful things about a Jersey Shore vacation - reasons to go back year after year, as we do. But it took far less than our week at the beach to confirm America's obesity epidemic. It was not pretty. There, on the Avalon beach, we saw a portly young father feeding chips to his toddler. With what looked like fascination (or pride), he watched her eat until, with her mouth full, the once-little girl finally said, "No more. " There were inflated bellies hanging over men's swim trunks, and women ranging from overweight young mothers to way-large matriarchs, invariably wearing floral swimsuits.

ATLANTIC CITY - "Who would leave that on the beach?" Hector Guerrero was disgusted by what he saw, the 11-year-old evidently recognizing the object. His mother, wearing gloves, picked it up and threw it in a trash bag. It was a condom. Aura Alejeria, 36, of Somers Point, wasn't surprised: "Condom" was listed on a sheet on which she catalogued all the trash she had found. She and Hector were searching for debris on a mile stretch of beach Saturday along with about 100 other volunteers.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - The weather put a damper on Gov. Christie's plans for a day at the beach on Tuesday. Christie postponed a beach and boardwalk visit to Ocean City as rain swept across the state in the afternoon. He had planned to tout his administration's commitment to protecting the state's beaches and waterways. Last week, Christie approved $650 million in no- and low-cost loans for water quality and protection projects. About $450 million is for projects that clean water used for fishing and swimming.

WILMINGTON - Delaware's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has identified the person whose skull was found on the beach at Pea Patch Island last month. Officials said Thursday the skull was that of Timothy Finamore, 53, of Newark, Del. He was last seen alive Oct. 15, 2010. The cause of death was not reported. A Salem County man found the skull June 24 in the water about four feet from the shore of the island. - AP

Two beaches that city officials expected to reopen yesterday remained closed after tests revealed that unsafe bacteria levels persisted after Saturday's raw sewage spill. At one beach, the level of dangerous bacteria rose significantly, Cape May County health coordinator Louis Lamanna said. Two jetties limit wave action, Lamanna said, and so "we are not getting enough flushing action" to eliminate the bacteria. New Jersey beaches are closed when tests show more than 200 colonies of E. coli bacteria in one-tenth liter of water.

Spain, el sol, la playa (the sun, the beach) probably make you think of Costa del Sol - Torremolinos, maybe Malaga. Or the playgrounds of the stars, Mallorca and Ibiza. You'll find plenty of fellow Americans hurrying about in these places, blurting out gracias as if it were a three-word sentence, decked out in wildly colored Bermuda shorts and baseball caps and reading the International Herald-Tribune. Truth is, you're likely to run across the random American tourist almost anywhere in Spain; as the country consistently ranks among the top destinations for vacationing state-siders.

TULUM, Mexico - The all-inclusive Cancun resorts are not known for topless women on the beach or Argentinians with scraggly beards playing Gypsy music. But that's the norm in Tulum, a Mexican seaside spot south of Cancun that attracts a mix of bohemians, deep-pocketed New Age types, and sun-seekers to its turquoise waters and white sandy beaches. Despite its proximity to Cancun and its party neighbor Playa del Carmen, Tulum is not for the same spring-break crowd. "The college kids go to Cancun.

As 61-year-old Mary Alice Taylor recalls the incident, she and about a dozen other adults were gathering up their belongings to leave the 11th Street beach last Monday afternoon when two uniformed police officers marched up. "This beach is closed," said one, and the two moved on. Police Chief Samuel Cianci said yesterday in an interview that the officers had only been trying to prevent a tragedy by warning Taylor's group about dangerous, fast-running...

New Jersey and the federal government are spending millions to protect and restore beaches damaged by Hurricane Sandy, so why isn't the state making it easier for taxpayers to enjoy what they're paying for? A Senate bill that has cleared a committee vote would give higher funding priority to beach protection projects that provide beach access, but that step in the right direction doesn't go far enough. Environmentalists rightly argue that easy public access should be mandated for state-funded projects.

A body found washed ashore Wednesday morning on the beach in Ocean City, N.J., has been identified as a sea tow operator missing since his boat sank last week, authorities said. A spokesman for the New Jersey state police said the deceased had been identified as David McAuliffe, of Egg Harbor Township, whose boat went down off Ocean City on April 23. The body was discovered by Ocean City employees working on the beach about 6 a.m. near 25th Street, about two miles from where the tow boat was recovered Thursday.

ISLAND BEACH STATE PARK, N.J. - New Jersey expects to have its second-busiest state park fully operational for the peak summer season as Hurricane Sandy debris cleanup and restoration efforts continue. The Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday that more areas of Island Beach State Park have been opened and hours have been extended from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., the normal seasonal hours. Fishing access has also been extended, from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The DEP said it awarded a contract this week to New Brunswick-based Tekton Development Corp.

ATLANTIC CITY - "Who would leave that on the beach?" Hector Guerrero was disgusted by what he saw, the 11-year-old evidently recognizing the object. His mother, wearing gloves, picked it up and threw it in a trash bag. It was a condom. Aura Alejeria, 36, of Somers Point, wasn't surprised: "Condom" was listed on a sheet on which she catalogued all the trash she had found. She and Hector were searching for debris on a mile stretch of beach Saturday along with about 100 other volunteers.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - In this beach vacation haven, home to the largest number of Jersey Shore summer rentals, they really thought they would be cleaning up this season - and not just from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Ocean City, along with most other Cape May County barrier-island towns, sustained far less damage than many northern beach communities. Recovery of public spaces and rental properties has been swift in a place that counts on the lucrative summer tourism season. Other places, such as Seaside Heights in Ocean County, where Sandy pulled amusement rides into the surf and destroyed miles of boardwalk and hundreds of homes, were not as lucky.

TRENTON - New Jersey lawmakers decided Thursday not to put stronger public access guarantees into a bill governing funding for beach replenishment projects in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The Senate Environment and Energy Committee agreed with advocates who argued for better access, but said it wanted to know whether there was evidence that projects had ever been rejected for funds as a result. The panel said it might consider amending the bill in the future to add access requirements.

More than 350,000 pieces of trash were collected and tabulated last year during two massive clean-up efforts that spanned New Jersey's beaches, according to a new report . Categories include Cigar Tips, Fishing Bait Containers, Diapers, Buoys/Floats, Lights: Fluorescent Tubes, Condoms/Rubber Bands, Car Parts, Nails and Shoes/Sandals. But no valuable jewelry. One Blackberry. No bags of dope. And very little cash: A $5 bill, a $1 bill and a nickel. Seriously?

Myriad oddities, including fake hair extensions and fake blood in a tube, washed ashore along New Jersey's 127-mile coastline pre-Sandy last year, making up part of more than 350,000 pieces of debris collected in 2012 by volunteers organized by the environmental group Clean Ocean Action. Among the "wild, the wacky, and the weird" were a Yoda doll head, ant traps, tanning goggles, a wicker sofa, vampire teeth, a toilet seat, false eyelashes, hiking boots, a girdle, a shopping cart, and a fully decorated Christmas tree.

MARGATE, N.J. - Authorities are trying to determine what caused the death of a harbor porpoise that washed up on the beach this weekend. Robert Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, said the porpoise found Saturday in Margate likely died after becoming tangled in a fishing net. But he said a necropsy would be performed. Schoelkopf also noted that numerous gray seals were seen on Jersey Shore beaches over the weekend. - AP