7 essential items for a day at the beach

Every adult with enough life experience knows what things are necessary to have a good day at the beach. In spite of that, most of us forget some or we don't get an appropriate copy in time. Who has not improvised a couple of sticks with a towel as a parasol? Or the same shirt as a towel? Everything can be saved with ingenuity, it is true, but it would be better to occupy that intelligence in advance, having good beach implements so as not to spend uncomfortable, embarrassing or too wet moments.

There are those who only need their bathing suit —and not even— to be happy in the bay: good for them. But for the rest of the mortal bathers, there is a list of essential items in any beach bag. And no: no speaker is included in it.

Hard to enjoy an afternoon on the sand without one of them. Not only to dry off after a frigid dip in the Pacific, but also to protect yourself from the hot ground while basking in the sun. The difference between beach towels and shower towels is not the colors or that one may have the photo of Felipe Camiroaga and the other nothing: its thickness and size, both larger, make the beach towel more comfortable, resistant and dry faster.

What is the ideal summer towel? A very wide and long one, so that your body can fit in it, perhaps also that of your partner, a book, a deck of cards, a portion of churros and a bottle of water. Hopefully cotton, so that it is soft and absorbs a lot of water, and without a very thick "hair", since it does not retain as much sand that way. This Benetton has all these characteristics and is also highly valued by its users in Falabella: "it is a pleasure to dry with it because of its absorption," says one of them, which on average has a rating of 4.6.

The youngest and most intrepid tend to do without it, but the years and global warming teach that going to the beach without a parasol is a fatal mistake. First, because the devilish Cruz Johnson tan has gone happily out of style; second, because exposing yourself directly to solar radiation for several hours in a row is a nuclear bomb for the poor cells of your skin; and third, because it is necessary to have a shady place both to rest from the sun and to protect things that can be damaged by heat, such as cell phones, food or drinks.

It is true that you can always improvise by buying or renting a parasol on the beach, a transaction that never comes cheap and that added to parking, ice cream, sweets from La Ligua and a temporary tattoo for your teenager, makes that the afternoon on the coast ends up being as expensive as a day at a resort.

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Strictly speaking, any bag that is comfortable and resists weight is useful to take to the beach. But if you don't want to come back with two kilos of sand in tow every time you return from shore, then you need a bag that hopefully has a closure and a cloth that no grain can enter through.

It is better that it has pockets —and not having to turn everything around looking for the keys or the cell phone— and that it is easy to carry. This Reisenthel model, with a zebra design, has 6 interior pockets, a shoulder strap and two handles to handle it with your hands. It has a capacity of 18 liters and its walls and bottom are padded.

Without water there is no beach. If what you want is to spend a good day by the sea, you cannot miss a good, hermetic and thermal bottle to carry liquid. Hopefully more than one, since to avoid sunstroke —in addition to not exposing yourself directly to the sun— the best antidote is to stay hydrated.

Bringing a bottle from home also allows you to generate less waste and cause some savings on increasingly expensive vacations. It is an implement that if it is good, like the one we propose below, should remain useful for many more summers.

Comfort or style? In recent years, and even more so during the pandemic, comfort has won the hand over aesthetics, with the jumper transformed into an elegant and sought-after garment, while jeans and shoes are in retreat. The same criteria should apply to the beach, since the only thing more unpleasant than removing the sand from each one of your toes and then putting on your slippers is having to wait for the friend or family member who decided to go to the beach without sandals to do it. Spa.

Going to the beach in slippers, unless it's impromptu, is silly. Hawaiians aren't for everyone —at least not for me, who hates flip flops— and there are a lot of people —including myself— who don't like exposing their feet to the public. Crocs were created for us, who are crafty with our feet. At first, they were resisted for their horrible design, but today I defend them for their great comfort and range of use.

The original ones are of course better but quite expensive, so here we suggest a good alternative, tested by our team: Bamers, a brand that also has antimicrobial technology, which prevents the appearance of fungus and bad odors. Ugly but comfortable.

Paddles are the beach sport par excellence. What volleyball, what surfing, what beach soccer: this sand version of tennis, which has no points or rules, is the most democratic of activities. As long as they have enough strength to hit the ball, it can be played by children, adults and the elderly. Some musclemen like to flaunt the hours invested in the gym by paddling with excessive force in the crowd, but it can also be practiced discreetly, up close, with no ambition other than to have a good time.

In spas it is not difficult to find a pair of palettes, but they are usually uncomfortable and fragile: after a few days the handle falls off, not to mention the blisters they leave on the hands. The balls aren't usually tennis balls either, just hairy plastics that don't bounce well. The advice, to be really happy on the beach, is to buy some good paddles in the trade, like these Sandever, which without being very sophisticated do promise to last a long time and provide a comfortable and fluid game.

Say it like that, sunscreen, and not sunscreen —because it doesn't block the sun's radiation— let alone sunscreen. These creams or sprays do that, protect the skin from UV rays for a limited time, preventing burns and long-term damage, but they are not Iron Man's armor, as many think. Putting on sunscreen just once, especially if we go to the beach, will only have an effect for one or two hours, that is if we go into the sea. To really take effect, and not end the day as a southern grilled sausage, it must be applied every 90 minutes or whenever we dry after jumping into the water.

Although all protectors fulfill their purpose, there are some whose texture does not penetrate the skin adequately and others that, when they come into contact with sweat or water, turn into a viscous gel and fall through the eyebrows. This one from La Roche-Posay is team-approved, as its liquid texture soaks in quickly and doesn't flake off with moisture.

*The prices of the products in this article are current as of January 18, 2022. The values ​​and their availability are subject to change.