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I'm back from a long weekend trip to Myrtle Beach and my question is: Why is the sand in Myrtle Beach hotter than the sand in Negril? It's hot enough to make walking on it very difficult without shoes. I had the same experience in Cocoa Beach Fl, last year. I've asked a few people and they don't know. My father gave one explanation that was a guess so let's see if anybody comes close to that before I give his rationale.
The sand in Negril is made from the parrot fish that eat coral and poop out the sand. Average fish poops out 100 pounds of sand in its lifetime.
My theory is that I am too drunk to notice the heat of the JA sand :)
Many factors can play a role such as orientation of the beach, hours of direct sunlight, etc
But most importantly would be the composition of the sand, i.e. what the sand is made up of like rock or shell versus silt etc
Typically the sand that is made up from shell is larger and has more surface area to release heat
The sand in negril is like that and therefore is not typically very hot
However I live in Clearwater where the sand is so fine it actually feels like you are walking in flour....but VERY VERY HOT flour
Negril is a West facing beach and therefor gets much less direct sunlight than an East Coast US beach. Also the sand is a bit more coarse and has less surface area.
You are funny :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam I Am
Thanks for the responses. All of them make sense...well except for the parrot fish theory :)
This is probably because of the tilt in the axis of the earth the northern hemisphere sits closer to the sun especially this time of year Im guessing this is why... I live in southern california and its barely bareable to stand in its so hot... so yes this is my best educated guess aka hypothesis...lol "big" words
It IS because of the composition of sand. Sand is made of eroding rock. Most of the non-tropical beaches have sand made of silica (it gets hotter on the feet) .... tropical beaches have sand made mostly of calcium carbonate. And the parrotfish do have something to do with hastening the deposition of sand. They have those beak-like teeth - and when they take a bite of algae off the coral rock (coral skeletons), they inadvertently take a bite of the rock and grind it down (they have pharyngeal teeth too).
Interisting note...My wife and I went to Booby Cay island in Negril without shoes as the mainland beach sand was so cool. Big suprise as we got the HOT FOOT as soon as we set foot on the island. Has to be a diffrence in the sand on the Negril beach vs the more coarse sand found on Booby Cay. Lesson learned bring sandals to booby cay as the sand is hot and there is also lots of broken glass..