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Live From...
The Beach: Americans Celebrate Memorial Day Weekend
Aired May 24, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Hot fun, as Memorial Day weekend brings the traditional start of summertime. Looking for a good beach? We'll tell you which ones made the "top 10" list.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How does a beach make it to the top 10?
PROF. STEPHEN LEATHERMAN, "DR. BEACH": Well, first of all, people want to see a wide beach. They want to see nice, soft sand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Surf's up. We'll go live to southern California's Manhattan Beach for tips from a surfing instructor.
Playing smart during the summertime. Our medical correspondent tells you what to look for when buying sunscreen, and why you should use it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: UVB rays burn and cause melanoma skin cancer.
ANNOUNCER: Avoiding the headaches of getting to your favorite summer destination. We'll bring you the latest in a live chat with a travel expert from AAA.
LIVE FROM THE BEACH, "Memorial Day In America," here's Frank Buckley.
FRANK BUCKLEY, HOST: And good evening from Manhattan Beach, California, one of the best beaches in southern California. We are just south of Los Angeles International Airport. Some people already here at the beach, beginning their beach weekend, the traditional beginning of the summer holiday season.
Some people already out here getting some sun, putting on the suntan lotion. In the waters here, in the Pacific Ocean we have some people right out here who are already surfing. We have our own camera in the water and we'll be showing you some really good surf camera shots throughout this next hour. Our own John Bass (ph) in the water, a well-known surfer in this region, and he'll be giving you some great shots throughout our hour.
We are at the beach because we know that many of you will be at the beach this weekend. An estimated five million people will be going to American beaches. So which is the best beach? There's actually someone who keeps a top 10 list of the top 10 beaches in America. Let's begin with our top 10 list of America's best beaches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Coming in at number 10, Hanauma Bay in Hawaii; number nine, Cape Florida, State Park, Florida; number eight, East Hampton Beach, New York; at number seven, Hamoa, Hawaii; number six, Ocracoke Beach, North Carolina.
In at number five, Caladesi Island State Park in Florida; number four, Fort Desoto, State Park, Florida; number three, Kaanapali, Hawaii; number two, Hanalei Beach, also in Hawaii. And the number one beach in the United States, St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): You'll notice that not a single southern California beach made that top 10 list. We're not very happy about that here on the California coast. Perhaps that's because a guy in Florida put together that list. He is professor Stephen Leatherman. He is a coastal expert. He is known as Dr. Beach and our own Miami bureau chief John Zarrella took a stroll with him to find out exactly what goes into picking the best beaches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (on camera): How does a beach make it to the top 10?
LEATHERMAN: Well, first of all, people want to see a wide beach. They want to see nice, soft sand, the whiter the better. They want to see a beautiful, warm ocean water, clear. They want the amenities. They want natural environment, and all that together, 50 criteria go into making a great beach.
ZARRELLA: They don't want to see seaweed. Unfortunately you got a lot of that today.
LEATHERMAN: Well, that's right. This is a rare day. It's washed in. We've been a little stormy here this time of year. This will be cleaned up. Any beach can have a bad day. We have to realize that.
ZARRELLA: Tell us about the number one beach.
LEATHERMAN: St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, it's in the Florida panhandle. First time in six years a Florida beach has made it. But here you find the finest, whitest sand in the world, that famed panhandle sand, emerald green water. You can see in it for 90 feet, crystal clear.
ZARRELLA: Cape Florida is number nine. It's on the list this year.
LEATHERMAN: Right.
ZARRELLA: What was it about this particular spot that put it in the top 10?
LEATHERMAN: Well, this is in the Miami area, so you have all the amenities, but yet it's a world apart. You're out here on a beach park. It's very quiet. You got all the amenities you want, but peace and quiet, ample parking.
Remember, my survey is for so many beaches, and this is really that -- the most popular beaches -- I don't always rate the number one beaches. Now South Beach, certainly the hottest beach in the country, one of my favorites, but won't be on the top 10 list because overdeveloped, too many people. I've been to all these beaches...
ZARRELLA: What a nice job you've got.
LEATHERMAN: I've been to every beach in the United States and I visit over 100 beaches every year and all the contenders for the national champion.
ZARRELLA: Boy, that's a tough life.
There's no question these beaches look absolutely wonderful, but how do you know if a beach that looks clean really is clean? A group of University researchers is conducting a study to find out if there are any hidden dangers, and you'll never guess where: in the sand.
PROF. ANDREW ROGERSON, RESEARCH BIOLOGIST: Good morning. Sorry to disturb you. Would you be willing to help us with us a beach questionnaire? When you stop to think about it, when the tide's coming in and then receding again, any organisms in the water could be getting accumulated in the sand just by the filtering action of the sand. At the moment the Florida Health Board will check the condition of a beach by testing the water. And what they don't do is they don't ever look in the sand to see if organisms that might cause some illness or some problems are present in the sand.
TONYA DAVIDIAN, RESEARCH ASSISTANT: We sample in triplicate. We have a site A, site B and a site C that are approximately two meters apart from each other. We collect our water samples from about knee high, and we take a sterile bottle, and submerge it under the water and open up the cap under the water and collect the water so the bottle is completely full.
ROGERSON: It's clear that when you look at the numbers of fecal indicator organisms in the water and compare the number in the sand, we are seeing much higher levels in the sand.
DAVIDIAN: And now we want to know what that means, if that is an increased health threat. We don't think so because our questionnaires aren't showing any type of correlation with that. People aren't getting sick at the beach, essentially.
Andrea (ph), have you taken the temperature for the wet sand?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And once you get to the beach, it wouldn't be unnatural for you to think about sharks, the apex predator because of perhaps the intensive news media coverage last year during those shark attacks.
So far this year, according to the International Shark Attack file, there have been 18 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide, resulting in one fatality. But to put that into some perspective, experts say you're 30 times more likely to be hit by lightning and killed by lightning than you will be by a shark attack.
Still, there is concern. And CNN's Mark Potter has more information on why the number of shark attacks are up, and what you can do to help prevent them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, scientists struggle with the carcass of a nearly 200-pound mako shark caught by fishermen in Brazil. Researchers are trying to learn more about sharks, hoping to better understand and protect the ocean predators that have drawn so much public attention, and inspired so much fear, especially last summer.
Last year, many swimmers thought twice about entering the surf. It all began in July, with the attack on eight--year-old Jessie Arbogast, whose arm was severed by a bull shark near Pensacola. The story of his uncle wrestling the shark to shore to retrieve the arm flashed around the world. Virtually every shark bite since then received widespread coverage. "Time" Magazine trumpeted the summer of the shark.
SAMUEL GRUBER, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: It was really a media generated event. Actually, the shark attacks were down a bit, but the numbers are not significant, so your odds went from about one in 4,300,000, to one in 4,297,000. There's no difference between those odds, of course.
POTTER: According to the International Shark Attack file, worldwide, there were 76 unprovoked shark attacks last year, down from 85 the year before. The five shark attack fatalities worldwide were down from 12 in the year 2000. Surfers, many in Florida, suffered nearly half the shark bite total, bites that may have been accidental.
JOSE CASTRO, MOTE MARINE LABORATORY: Well most cases are probably mistaken identity. They perceive the person to be a fish, and they grab it, you know they grab a hand or a foot that flashes in front of them. The cases of sharks deliberately feeding on people, attacking and feeding on people are very, very rare. They may involve, you know, bull sharks or tiger sharks, but those are rather rare.
POTTER (on camera): Now when the mistake occurs, it's usually one bite?
CASTRO: Most of the time, with small sharks, it's usually a one bite affair. You know the shark grabs a hand or a foot, realizes it's not the small fish it's looking for and it lets go and it sees, you know, it sees a large animal.
POTTER (voice-over): Over the years reported shark attacks have increased. Scientists say it's not that sharks are more aggressive, but that millions more people are entering the water. Fear of the sea, they argue, is unwarranted, although some caution is in order.
(on camera): Shark experts advise swimmers to use common sense. For example, don't swim at night or at dawn, or dusk, when sharks are more active and have a sensory advantage. Don't swim alone or in areas where there are fishermen and a lot of baitfish. Beware of murky water and, of course, if you see a shark, don't mess with it.
(voice-over): Inevitably more shark attacks on humans will occur, but scientists hope these relatively rare events can be kept in perspective. The biggest victims, they claim, are the sharks themselves, important predators killed by the millions every year around the world.
Mark Potter, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And we are back live along Manhattan Beach in southern California. As we said a few moments ago there are many folks who are already here at the beach. And we've corralled a few of them to ask them a few questions. We've got Molly and Nick here. Where are you guys from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Redondo Beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Redondo Beach.
BUCKLEY: And you know, Mark Potter, our reporter in Florida, was just talking about shark attacks. Is that something that you ever worry about when you're at the beach?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, because I've never even heard of sharks being down here before.
BUCKLEY: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water's really warm around here so -- I mean cold, so there's no sharks around here.
BUCKLEY: OK, thanks guys. Well have fun this weekend. Let me come over here and talk to Randy (ph). Randy, you're a little bit older than these guys here. We were talking about shark attacks. Let me ask you about some other issues like pollution. You've probably been to the beach a little bit longer than these guys. Have you seen the level of pollution go up at the beaches? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well at times. You know, I think it's, you know, maybe certain different beaches have more pollution than others. But, you know, I think it's subsided somewhat a bit. You know, nowadays right now, and the beaches has been a good place to go to, and you know, we enjoy coming here every so often, especially right now, you know, Memorial weekend. So it's fun.
BUCKLEY: Great. Thanks a lot. Let's move over to Victoria and Latisha (ph). Who's who?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Victoria.
BUCKLEY: Victoria, are you -- we were talking about some of the health concerns at the beach. Do you ever worry about what you might be on here in the sand or anything like that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just have to watch where you're stepping. It's pretty much a -- it's a clean beach down here in Manhattan. It's great, yes, never had any problems.
BUCKLEY: And why -- they say that this is one of he busiest weekends for beach going. Have you gone to the beach in the past on Memorial Day weekend? What's it like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm originally from Tennessee, so that was eight, 10 miles away. So, yes, we girls would pack up and go somewhere. But, yes, the beach is always a good place especially with good weather like today.
BUCKLEY: All right, well thank you guys, appreciate it, have fun. Those are some of the beachgoers who are already out here today at the beach in southern California. We know that people are also going to the beach elsewhere across the United States.
We'll be back with more from LIVE FROM THE BEACH shortly. We hope you'll join us.
ANNOUNCER: Still to come, hitting the road, the best ways to get where you got to go when millions of neighbors are going along for the ride.
Hanging 10, Frank goes surfing USA. Will he get tubular or will he wipe out?
What's killing the animals off the California coast?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: A California sea lion lies stranded on a beach in L.A. near death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: What are the dangers lurking for humans?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEAN LOYE, SURFER: First when I saw it, I thought it was really cool. I mean surfing with a sea lion that big is pretty cool. But then, when it was attacking me, I was scared out of my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: LIVE FROM THE BEACH, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: It's a weekend to hit the road. According to AAA, some 35 million Americans plan to travel at least 50 miles from home. That's up one percent from last year. But seven percent fewer people are expected to travel by air.
BUCKLEY: And in a second, we're going to be joining Mary Setterholm, who's out there in the beautiful waters surfing, and she's going to give us some tips, but right now we are joined by our good friend from the AAA, Carol Thorp of the AAA of Southern California.
Carol, we know this is a busy travel period. Tell us what your forecast is looking like for the summer travel season.
CAROL THORP, SPOKESWOMAN, AAA OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Well, there's going to be 35 million people out there this weekend alone, and it's going to be two percent increase over the entire summer season. But this is kind of a back to basics summer. People want to be with their families. They want to kind of reconnect with the country. They're discovering America and they're not traveling abroad as much. It's like stay home and be close.
BUCKLEY: We know that from our helicopter shot that's up above from our affiliate KTLA that there's already a great deal of traffic here in southern California. I suspect there was on Long Island today, and elsewhere around the country, Myrtle Beach, people getting out to the beach. What about gas prices? It seems like in the past that prices seem to magically go up at around this period. What are you finding this year?
THORP: Well, this time they magically stayed where they were and went down even. Gas prices overall for the whole nation are $1.40 a gallon. That's down 30 cents from last year. That's a big incentive to get on the road and go somewhere.
BUCKLEY: We were talking earlier about travel bargains. I sometimes find great bargains to Europe and places like that in the newspaper. Is this a good time to find a bargain or a bad time?
THORP: It's neither. You can find bargains there, but they're not in the same abundance that they were earlier in the year. You can find them, but they're a little harder. There's been a hotel war discount on the Internet, though, lately.
BUCKLEY: Let's talk about the effects of 9/11 on travel. You say it's a time of people sort of connecting back to home. Is there any way to quantify exactly how much up or down say air travel is? THORP: Well, air travel is actually rebounding. We are anticipating that it's only going to be about three percent -- did I almost get hit by a frisbee? That would be really live. We anticipate that it's only going to be down about three percent over the summer, so that's a tremendous comeback, actually, even for air. But still the dominant form of travel, every summer, is auto and this summer is no different.
BUCKLEY: Let's talk about hot spots. A lot of people come to southern California throughout the year, but what are some of the areas where people are really going to this summer?
THORP: The most popular areas this summer are Disney world and Disney Land, always. Las Vegas, I was there last week and believe me, I don't want to be there over the summer. Let's see, national parks, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Cape Cod, Sedona, Arizona and cruises. Cruises are huge this summer just simply because they were so cheap earlier on and everybody said well, I can take the whole family and we can go do something different.
BUCKLEY: We know a lot of people are buying their travel in a different way. They're going online or calling airlines directly. Travel agents complained about getting cut out of the process. Is there still a benefit to going with a full-service travel agency?
THORP: Yes there is. Any experienced traveler will tell you that you need a travel agent. You need it for many reason. You can spend hours on the Net trying to find a good price and put together a trip. A travel agent can do that for you and since they know where to go, they may even find you a better bargain than you can find. If you have a question about something, chances are your travel agent has been there. They don't cost anything to use them. And plus that, if you get in trouble and you need somebody to intercede for you, a travel agent can do it. I always use a travel agent.
BUCKLEY: All right, Carol, thanks very much. Carol Thorp of ...
THORP: You're welcome. Have fun at the beach.
BUCKLEY: All right, you too -- AAA of southern California.
Coming up next on LIVE FROM THE BEACH, we are going in the water. We're going to see -- get some tips from an expect surfer who is in the water now with our John Bass (ph) with his surfboard camera, and we'll be back. I'm going to get some tips when we come back.
ANNOUNCER: Have terror warnings changed your holiday travel plans? To take a quick vote, head to CNN.com, the AOL keyword is CNN. Right now those casting ballots overwhelmingly say no.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BUCKLEY: And we are live back at Manhattan Beach, scene from "Blue Crush", which is a film featuring female surfers. And we only had to go to our beach to find our own female surfer. Mary Setterholm coming out of the ocean to meet us. Thanks for chatting with us Mary. Let's come on over here to the board. I want to -- I want you to give me some tips on how to get up on this board in a second. But first let me ask you, this whole idea of surfing, I was talking to you earlier.
MARY SETTERHOLM, SURF ACADEMY: Yes.
BUCKLEY: I'm almost 40, I'm at some point thinking about going to a surf school. I want to take my son who's five now to a surf school with me, thought it would be a good father/son thing.
SETTERHOLM: Yes.
BUCKLEY: How old can -- should he be when we start?
SETTERHOLM: I would say about seven is a pretty good age. They kind of have a peripheral feel for what's going on around them. Five, one-on-one, dad has to be right there. Yes.
BUCKLEY: Now, you know, we see all you guys out here surfing, having a great time. But there seems to be some order to it. There's some etiquette I'm told about who takes the wave first. How does that work?
SETTERHOLM: Well, the rider, the first one up has the wave. Pay attention. Pay attention. Because there's no lane lines out there, and you got to just watch. If they're up, look around you before you take off and then you'll be fine.
BUCKLEY: What are some of the things when people come to surf, do they -- do they come because they've never surfed before, or why do they come to you?
SETTERHOLM: The sea -- the sea has a voice. It calls you. People don't understand that voice, but they feel it. I get these calls. I have to surf. I don't know why. I've got to get out there. I think it has a lot to do with a spiritual refuge and a healing that the sea has. There's no mistaking it once you surf.
BUCKLEY: Tell me about some of the terms, so if I go to the beach this weekend I want to learn how to surf, so I don't sound like a non-surfer.
SETTERHOLM: Right. You say, hey I want to hit some waves today, going to go hit some waves.
BUCKLEY: Hit some waves.
SETTERHOLM: And you talk -- you draw out your words. Say I'm going to hit some waves. You don't say hit some waves -- hit some waves.
BUCKLEY: Dude.
SETTERHOLM: Yes, hey dude, man, I'm going for it.
BUCKLEY: All right, I want you to go for it with me and show me how to get up on this board.
SETTERHOLM: OK, lie down.
BUCKLEY: OK, I'll have you show me first.
SETTERHOLM: OK, this is your balance. It's pretty much right here. Now you're paddling, and you're stoked. And you are going for this wave and you're looking back, here it comes oh, my God it's from Tahiti. Here we go, you feel it start to surge, the board lifts up. You're going oh, my God, all this energy, put the hands back here, jump up, you stoke. Here you go, you're sliding. You lean forward. Step on the gas. Don't be back here. Down, knees are shock absorbers. Head forward -- head forward and just love it.
BUCKLEY: OK, let me give it a try.
SETTERHOLM: All right.
BUCKLEY: Here we go. OK, I'm down. I'm paddling. I'm not going to do it all the way ...
SETTERHOLM: You're paddling.
BUCKLEY: Paddling. Paddling. Paddling.
SETTERHOLM: Arms deep.
BUCKLEY: Then what do I do? I get up.
SETTERHOLM: Look back and now here it comes. And up you go. Down, crash, look forward ...
BUCKLEY: And I look forward.
SETTERHOLM: ... you stoke.
BUCKLEY: Stoke?
SETTERHOLM: Like yes.
BUCKLEY: All right ...
SETTERHOLM: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BUCKLEY: Well, great. I am now officially a surfer ...
SETTERHOLM: You're a surfer. Hey, riding a wave is surfing, whether you stand up or not, you're out there body surfing, body boarding, troning (ph), let's get away from elitism. Riding a wave is surfing any way you do it.
BUCKLEY: All right.
SETTERHOLM: So I'm going to go out. Do you mind? BUCKLEY: All right, thank you Mary ...
SETTERHOLM: I've got to get out, got to get waves, got to get wet.
BUCKLEY: All right, Mary Setterholm of the Surf Academy. Thank you very much Mary, really appreciate being -- there she goes. She's off into the ocean again and now I'm officially a surfer.
We're going to have a lot more from LIVE FROM THE BEACH coming up including a weekend weather forecast from our meteorologist Chad Myers. Stick around for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BUCKLEY: And welcome back to Manhattan Beach, California. We hope you're enjoying your beach holiday if it's beginning somewhere other than southern California. We hope you have a safe and happy one.
If you do come to southern California, you may encounter something disturbing along the southern California beaches. During the past couple of months, common dolphins and sea lions and pelicans have been stranding themselves here on the beach throughout southern California by the hundreds. They are all suffering and some of them are dying. Here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): A California sea lion lies stranded on a beach in L.A., near death. It is suffering from demoic acid poisoning. Over the past couple of months, Peter Wallerstein of the whale rescue team has seen hundreds of such animals on southern California beaches.
PETER WALLERSTEIN, WHALE RESCUE TEAM: There's something going on in their brain, the neurotoxins in their brain. They're on the foreflippers, They're doing the head bobbing. Total disorientation.
BUCKLEY: Dazed dolphins have also died on the coast, along with pelicans. Some of the animals also exhibit odd or extremely rare behavior. Some sea lions, for example, mammals that don't attack humans unless provoked, have gone after surfers and kayakers.
Surfer Sean Loye says he got these scars after a sea lion came after him.
SEAN LOYE, SURFER: At first when I saw it I thought it was really cool. Surfing with a sea lion that big is pretty cool. But then when it was attacking me, I was scared out of my mind.
BUCKLEY: What's happening, say experts, is an unexplained and sudden bloom of a single-celled plankton in the waters off California.
DR. JOHN HEYNING, L.A. COUNTY NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM: The ocean is really a soup of microscopic organisms. Dr. John Heyning, the curator of mammals at the L.A. County natural history museum says that in high enough concentrations, the demoic acid in the plankton causes neurological damage to the animals that eat it. And as it passes up the food chain, everything is affected.
HEYNING: So, from this microscopic organism, you go to fish, then you go to pelicans, marine mammals, and all kinds of other animals -- anything that might eat something that has eaten this.
BUCKLEY (on camera): It's not just marine life that's affected by the demoic acid. In fact, human beings have suffered demoic acid poisoning. Some human beings have even died. That's why state health officials here in California have warned people not to eat things like mussels and clams and other shellfish caught off of California's coast by recreational fishermen.
(voice-over): The deaths of several people in Canada in the late 1980s were blamed on demoic acid. No humans have died in the current bloom. But nowhere is the affect on marine life more evident than at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, California.
In a normal year they handle a handful of demoic acid cases. This year they've taken in close to 180 animals.
JACKIE JAAKOLA, DIRECTOR, MARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTER: It's very draining on all of our resources. We've brought in about 70 new volunteers in the last few months. And we're spending thousands of dollars on these animals, even a day, just to provide them their fluids.
BUCKLEY: Experts believe the phenomenon is naturally occurring. They do not believe human factors like pollution are to blame. But they are studying it closely to make sure. And while hundreds of sea lions, dolphins and birds are dying from the disease, scientists are not worried about a die-off of any populations.
Still, the volunteers of the Marine Mammal Care Center are trying their best to save each life, returning the animals to the ocean once their work is done, once the animals are able to return safely back to where they belong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And we just want to make sure that everyone understands that you can eat the commercially harvested sardines and anchovies and shellfish. The stuff that you buy at the store, the experts tell us, is fine. It is tested widely and monitored widely. So it is fine.
It's just the stuff caught between Los Angeles and Monterrey by the recreational fishermen. They're saying that you should make sure that it's not some of the things that are contained within the state health warnings. And you should go to the state health department Web site to find out more if you're interested in that.
We want to take you up right now to an area just north of our location in the waters in the Pacific Ocean here off southern California, in the area near L.A.X., in the ocean. Right now there is a search-and-rescue effort under way.
We can actually see it from the ground here. You probably have a better vantage point from one of the local news helicopters. But there is a search-and-rescue effort under way there. Apparently a boat has gone down. We don't have any further information and we will try to bring that to you by the end of our broadcast, if we have any more information on that.
Back here at Manhattan Beach, we want to introduce you to a couple of guys who are beach combers. We found you just a couple of seconds ago. You've got your metal detectors. How long you been doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been doing it for about 20 years.
BUCKLEY: Tell me about some of the things you find.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything a man or woman can wear, you find it on the beach. This is some of the stuff today.
BUCKLEY: You found a couple of rings there and some coins?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BUCKLEY: You get rich -- socket. Do you get rich doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's just a hobby. It's a lot of fun.
BUCKLEY: All right. You're Bill Muniz (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BUCKLEY: And Mr. Dupee (ph), tell me about yourself. You've been doing this for a couple of years. What kinds of things do you find?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mainly I just find a few -- pretty much change and occasionally some rings, jewelry and stuff like that.
BUCKLEY: What do you do with it? Do you ever try to return it to the owner or do you take it to the pawn shop?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it's possible, yes, you can return it. For the most part, it just goes in a junk drawer or something like that and the kids go after it.
BUCKLEY: I bet your wife's really happy about finding all that stuff laying around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually I think she could care less.
BUCKLEY: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I returned a life guard's ring that he lost 33 years ago at Newport Beach. He lost it during a rescue and he thought he'd never find it again. We traced him. He just had open- heart surgery and stuff. And he was glad to get his ring back.
BUCKLEY: I'll bet. Well, thank you both very much. Appreciate your insight into what you do here. A couple of beach combers.
And we're going to have more LIVE FROM THE BEACH in a moment, including some information from our medical correspondent, Rhonda Rowland, on sunscreens. The very important sunscreens that you will need to get if you're going to the beach this summer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BUCKLEY: And we're back live in Manhattan Beach in California, southern California. People enjoying the beach already as the summer holiday season begins.
Chances are, if you're going to the beach this weekend you may get your very first sunburn of the holiday season. And if you, in fact, don't wear sunscreen, of course, you're increasing your chances.
It sort of gets old and tired the question of, well, you've got to wear your sunscreen. But our medical correspondent, Rhonda Rowland, gave us some important information. She tells us that if you get one blistering sunburn early on in your childhood, you're actually doubling the chances of getting deadly skin cancer later on in life.
Sunscreen is very important. And Rhonda Rowland has more on how to choose it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Searching, searching, searching, for what? The perfect sunscreen. SPF 15, 30, 45. UVA, UVB, Parsol 1789. Zinc oxide --what does it all mean?
We asked dermatologist Dr. Rutledge Forney to help us cope with the sun.
(on camera): Look at all these sunscreens here. A pretty good selection?
DR. RUTLEDGE FORNEY, DERMATOLOGIST: There's a lot here to choose from, isn't there?
ROWLAND (voice-over): A good starting point: SPF, sun protection factor.
(on camera): Take a look at Blue Lizard over here. We have the 30, right next to a Banana Boat with 15. So, which one do you go for?
FORNEY: Well, I advise all my patients for any sort of direct sun exposure in sports or gardening or anything out at the beach, that they use a 30 or higher.
ROWLAND (voice-over): We need the higher SPF, she says, because most of us don't put enough on, or put it on often enough.
(on camera): We hear about UVA, UVB. What's the difference and does it matter if we have protection against both?
FORNEY: UVB protects against burning and UVA protects against aging. And of course, you want to have both levels of protection.
ROWLAND (voice-over): That's worth repeating. UVB rays burn and cause melanoma skin cancer. The higher the SPF rating, the more you block those deadly rays. UVA ages us, gives us wrinkles. Ninety-five percent of the sun's rays are UVA. They don't burn, but they do damage skin.
(on camera): Is there any system to know how much protection you're getting against the UVA?
FORNEY: Not yet. And that's why we know that Parsol 89 is very effective.
ROWLAND (voice-over): So is Zinc.
(on camera): Let's talk about men. Men don't like putting on sunscreens, do they?
FORNEY: They don't like putting anything on.
(LAUGHTER)
ROWLAND: So for my husband, what would you suggest here? Or somebody has a teenage son and they're trying to get him to put on some sunscreen?
FORNEY: There are dry lotion sunscreens and fast-drying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't put any of that on me.
ROWLAND (voice-over): As for the kids, find something that makes them want to put it on. Here, parents deserve kudos.
FORNEY: We really are finding, particularly with teenagers, that they don't give me a history of having had blistering sunburns because parents have really been aware of this. And pediatricians have been talking about it.
ROWLAND: However, Dr. Forney gives a new warning to parents: keep your kids away from tanning beds. They beam UVA rays. Enough of them that skin cancer, at least the less deadly type, is up dramatically among teens and those in their 20s.
So, is there the perfect sunscreen? The perfect one is the one you like enough to use. Rhonda Rowland, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: Very important information from Rhonda. Thanks very much. Now some additionally important information for many people who are going to the beaches across America. Here in southern California, we can give you the weather forecast. It's beautiful. Chad Myers will give you a sense of how it looks across the rest of the U.S. -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Frank, it certainly is beaches this weekend in L.A. going to be all the way in the 60s, 68 degrees or so. And then 75 inland. We'll get to this beach ball that they've been throwing me here. Talking about El Nino here in just a little bit. So we'll tell you what that's all about in just a second.
Scattered rain showers and thunderstorms from Oklahoma City back down into Dallas. Most of this area going to be affected by severe weather tonight. In fact, a tornado watch in effect just to the west of Oklahoma City, including the city itself.
Now, you've been watching now for the past couple of days and you're in the East, you've probably heard about this. This could affect your beach. This is a developing tropical system down here. Don't have that tropical low, don't have that tropical disturbance name yet. If it does get named, it could be Arthur. It's still early in the season.
Now, this would not be the first tropical storm. Back in 1981 there was a tropical storm on May 6th. But believe it or not, hurricane season doesn't even start until next Saturday, June 1st. Here's Sunday night affecting the Bahamas. Also some surf's up beaches here across Florida. Waves could be 6 to 9 feet here.
Now, remember now, we go into Tuesday night. This is 120 hours away. Most of the time it's impossible to forecast a hurricane 24 hours away. But now, at least, we're watching this one for you because it could be on the significant side before it's all said and done.
Let's get to your five-day forecast now. Some scattered rain showers from the Great Lakes right on back into Arkansas and Louisiana. Here's Sunday now, showers from New York down in through Pennsylvania, and also down into Oklahoma City.
By Monday, a wet day possible for New York City. We have some showers coming in. It's not going to rain everywhere at every time here on Saturday or Sunday. or for that matter even Memorial Day. But there will be showers right along this stationary boundary.
Now we're getting this thing. By Monday, here it is. This is the windy system that could be the first tropical system. Will it be Arthur or will it just head out to sea, as we call it, a big fish storm? Right now that forecast is so far off it could go 500 miles either way. Either onshore and make some beneficial rain, or way offshore and we wouldn't even hit anything at all.
So, we're going to keep our eyes on it. And you should, too. But just remember those extended forecasts aren't so good. Frank, back to you. BUCKLEY: All right, Chad. I wanted to ask you about extended forecasts. There's so much talk about El Nino, every time there's any sort of a weather system. Is there any way to predict long-range what effect, if any, El Nino will have on the long-range summer forecast?
MYERS: Great question, Frank. Think about yourself, the fourth time you ever drove, were you a good driver?
BUCKLEY: Uh, you know.
MYERS: The fourth time, you were 15 years old, you had your learner's permit, you weren't a good driver. We've only seen four real El Ninos since we've had satellites. So we're not good drivers yet, I guess.
And what is El Nino? I mean, this is really what I want to talk about. There's the United States. This is the Pacific Ocean. We get warm water from the western Pacific blowing to the east and it piles up onshore here in the western sections of South America. That deflects our jet stream farther to the north than it should be, and it does affect our weather.
Why now our forecasts not so good when it comes to long range? There's the United States. Look at that. There's the Pacific Ocean. It covers almost half of the world.
And guess what? Not too many people live out there and we don't have good observations from the Pacific. That's why our forecasts aren't so great yet. Frank, back to you.
BUCKLEY: All right. Thanks for the explanation, Chad. That was fantastic. All right, have a gad weekend, Chad. We hope the rest of our viewers will have a great weekend. We're going to come back for one more shot from the water here, LIVE FROM THE BEACH in Manhattan beach. We're going to show you some surfers and some skim borders when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BUCKLEY: We're back live in Manhattan Beach. Earlier in our broadcast we showed you some pictures of a search-and-rescue effort that was going on just up the beach from our location. Greg Hall is an L.A. County life guard. Greg, give us a quick update on what we were watching.
GREG HALL, L.A. COUNTY LIFEGUARD: Well, earlier we had a boat offshore. We think we have some missing people. We've initiated a search. It is in the investigative stage. We don't really have a lot of solid information. We have initiated a search, both on the surface and under water. And, you know...
BUCKLEY: So far it's pretty early then. Will you be doing a lot of these during this weekend? Is this a pretty busy time for you?
HALL: Well, we have to play it safe. You know, we have to take these things seriously. The boat is in good repair. Something is amiss. We're not sure what, and we're going to find out.
BUCKLEY: All right, Greg Hall, L.A. County lifeguard. Thanks very much for keeping us safe here at the beach. We appreciate it.
We're going to end our broadcast here back again with our friend Mary from Surf USA Surf Academy. You've got some people out here with skim boards and boogie boards. Tell us, first of all, the difference. This is a boogie board.
SETTERHOLM: This is a body board. We call it a body board. And what you want, you want a slick bottom, because it slides on the water very well. Also we have beveled rails. The side is called the rail. The board should be about waist high. This is a leash to keep it attached to your hand. And you paddle for the wave. Usually you're wearing fins, try to keep the chest about here and push off. And it's surfing.
BUCKLEY: It really is a great feeling. I've done this. I haven't done the surfing thing. But this is really a lot of fun, even for guys like me.
SETTERHOLM: It's a great beginner way to come in to waves.
BUCKLEY: We were watching some of your folks out here doing the skim board. Holler at them, Mary, and tell them to show us what they're doing.
SETTERHOLM: All right, go, man, slide it down!
Now they're pressuring the wave, they're coming up and sliding. The point is, it's all a matter of style. You want to skate it towards the wave and then try to do a back flip. You know, you're going for it and you want to explode when you hit the wave. You hit all that energy and you just fly up and everyone wants to see how high you can go and how much you turned around. And we're like cheering for you.
See, we feel it when you are going for a wave. We're like right there with you. Like this guy, he's going, he's going. We're watching him. Oh, man. And wipe-outs are surfing. And they give you bragging rights. Seriously.
BUCKLEY: All right.
SETTERHOLM: People will believe your wipe-out stories. They'll have a hard time believing a good wave. But a wipe-out, they're like, oh, man. Wipe-outs are good.
BUCKLEY: Mary from Surf Academy. Thanks a lot for all your great information. We want to also thank our friend John Bass, who's been giving great pictures from the surf cam. And we want to thank all of our viewers and wish you a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend.
I'm Frank Buckley LIVE FROM THE BEACH. We'll see you next time.
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