Going to AC for the first time in a couple of weeks. Have some questions about the beaches that the hotel and other web sites don't seem to address very well.

How are the beaches for swimming? Some of the hotel sites mention swimming from the piers... is the bottom sandy or rocky (or coral)? what's this thing about sea walls?

Also what about walking up and down the beach for a real stroll or jog? Seems like they are all touting their private beaches, which doesn't seem that cool to me...

Any places for shelling?

Thanks for any insight.

Some places like banana Beach and Ramons have a short seawall that helps to keep the beach but it's not that big of a deal. At BB you can still enter the sea from the seawall or a few feet off either side of it. It's a little rocky for a few feet off the beach and after that fairly sandy...the main thing is the seagrass which is everywhere...I think that's why some places say something like swimming off the pier...Mainly to help avoid the seagrass..If I'm wrong someone please correct me...I've only swam off the pier once and it wasn't entirely on purpose.
You can walk as far on the beach as you want. There are a couple places that you go up a couple small steps and I suppose technically you are on a "hotel" beach but my understanding is that the beaches are all public. I've walked from BB down to Ramons along the beach and you could go further if you want. Some spots are good for jogging some not. As for shells, I've found some conch shells walking along and some small shells. I hope this helps.

You can walk a long ways. Usually we go south. This year we took the hand bridge across the cut, walked over where the first new housing development is (right side), and then all the way to Capricorn. I imagine you could walk further, if your feet hold up! Its a very attractive walk. Good idea to leave early and carry water. There's no place open early morning until you get to Capricorn (about 3 miles via the beach). On the return trip you can stop at the Palapa Bar right over the water, or go a bit further back towards San Pedro and cut over to Sweet Basil (maybe 1/2 mile before the cut). Its a really nice place, and the food is good.

Meant to say, we walked along the beach. The road gets pretty dry and dusty.

Walking along the beach is just lovely, you can go seemingly forever. My favorite place to swim is right at the cut, on the south side, right off the beach. Ah, delicioso. Hubby and I went biking up north, got nice and sweaty and hot, crossed over on the hand ferry, and then jumped in the water right there at the cut. Ah,,, fantastic. I can still feel that refreshment!! Watch out for speeding boats though, going into the cut!

My daughter is a marathon runner, she ran the beach everyday on vacation, south and north of the cut.
She ran from Sunbreeze north, rode the ferry, and ran on the beach way north of Journey's End, and back. Other days she ran south on beach, and back on the street, really early in the morning to avoid street traffic. She said you have to do some zigging and zapping but very doable, and pleasurable. When you get really sweaty, just jump in the sea to rinse off.

Swimming, Ramon's has a large section of their beach w/o a seawall.

HI, THE CUT BY THE HAND FERRY WAS MY FAVORITE SWIMMING PLACE ON A.C. A NICE BEACH BY THE MOUTH OF IT.I ALSO LOVED THE SPLIT AT CAYE CAULKER TOO. A QUICK $6.00 WATER TAXI TO C.C FOR THE DAY IS WELL WORTH THE MONEY.

I think you can run whereever you want to.

I'd start at Banana Beach and then head towards town, as someone else said, you have to zig zag a bit. On my next trip I'm going to try to run from Banana Beach down to town, run to the hand ferry, run ON the hand ferry (jogging in place) run off the hand ferry and then down to the Sweel Basil for lunch. .

Wish me luck.

OMG..I'm dead meat....even in a golf cart...

Thanks for all the good advice.

Is Belikens a real light beer or does it have a little bite to it? I tend to prefer ales and dark beers, though Imperial (Costa Rica) in bottles was pretty good.