Question for CA/VA beach goers (Virginia Beach, Chesapeake: vs, place, summer)

[makeitbetta]

Planning my summer and want to visit the beach. I'm seeing on some of the threads that the beaches in VA are dirty or that some beaches are "river" beaches? What exactly is a river beach? I'm from Los Angeles so I have an idea of what a beach should look and feel like. for those of you who can, please compare the VA beaches vs CA beaches for me. My teenage kids really want to go to CA for the summer but we can't afford the trip right now. The closest place that we can go and may resemble what we miss about LA is a beach...hopefully.

[cb at sea]

The Rappahanock and Potomac rivers have "beaches"....they are not like ocean beaches, as they have muddier bottoms (not much "sand") and it's certainly not like an ocean beach! I don't care for river beaches....most of the rivers have lots of pollutants...just not my style.

Virginia Beach and the Chesapeake bay are where you want to go. East Coast beaches are much warmer than Ca. beaches....the gulf stream and all that! The Bay is great for those with small kids...no big waves or undertow. Va. Beach can have large waves and undertow, depending on weather conditions. The waves are NOT as large as on the West Coast, generally speaking.

There are other East Coast beaches...Nags Head/Outer Banks in NC....that's not too far from Va. Beach. As a matter of fact, straight up and down the E. coast are beaches!!!! The further south you go, the clearer the water gets....not that it's dirty...just the further north, the more the water is churned up by wave action!

I think you'll find the E. Coast beaches are much nicer and warmer than anything in California!