Beach Tomato brings you the (non-) essential items that you’ll never go to the beach without again.
Bikini – check. Book – check. Sunglasses – check. Snorkel mask with an in-built camera? Er, maybe not. These handy gizmos and gadgets may have slipped through the net when it comes to beach bag essentials, but they may just become your favourite beach-bound accessory.
Imagine the scene: you’re enjoying some beach tranquility with your favourite tune lending the ultimate soundtrack, then, bam, the battery dies. Soundtrack over. Or how about this one: it’s the end of the day, the sun is setting, turning the sky into an orchestra of beautiful colours. Dolphins are splashing around in the water, you go to grab your camera and, bam, it’s dead. Opportunity missed. Cue the Juice Bag Solar Beach Tote. Featuring a solar panel on the side, you can charge your iPod, phone, camera, iPad, laptop, or whatever gadget it is you bring to the beach. Never shall you ever miss that photo opportunity again.
Explorer Series Snorkel Camera Mask
Trying to recreate those vibrant Discovery Channel-esque images of life under the sea isn’t quite as easy as snorkeling-loving, (very) amateur photographers like us would hope. Step in the Explorer Series 8MP Camera Mask. It’s a snorkel mask, a camera AND a video camera. As simple as 1, 2, 3 – pop it on, flipper away and simply tap the button when you want to capture some multicoloured critter crossing your path. Not only are you sure to get the picture you intended (the camera takes what you see through the mask, after all), but both hands are available for some free diving. Professional photographers, eat your heart out.
Finding sand in every nook and cranny post a day a the beach is, pretty much, the ONLY drawback to our favourite past-time. Well, thanks to high tech, er, technology, developed by military whizz kids to stop sand and dirt coating the local vicinity when helicopters take off, the Sandless Beach Mat was born. Simply pop the mat down on the sand (it comes in bright blue or orange), and any sand that so much as thinks of settling on top will swiftly find itself falling through the mat and back onto the beach, where it belongs. Footloose and sand free.
We believe the beach to be a pretty inspiring place. In fact, the idea for Beach Tomato was born on a beach (fancy that?). Alas, when you find yourself soaking up rays floating in the sea, a pen and paper to jot your pearls of wisdom down becomes sort of indisposable. What about a waterproof pen and paper to solve these beach woes? The waterproof notepad is made of a mysterious paper that deflects water, and the accompanying graphite pencil is specially designed to work with it. Anyway, who the hell cares how it works, you can write when you’re in the sea/pool/bath/rain. Problem… Solved.
Here’s the perfect gift for every man (boy) if ever we saw it. You know the scenario; you’re off to a beach barbecue and everything is set – beers, bat and ball, burgers and music speakers, but you have that nagging feeling you’ve forgotten something… It’s the bottle opener, of course. Panic not. Simply don the Brewsees Sunglasses that come, ahem, armed with a bottle opener on each tip. How’s that for innovation? Bottoms up.
By Emma Cambers