Visit the beach and jot down your initial impressions in a small notebook or record on a voice recorder. Gather specific but concise notes that can jog your memory when you sit down to write.
Investigate the details behind observations from your visit. If the sand was exceptionally soft, find out why. If most visitors to the beach appeared to be local residents, find out if your observations are backed up by advice on travel sites. These details can help sharpen your article and provide flavor.
Visit the beach with a camera and snap photos of everything. Consider recording a video of the beach, capturing every detail including wildlife, different views, sounds -- if recording audio -- and behavior of beach visitors. If something catches your attention, record or take photos at length. Do little crabs scurry at sunset? Do palm trees tilt in irregular angles? If so, write it, record it, and remember it.
Jot down how you would describe the beach if you were forced to provide a description in only one sentence. This sentence will define your focus for the article. As you write, keep this central idea in mind.
Create an outline. How can your focus sentence from step 1 be illustrated by two to four sections? Typical sections describing a beach might include flora and fauna, sand and sea, people and their activities.
Flesh out the sections from step 2, using a thesaurus when needed to provide fresh adjectives.
Write an introductory sentence that dazzles by highlighting something new, intriguing or unusual about the beach. Show, don't tell.
Write transitions that naturally link each section. Do sunbathers splash back from the ocean to laze under stiletto palms? These actions connect descriptions of ocean waves and tropical foliage. Transitions allow the reader to visualize the scene.