Shocking images of an ‘annoying’ trend sweeping our beaches are dividing Aussies
Australians are divided as an ‘annoying’ trend continues to sweep beaches with more visitors setting up cabanas on the sand.
Video of the divisive trend was captured at Noosa Heads Main Beach on Thursday.
Shocking images showed cabanas, which are open-sided beach bars that cover most of the coastline.
The video was posted to TikTok with the caption: “Meet me in the cool cabana.”
Social media users remained divided, with some supporting the tents, arguing they provided extra protection from the sun, while others slammed the eyesore.
A video taken at Noosa Heads Main Beach on Thursday showed hundreds of CoolCabanas, the open-sided beach bars, taking up most of the sand
Queensland’s poster said she had also embraced the trend
“Yes, it’s shallow Noosa – another beautiful 80s beach destroyed,” one person wrote.
“They should be banned in the marked area. What a nightmare. I don’t go to Noosa over the holidays and I’ve lived there,” said another.
Other swimmers defended the cabanas as being sun safe.
“As a local who grew up here and got burned, I can totally approve of having some form of shade,” one person said.
“For a country with the highest skin cancer rate in the world, these are absolutely necessary,” one person wrote.
“As someone who had to share a tiny umbrella for a childhood, I’m here for the Cabana phase,” another wrote.
The beachgoer who shared the images admitted they had embraced the trend.
“Don’t get me wrong, I added to the great sea of cool cabanas,” she wrote.
On the CoolCabanas website, the company states that their structures have SPF 50 and provide “more than double” the shade of a large umbrella.
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, with UPF 50, the fabric blocks 98 percent of the sun’s rays, significantly reducing your “exposure risk.”
One Australian dies from melanoma every six hours. It is the most common cancer in Australia among the 20 to 39 age group.
Other beachgoers expressed concern that the beach bars are interfering with the surfers’ life-saving activities.
The Coolcabanas website states that their structures have SPF 50 and provide ‘more than double’ the shade of a large parasol
‘It’s crazy, isn’t it? Same on other beaches. The lifesavers said they sometimes blocked their view,” one person wrote.
Surf Life Saving NSW spokesperson Donna Wishart told Daily Mail Australia there had been no major problems with them.
“Some lifesavers have reported that it’s a little more difficult when there’s a lot of sprawl,” she said.
‘But lifeguards will be at the water’s edge watching for swimmers. They walk around keeping an eye on the water.”
Ms Wishart said there has been an occasional problem with the cabanas and the patrol captain will ask if a cabana can be moved.
“We’ve had no problem doing this on an ad hoc basis. Just a polite conversation here and there,” she said.
Ms Wishart said that on many lifeguarded beaches lifeguards will also sit in elevated areas such as towers, so there are no real problems with the shade structures.