West Michigan Beach Etiquette Pet Peeves!

I missed you while I was away for a week of vacation along the lovely Lake Michigan shoreline!

My sister and nephew have been in town to celebrate the first week of summer with me and we decided to go camping at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon.

We had such a blast and I personally want to thank the park rangers (Karen and up-and-coming ranger, Jake) for helping us put up our tent and for kindly advising us when to take shelter during a tornado watch on our last night at the park!   We were treated so well and will definitely come back next year.

Aside from the awesome rangers and staff at Hoffmaster -- each site is a short walk to the beach!  You can't beat spending time in nature along the white sands of Lake Michigan.  There's nothing more relaxing and enjoyable --- except perhaps a few dozen hands of S'mores (a new card game) or Farkel!

Before I headed out on this annual adventure ... I came across a national survey of travelers who shared their beach and pool pet peeves.  The survey found that 69% of travelers violate some form of etiquette including beach chair hogging, going to the  bathroom in the water and littering!

I have to say that I only noticed one item to be true and that is #3 on the list of Most Common Etiquette Violations.  However, I think it was more of an issue of mistakenly dropping something along the beach on his or her way onto or off of the beach than it was the case to simply litter.

With a new push for all West Michigan beaches to become 'smoke-free' ... TripAdvisor also found:

Most Annoying Violations:

1. Blasting loud music
2. Smoking
3. Peeing in the water

More Survey Results ...

• 53 percent of travelers admit to finding it acceptable to pee in the ocean if other swimmers aren't near.

• 31 percent of travelers think it violates pool etiquette not to shower before entering a pool. (And, 37 percent of travelers break that rule by rarely showering before going in.)

• 24 percent of travelers think that it violates beach and pool etiquette for women to wear revealing bikinis -- and 35 percent of travelers think it violates etiquette for men to wear Speedos.