Keep the North end of Delray Beach for the locals

With Delray being a very tourist friendly town and all, us locals often find ourselves subject to fines and surrounded by bogus rules and regulations we feel we just shouldn't have to follow sometimes. I mean, should we really have to pay $1.25 an hour for parking at the beach? We live here!

However, if it's a sunny day and you happen to have air in the tires of your beach cruiser, there is a place you can go and your pup can come too. It's the north end of Delray Beach. Very important that it be the northern most end.

Here, not according to the law exactly, you can unleash your dog and relax on the beach amongst locals like yourself. At the north end, there are absolutely no techno blasting boom boxes or pasty tourists leaving their pounds of trash behind. If it's to your liking, the north end is also more friendly to topless tanning than other parts of the beach. (Again, I will have to disclaim that this advice is based on assertion and not legality).

The signs do state NO DOGS, but they also suggest NO LITTERING. If you ask me, I find my dog's compostable  manure that I responsibly pick up, far less of an offense than the plastic cheese wrappers visitors watch blow off their towels, down the beach and into the water like pelicans in formation.

So next time you want to go to the beach, head to the north end. You can bring the pup, tan topless and you'll be able to remember the faces you see there. Or, perhaps the most memorable thing you will recognize about someone won't be their face.

Diving Delray Beach for sunken sight seeing

There are a ton of things to do in Delray. Homey bistros, live music and the occasional street fair. But one of my favorite places to visit in town isn't even in walking distance. You have to swim there.

The S.S. Inchulva is a 1903 shipwreck scattered in about 20ft of water 150 yards off shore of Delray Beach. What's left of the wreck is the ship's cylindrical boiler that can be reached from the beach using snorkel gear.

This underwater archive serves as an artificial reef that is home to tropical fish, lobsters and southern stingrays. This was the first place my amateur snorkeler, Texas boyfriend experienced a pair of spotted eagle rays soaring over him. He now frequents, as the locals call it, "the boiler".

On a flat calm, clear, sunny day there's nowhere else to be in Delray.

Honest hair'care' without the Avenue flair

As you walk into One Aveda Salon in Delray Beach it's almost as if you have entered a portal like no other in the oh-so unpredictable salon industry. The air lacks the smell of harmful chemicals and you are greeted with a comforting tea rather than an up/down stare-glare. No need to keep your fingers crossed, the girls at One are Aveda trained which means they are not only knowledgeable in the hair biz but in the art of natural beauty as well. If you know anything about the brand then you know that their products are naturally derived from plant and flower extracts.

The owner Cindy Vickery works with local charities and communities to enhance the quality of our local clique here in Delray. She'll be the one running around greeting customers and picking fresh palm fronds from the foliage out front to stick in a vase on the big teak table.

The salon also gets a great clientele. Artists, local business owners and the occasional snow bird often network in the friendly environment that acts like more of a public sphere than a salon.

So if you're tired of the nonsensical prices and pretentious attitude that often comes with a haircut, go visit the folks at One for a complimentary hand massage with your service. Oh yea, first time guests get $20 off their first service! Call today to set up an appointment 561-272-1147

"Avenue" food without the "Avenue" atmosphere

So it's a Saturday night and you decide you want to lay low for the eve. You did the drinking last night and want to enjoy some fresh Lemongrass sushi without having to don the Ed Hardy attire and fight your way through the slow moving people watchers on the sidewalk of Atlantic Ave. That's where the Dudes come in.

Delray Delivery Dudes is a delivery service that brings you food from the Delray Beach restaurants that otherwise don't deliver. Because many of the healthy eateries in Delray are high volume operations, they rarely ever have a delivery service. Now, that has all changed. It's as easy as 1,2,3.
1. Go to Delivery Dudes website to view the menus
2. Call the dudes, 561.900.7060 and place your order
3. When the dudes arrive have either cash or a credit card ready

The dudes' add a $5 delivery charge to every order and that DOE'S NOT include tip. When being generous, remember that the dudes have to place your order with the restaurant, go pick it up, then deliver to your residence...and they're hasty too.

So next time you feel like enjoying a fresh salad from Brule and want to forgo the otherwise salty, all too familiar chinese food call the dudes!