Vallarta's original hotels were constructed along the stretch of wide, soft sandy strand that extends from the airport into the central downtown area.

When the management asked visitors recently about building a few more villas on West Beach, the island's second long sandy strand, they were dissuaded.

"There's the first green over there," said Edmund, nodding toward a sandy strand.

Then, I'd pack a beach bag and hire a rowboat out to the sandy strand.

Here we discovered tiny Clovelly, where a compact sandy strand lies at the end of a shallow rocky inlet.

Then she began to caress his fine sandy strands, her fingers twisting his hair in phantom knots.

Wasque contains a sandy strand the Boston Globe calls "a magnificent beach."

"You haven't changed," she laughed, self-consciously patting her gray hair with its few remaining sandy strands.

The Lagunas de Mitla is situated between land and a sandy strand.

It is possible to drive or walk across a large sandy strand to the island by following the arrowed signs.