Marina Beach

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Marina Beach is one of the world's longest and broadest beaches situated along a 12 km shoreline ^[1] in the city of Chennai, India. Unlike the short, rocky formations that make up the Juhu Beach in Mumbai on the west coast of India, the Marina is primarily sandy.

Although many locals claim the Marina to be the world's longest (or second longest) beach, there exist in fact several longer beaches, including Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, Ninety Mile Beach in Australia and Ninety Mile Beach in New Zealand.

A famous characteristic of the beach is the set of stone statues that adorn the roadside area of the beach. Most statues are of Indian/local legends like Mahatma Gandhi, Kannagi, Thiruvalluvar, while others have symbolic significance like the Statue of Labour. Also memorials for M. G. Ramachandran and C. N. Annadurai, former Chief ministers of Tamil nadu are present on the beach. Recently, a statue of actor Sivaji Ganesan was installed.

The Marina used to be famed for its pristine beauty, jolly ambiance, and rich ecosystems. However, since the middle of the 20th century, the beach and water has become polluted. A proliferation of plastic bags, human waste and other pollutants have rendered many parts of the beach unusable. In recent years, many voluntary organizations have taken up the task of cleaning up the Marina and protecting the ecosystem. Particular efforts include protection of Olive Ridley turtle nests along the Neelangarai section of the beach. Despite these problems however, a visit to the Marina is a sine qua non for any tourist coming to Chennai.

On December 26, 2004, a tsunami caused by an earthquake caused huge destruction killing hundreds of people in the vicinity of the beach, including fishing communities settled nearby. While recovery has been difficult, the community has been hard at work rebuilding their treasured coastline to build morale and make the area attractive to vacationers.