I've lived in Sanya for four years, first visited in 2006.

The main downtown beach, Sanya Bay, has gradually but substantially become a cesspool. Further up the bay, towards the airport, is better than downtown, but still disgusting depending on the winds and currents. Four years ago when I swam in Sanya Bay, I would exit the water covered with trash. Now the sewage stench keeps any Western person out of the water. The city has JUST completed a much-touted sewage system that has yet to be connected to a treatment plant.

Dadonghai, the city's second beach is Little Russia; most of the Western tourists are Russian or Ukranian. Until the past year the water was passable. Now every night the beach is strewn with garbage that the rising tide pulls into the sea to greet you the next morning. The city sewage is blocked by a peninsula, Xiaodonghai, but apartment development will eventually create similar problems.

Also, Sanya is where most of the rich Chinese dock their yachts. The idea of a 'holding tank' on a Chinese boat for the head seems not to have reached the market here, since there are no pump-out facilities to be found. My surfer friends have amusing but disturbing stories of what they mistake for little brown fish.

Yalong Bay is sub-divided by 5star hotels that recognize their investment in protecting the beach. The water and beach is still up to Western standards, but still pales in comparison to Australian or even most U.S. beaches. It's the only beach I can recommend, but it is overpriced with no entertainment or living facilities other than the hotels.
Haitang Bay, a new 'upscale' location looks like it wants to become Miami Beach by the end of next year. Further up the coast from the city, the water is already filthy from construction sites and the unchecked sewage outlet of two small towns at either end of the beach. Last year the water was great. This year I was in a five-star hotel where not one guest would leave the pool to brave the beach.

The situation will not change quickly because there is no pressure on the market to protect the local water. The city does not need foreign tourists. And the rich mainland Chinese do not recognize what a clean beach and clean water look like. It's sad to watch them peel the trash off their kids as they float in their ubiquitous swimming tubes. The five star hotels are empty most of the year, but the Western management companies are guaranteed their contract fees. The Chinese owners of the hotels are concerned about prestige rather than profit.

As the educated Chinese travel overseas they will begin to understand 'beach culture' and likely choose the Maldives and Bali over Sanya, but there will be adequate numbers of uneducated newly rich Chinese tourists to replace them in Sanya.