what do you do when shooting portraits at a beach?

it's so bright @ the beach
how can i get the best pics w/o shadows on my subjects?

You need to expose for the brightest parts of your subject so they don't blow out to white. When you do this the shadows will be very dark.

So you need to get some light back into the shadows. Your best bet would be a reflector to bounce some light back, or you can use a flash. If possible, use an off camera flash, but if you've only got an on camera flash that will work too.

Just remember, you are just trying to put some light back into the shadows to give them some detail. They've gotta still look like shadows or it will look unnatural.

Fill flash.

Simple, don't shoot when the sun is the brightest i.e. 10AM to about 5PM. I shoot in the late afternoon/early evening and I use an off camera flash.

Benji