Time to Hit the Beach

Now that we are well into the month of July and schools have been out for a couple of weeks, people are taking vacations in full swing. This means more and more people are coming out to Eastern Long Island.

So far I have covered a lot of different things to do on the East End of the island while barely mentioning one of the things many of the visitors to the area this summer will spend a lot of their time doing—heading to the beach!

Honestly, I am not a big beach goer. I prefer pools because they are less messy and you bring less sand home with you! There are also less things like jellyfish and crabs (I have never been stung by a jellyfish but when I was younger I did cut my foot on a crab, not fun!). The problem is though it is tough to find public pools in the area.

Taking into account how hard it is to find pools and that a lot of people do like heading to the beach, I want to share some tips I have for finding the best beaches to check out.

For starters, I would avoid beaches on the North Fork that are along the Long Island Sound. The beaches on the sound are just too rocky and the sound itself is filled with too many jellyfish. If you want to head to the beach on the North Fork I would check out some on south side that border the bay. Beaches on the bay generally have soft sand (which I love) and the water is usually very calm (if you like calm water).

Even though I do not enjoy going to the beach, I do enjoy a few smaller beaches on the bay on the North Fork just because they are so peaceful.

If you are on the South Fork you will probably be heading to one of the area's busier beaches on the Atlantic Ocean. These beaches can be rocky, like the ones on the Long Island Sound, and also can have very rough seas. I find the rough seas in the ocean to be fun sometimes though because you can jump waves and you get to do more than wade in the water or just lay on the beach all day.

I think what beach you want to head to on Eastern Long Island depends on your personality, but if you only have a day to check out the beach I would send you to one on the Atlantic Ocean. I think the signature beaches in the area are the ones on the ocean and if you are not around for long it's best to check out signature attractions in the area.

A final option if you want to skip the beach but still have some fun in the water is Splish Splash water park in Riverhead. The park's website is the best place to check out for more information on this option.