From: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Subject: Re: Beaches In New York, New Jersey, New England
Reply-To: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Organization: Curious Goods (formerly Louis Vendredi Antiques)
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 23:09:29 GMT

davelett@athena.mit.edu (Richard Sun) writes:
>
>Long Island south shore beaches are probably the best in the
>northeast, like Jones Beach.  But beware the beach crowds on nice days;
>traffic is backed up on the LI Expressway and other main routes starting
>at 10 AM on nice (esp. weekend) days.  A good idea is to visit for breakfast;
>the air is refreshing in the early morning.  And then you can make fun of the
>people who are backed up for 5 miles on the expressway as you leave before
>noon.

This is a LONG summary of two articles I posted about 2 weeks ago:

1. L.I. or N.J. beaches by public transit? (SUMMARY, SO FAR)

2. Long Beach, L.I. ... beaches by public transit



From: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Subject: Re: L.I. or N.J. beaches by public transit? (SUMMARY, SO FAR)
Summary: New Jersey, Long Beach, Jones/Moses/Fire Island
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1992 03:27:55 GMT
Status: RO

[Here is a summary of the replies I've that received through Thursday.
I have ordered them in terms of convenience for me (best connections,
quick commute) as public transit is the operative word of the day here.]


I. North Shore, New Jersey
--------------------------

You can get to Pt. Pleasant Beach and Bay Head (NJ) on NJ Transit.

Pt. Pleasant is a lot of fun.  Big boardwalk, rides, an aquarium,
mini-golf, and it's clean and nice.  It's not a long walk from the
train station (about 10 min). When you get to the boardwalk, if you
turn right and walk down to Risden's beach (as opposed to Jenkinson's)
it's a little quieter and cheaper to get on the beach.

I don't know much about Bay Head. But it's the next town down and has
no boardwalk for facilities (i don't think).  Would be much more quiet
there.  The town is not far away for food, etc.  I'm not sure where
you get a badge though.

I hope you have a great time.  I was at Pt. Pleasant last weekend The
weather was lousy but we had fun anyway.


NJ Tranit's North Jersey Coast Line stops within a short walk (half a
mile) of the beach at Asbury Park and the next few towns. I used to
live in Ocean Grove (Asbury Park) and have also taken the NJCL to
Point Pleasant (which was closer to 3/4 mile walk from the station).

At PENN Station in NYC take the NJ Tranit to Newark Penn.  At Newark
take a North Jersey Coast line. If this is what you boarded in NYC
just sit tight.  You can disembark the NJ Coast Line at Asbury Park,
or any of the next several stops and be within a short walk of the
beach.  I have taken the train to Ocean Grove (Asbury Park) and Point
Pleasant.

There are two possible trains which leave from NYC Penn station.  One
is the Northeastern Corridor train.  This one you have to transfer at
Newark.  The other is the North Jersey Coast Line.  This one you stay
put.  The NYC Departure board is very often unclear WHICH one this
becomes after leaving Newark.  Sometimes the information on the board
says N.E.Corr/North Jersey Coast for the same train.  You have to ask
the conductor if the particular train you are on goes to Bay Head
(North Jersey Coast) or Trenton (North Eastern Corridor).

It actually makes very little difference WHICH one you board since the
N.J. Coast leaves Newark every hour so you never have long to wait
anyway.  If you come in on a N.E.Corridor, just head downstairs to the
information desk in Newark where the departure board is and check the
next departing N.J.Coast to Long Branch (they say Long Branch cuz that
is where the electric ends and the diesel shuttle to Bay Head takes
you the rest of the way).  In summer this wait is usuaally about 2 or
three minutes for the electric<->deisel transfer. This is typically
such a short wait because the two trains more or less wait on each
other.

NJT has special shuttles sometimes.  Also they have special excursion
fares.

One warning.  Verify that YOUR particular train either goes all the
way to Belmar or has a connection in Long Branch.  Some NJ Coast Line
trains go only to Long Branch and then stick you there for an hour
until the Long Branch to Belmar train picks you up. This has happened
to me on a few occassions.  Hopefully in the summer season they are
connecting better.


II. Long Beach, Long Island
---------------------------

The easiest beach to get to is Long Beach, Long Island. You just take
the LIRR to Long Beach and walk about 3 blocks and you're there. The
LIRR offers a special ticket from Penn Station or Jamaica Station that
includes round trip fare PLUS admission. For Long Beach, I believe
it's $12 total.

[n.b., the fare from Jamaica LIRR is cheaper, and you can get there on
the E-train (NYC subway)]

The ride to Jones Beach is inconvenient because you need to switch to
a bus at (I think) Merrick Station. The ride to Long Beach is just a
straight through ride of 45 minutes from Pennsylvania Station. The
beach is on the south shore of Long Island just like Jones Beach but
is nearer to Manhattan by about 5 miles or so. I regularly ride my
bike in that direction.

Long Beach is a town as well as a beach. There's a boardwalk that runs
the length of it (about 3 1/2 miles) and plenty of places to eat in
town. At Jones beach you're limited to the concessions the state runs
and then they're overpriced.


III. Long Island: Jones Beach/Robert Moses State Park/Fire Island
-----------------------------------------------------------------

The LIRR will tell you that it provides an extremely good deal for
combination tickets using the LIRR and other transport to get to three
different beach locations.  The savings gained by doing the round trip
in one day is considerable.

The best deal, easily, is the latest they have developed to the very
underused and spectacular state park/US seashore beach at Watch Hill,
on Fire Island.  If you have been to Robert Moses, you will appreciate
the superiority of going to Watch Hill.  I have rented a house in
Davis Park, Fire Island, about a mile away for ten years, and I know.
I am reluctant, in fact, to tout the place, since I'd prefer very few
know about it.

I believe the price is something like $18 for a day trip.  That
includes the LIRR fare from Penn Station to Patchogue, Long Island
(off peak, this is about $6.50 each way) and the round-trip ferry 
fare across the Great South Bay to Watch Hill ($5 each way).

Drawbacks: it takes longer.  Figure about 3 hours each way from
Columbia; 2 1/2 if you make great connections.  Also, Watch Hill has a
beautiful "nature reserve" walk through a salt marsh and a camping
ground behind the dune, but is light on facilities like showers and
lockers, although I believe they have some.

Similar good deals can be had to Jones Beach (avoid in most cases;
it's quickest, but horribly overcrowded and there are radios
everywhere; you have to walk a long way to get some room) and Robert
Moses state park on the extreme western end of Fire Island, which
you know.  There IS a station, but it's some distance away, in
Bayshore, I think.  The other deals involve connections to buses.

There is a rail road station (LIRR) "close" to Robert Moses State
Park. That station is the Babylon Rail Road Station. I believe that
the LIRR runs a bus to the beach, You really want to get the info from
the LIRR. They have the schedules and fare info.

"I've done the public route out to Fire Island a couple of times.  You
pick up the LIRR at Penn Station to Sayville, I believe.  At the
station there are cabs, vans and buses which will transport you to the
ferries for $2.00 each way (may be more now...last time I went, this
year, was by car.  I think it was $2.00 last year.).  If you or
someone you're with knows the route you can walk from the train
station to the ferry, it's only a mile or two.  Once at the ferries
you can choose which part of the Island you want to go to, the Pines
or Cherry Grove.  Ferry is $9.00 round trip, I think.  It takes about
2 1/2 hours total to get there, including the wait for the ferry and
the boat ride.  The beaches are gorgeous -- it's worth it!!"


From: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Subject: Long Beach, L.I. ... beaches by public transit
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 19:26:24 GMT
Status: RO

mjohnsto@jenny.shearson.com (Mike Johnston) writes: ]
david.fraser@sunysb.edu (David W Fraser) writes: >

]do call the Long Island Railroad first. They offer a combo package of
]round trip railfare and beach admission. The package to Long Beach is
]$10 and Jones Beach is $12.

The current LIRR price for Long Beach is $12 from Penn Station, $9.50
from Jamaica, Queens.  The price includes return fare to your station
and a beach pass coupon.  Since one can take the E-train (a very clean
and safe express subway line) to Jamaica-Sutphin station which is a
joint station with the LIRR, save your $2.50 for lemonade and snacks
at Long Beach -- or for you accountants in the audience, count that
against your NYC subway tokens! (-;

]It is in fact more convenient to get to than Jones Beach since the
]train stops about three blocks from the beach itself. For Jones 
]Beach you have to take a bus transfer and sit in traffic. 

>First of all, Long Beach is probably the easiest to get to.  We are
>only a 40 minute train ride from Penn Station, and the beachfront is
>within walking distance from the LIRR station.  

Actually, the trip time is 50 minutes from Penn Station or 30 minutes
from Jamaica, Queens.  Our total trip times from Columbia (#1 to 59th,
D to 7th Avenue, E to Jamaica-Sutphin, LIRR) to the beach was under 2
hours in each direction, off-peak (at peak, you could even do it under
90, we figured).  This is faster than subway + Q10 bus to JFK airport!

(n.b., our platform waiting times are counted in those figures.  It
takes up to a half hour to get to Penn Station, and up to 60 minutes
for Jamaica-Sutphin from Columbia.  Another optimization next time is
that we'll try to connect to the E train at 42nd Street from the 1/2/3
rather than doing that one-stop hop from 59th Street to 7th Avenue.)

]Long Beach is a town as well as a beach and offers lots alternatives
]for eat and drink after the beach. This is in marked contrast to Jones
]Beach where you're limited to overpriced State-run concessions.

The area is much like what you'd find around Hawaii or Miami, with the
beachfront apartments coming up to the edge of the boardwalk.  Not as
semi-cottage residential as The Beaches in Scarborough, on Toronto's
eastern end which is accessible by streetcar, nor as country as Fire
Island, but the beach was beautiful and the services superb.  Prices
and choices were very good (e.g., $1 for a 16 oz. fresh (not powder)
lemonade or even stuff like fresh (not day-old!) pizza slices at low
prices better than NYC) and a definite winner for private enterprise.

The beach facilities were quite nice (hold it for their bathrooms or
the ones on the trains, as the LIRR washrooms were all trashed at both
terminals), a string of small beach houses that are well kept and well
distributed all along the length of the beaches.

>Most importantly, Long Beach offers 5 miles of the cleanest and
>safest beaches in the area!

I'll count for these two points.  The water was lovely, and we seemed
to be the only people taking extreme precautions with our belongings
(a small shoulder sac for our camera, wallets, money, passcards, etc.)
while other people walked around free, without hauling stuff.  The mood
was relaxed and very easygoing, but it was a Friday and not stressed by
crowding (flextime is nice!).  Maybe weekends are different.  We'll be
taking our next sanity break there again, in a couple of weeks! (-;

gld
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary L. Dare				Elections 1992-93:
> gld@cunixD.cc.columbia.EDU		* Jean Chretien (Canada)
> gld@cunixc.BITNET			* Perot^H^H^H^H^H Elvis! (USA)