Beach Reality

Long Island summers mean fun in the sun. We are total beach bums around here and the water is where its at. So like last weekends evening fun on the beach, this weekends big event was going out on our friend Ned's boat for an hour or so around dusk. We live on the north shore of LI on a peninsula with water on 3 sides of our town. Hempstead Harbor which encompases 1/3 of our shoreline here is a super sad example of urban decay, over development and total neglect. Its so beautiful yet so depressing. Here's a blurb about our water from the coalition to save Hempstead Harbor

There were many instances of beach closures due to high bacteria levels, some due to direct discharge of sewage into the harbor from the former aging Roslyn treatment plant. Several superfund sites were discovered along its shores. Rotting wooden barges lined the lower harbor and sat there for decades before funding and responsibility for their removal could be ironed out. The Village of Sea Cliff even resorted to installing “Gunderboom” around its beach in an effort to keep contaminants from interfering with swimmers. Once the most productive oystering harbor in New York, it is now entirely closed to shellfishing. Low oxygen levels led to periodic fish kills.

-HempsteadHarbor.org/about_us

Now I live in and grew up in Glen Cove which is on Matinecock Point which is more exposed to the vast Long Island Sound. But a portion of my town is on the other side of the point which is Hempstead Harbor. And our neighbor town of Sea Cliff and the super rich neighborhoods of Sands Point and Port Washington all share the Hempstead Harbor shoreline. I probably did more of my growing up swimming on the sound side of the point, but the beach front community that I grew up in is on the Harbor side of the point, so myself, my parents and my past and present Labrador Retrievers have spent countless lazy summer hours in that water, and well we're ok. At least we think we are. And all my crazy Sea Cliff friends have survived haha.You can get a better location idea here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hempstead%20harbor&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ACAW_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

Anyway what I'm gettin at is with the industrial boom that took place back during the turn of the century and with the lax environmental regulations way back then too, its no wonder a dead end like Hempstead Harbor was doomed from the get go. Urban Spraw Man! People needed more and they hastily went about getting it. And at our environment's expense. But don't get me wrong, even as bad as the water is, like I've said, I have swam in it for the past 26 years and pretty much everybody I know has. And up to this point we've survived! I don't know maybe I'm being stupid. Maybe one day I'll realize what a mistake that was? I guess I can't help but feel like the chemicals dumped in a pool couldn't really be much better for one's body? At least in the sound its salt water and its amazing what salt water can do. Clears up skin, heals up scrapes, dries out itches, kills poison ivy. At least those are my experiences, so my thoughts are that the bacteria in the open water at least has a chance of dissipating where as pools just collect germs and I can't help but usually feel kinds gross and skeevy when I get out of a pool. And not too mention you reek like chlorine and your eyes burn. Yeah maybe your eyes burn from the salt, but I've been able to go out for the night straight from a full day at the beach and have decent hair and feel semi comfy. Going out straight after being in a pool just makes me feel gross and slimy. I've had some bad pool and hot tub experiences so needless to say I'm not a huge fan. But I do have a membership at our town's YMCA and they do have a nice outdoor pool that I plan on checking out. So maybe I'm being a hypocrite. I just never had the luxury of having a pool as a kid and all me and my sis ever knew where the beaches. I just really hope that my kids can swim in the sound just like how me and my sis did growing up swimming in the sound.

Tonight being out there reminded me of how lucky we are to live with this amazing gift. I wish it could be cleaner, but that blurb I posted earlier was from about 20 years ago and in that time the Harbor has made huge improvements. Ok maybe you still can't shellfish in there, but you can go around the other side of Matinecock Point and then your set. Its a sensitive subject around here. Especially with our area being such a fishing culture spot. Everybody points fingers and so on. All I know is that its beautiful here and I fully enjoyed myself tonight.