Kites Over Sandy Hook

Another great place I’d never been. Just 40 miles from my home in Maplewood, Sandy Hook is a spit of land off the easternmost tip of New Jersey that, with the Rockaway peninsula, frames the outer New York Harbor. The kids have been there — it’s a favorite for school field trips — but I’d never done it.

The first thing I saw was a cloud of colorful (what I thought were) kites. Actually, Spermaceti Cove was full of surfboards attached to these sails.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. A perfect beach day, even in terms of the temperature. Everything except the date, that is. So it was pretty well deserted on the ocean side, as was the rest of the hook.

Nice curls.

It’s kind of like Cedar Point, only with an old military installation instead of an amusement park. This is an old proving grounds facility, hundreds of yards long.

There are also missile launchers, a lighthouse, and deep mortar installations that were set up to protect New York from enemy warships before the First World War.

The base is being turned into an Historical Site. Much of the charm of it comes from the wide expanses of untouched nature; bird sanctuaries, wetlands, and great views.