Although Shelter Island
is very small,
guests will find a car quite necessary.
The entire island from end to end is about a ten minute drive. Keep in mind that many visitors come to Shelter Island to “get away from it all.” This area is very quaint, and in some ways it
can be like stepping back in time.
For more information on the history and
current offerings of
Shelter Island, you may wish to visit: http://www.shelter-island.org/
Shelter Island
offers public
beaches with extremely calm waters (hence the name, “Shelter Island.”)
and pebble beaches. Check with your
lodging accommodations to find out if they offer parking permits to
enjoy these
beaches during your stay.
Shelter Island
has a huge
Nature Preserve, the Mashomack, which encompasses one third of the
entire
island. Other activities include:
miniature
golf (on a bit of a mini scale!), bicycle rentals, and kayak rentals
(Coecles
harbor is a great inlet to explore – the Heather’s family often boated
to this
area for a “picnic” lunch).
On the South Fork, the Hamptons
offer a larger variety of attractions. Of
course, the ocean beaches are the prime attraction for many vacationers. East Hampton
offers the closest public ocean beach.
Heather grew up in the summers on Montauk Main
Beach and Indian Wells Beach
in Amagansett. Today her family frequents
the East
Hampton Main Beach.
The beaches in East
Hampton
are white sand with protective dunes. The
public beaches
feature lifeguards and restroom facilities.
The ocean surf ranges from placid one foot waves to dangerous
15-20 foot
swells, depending on the wind and the weather.
East Hampton Main beach can be accessed on weekdays (but no
non-residents
can park here on weekends - you can come, but you’ll have to hike!)
East Hampton’s
Atlantic Beach, in Amagansett, is the
closest public
beach for non-residents on the weekend.
We recommend arriving by 10 am
on a weekend in nice weather to obtain a parking space.
Yes, there is a fee to park at either beach!
Shopping and strolling are popular rainy
day activities in Sag Harbor (10
minute drive), East Hampton (15
minute drive east), South Hampton
(20 minute drive west), Amagansett (30 minute drive), and Montauk (40
minute
drive in good non-weekend traffic!).
Cruising along the ocean residential communities is always an
entertaining activity – it gives a peek into how the “rich and famous”
live.
East
Hampton is also home
to a very little known park with short walking trails where the
songbirds are
so accustomed to humans feeding them, they will fly right onto your
hand for
seeds or shelled raw peanuts.
Montauk is by far the most
tourist-minded and laid back area
of the Hamptons. Montauk has a town, fishing docks (you can
still buy fish literally right off the boat), Gosman’s Restaurant (if
you don’t
want to cook those fresh fish yourself), horseback riding through the
state
park, and also miniature golf and paddle boats at the Johnson’s old
haunt,
Puff-and-Putt, right in town – but watch out for those swans! Of course, all who visit Montauk should check
out the Montauk Light House located on the easternmost bit of Long Island. When
we stayed in
this area, the Light House itself was mysterious and off limits, but
today it
is a
museum, and you can even climb the narrow stairs up to the light.
Although eastern Long Island is a narrow
strip of land, the weather can, on any given day, vary vastly from the
ocean side to the inner land mass to the sound - or bay - side of the
island. If the ocean is fogged in, the sound may be experiencing
beautiful weather, and vice versa.
Since most guests will not have
access to this website
during their visit, we will be sending out small packages to
attending
guests including maps of the local area pre-marked to note attractions
as well as the location of the Johnson's home, which offers a swimming
pool and a hot tub.
