Island Of Fire

One of the things I most look forward to every summer is the annual pilgrimage my friends and I take to Fire Island in Suffolk County. For those of you who do not know Fire Island is a car free oasis about an hour outside the city. It is only about 31 miles long and it is made up of different little communities. For the sake of this article I am
speaking only of the area known as Ocean Beach. I have never been to the other parts of the island so I cannot comment on how the rest of it is.

To get to Fire Island you must first drive to one of the towns such as Sayville or Bay Shore to pick up a ferry. The ferries run from May till October and are run from early morning till 11pm. One of my favorite parts is the 45 minute ferry ride to and from the island. It is so refreshing to be out on the water with the wind blowing and the sun out as you ride away from the shore and head towards the island itself. I would absolutely recommend that you sit at the top of the ferry. You might get hit with more water and your hair might get a little messed up (not to mention you need to hold onto your stuff or it will get blown off the boat) but the view is something I cannot describe to you. I would describe the feeling of being on the boat as you are being transported away from the real world and going to a place untouched by humanity.

(Tell me that is not a dope visual)

When you get to Fire Island it feels like a place that has been saved from being tainted by the outside world. Right as you get off the boat you notice that there seems to be hundreds of wagons hanging at the terminal. It is exactly what it seems. There are wagons hanging waiting to be used by people getting off the boat. This is because there are NO cars on Fire Island during the summer. Everything you bring must be carried by hand. So for the residents and visitors the way they move there things around is by wagon.

(Rocket Fuel)

For me, Ocean Beach is comprised of three distinct areas. First is the main street which is lined with Mom and Pop shops, and bars. Then you have the residential houses behind main street which are each distinct to the person who lives there. No two houses are the same. Walking through the hedges that are lined with palm trees on the sidewalks you’d think you were in the Caribbean and not in New York.  The final part is the beaches which compared to the more popular beaches such as Jones Beach are free of liter and most importantly, really annoying people. You can find a spot on the beach and don’t have too worry about bumping elbows with anyone.

Fire Island has its own official drink which they have dubbed, “Rocket Fuel”. This drink is a combination of vanilla ice cream and Bacardi 151 rum. Prepared properly the drink has the kick of 151 rum with the smoothness of a milkshake leading to a very nice, refreshing summer drink. Some of the bars there will put less 151 then ice cream leading to what became a Chef named drink of, “motor oil”. This is the exact opposite with virtually no alcohol in the drink leading to a feeling you have been ripped off by the bar that just charged you $10 for it. Yes $10. And no bar on Ocean Beach seems to charge anything different. So for $10 make sure you get your moneys worth.

           

(These kids run Google now)

 Personally, for me, the first trip to Fire Island was my most memorable. The origin of the trip was to celebrate our friends Rob, and Jen’s birthdays which happen on the same day. So the first time we went we all got to the island at different times. Some of us had gotten there early and while waiting for everyone else to arrive we decided to get something to eat at this place called Rachel’s while we waited. We went to this restaurant and I saw some kids selling lemonade off there wagon for a dollar a cup. I thought it was so cool so I went and bought a couple of cups and asked them if I could take a picture of there burgeoning enterprise. One of the kids then proceeds to pick up this cup filled to the top with one dollar bills. He must have had a good $50 in it (which you can see in the accompanying picture). Not a bad days work for two kids serving some minute maid mix off a wagon.

(In memory of an amazing meal)

            The food at this place was so, so good. We got some calamari which was perfectly tender and fresh. As well as some mussels that had this amazing garlic, pesto sauce which I cannot describe properly. I’m not a shellfish guy, but these were so good for one day I was one. Needless to say we demolished all of it. You owe it to yourself to check out Rachel’s if you are ever in Ocean Beach. The chocolate chip pancakes are also a thumbs up.

Finally the rest of our group met with us about 6:30 so now we were about a dozen strong at this point. And at this point I need to give a little background info. At this time in 2009 our group of friends had been going through a lot of turmoil. Several of us, including myself were having issues which were leading to a lot of conflict within our group. We would snap at each other, often not at anything at all important, and we were not able to keep hidden how fractured some of our relationships were getting. It got to the point where our friends began to notice within our group how some of us were not able to get along with others. Often we would get together and we would tiptoe around each other for fear that one of us would say something that would get the other angry. It began to wear on myself in that you could read on my face that I often was not happy with how things were.

            
Not to get off on too much of a tangent but I take full blame for how I was at the time and my actions. Many times I did not act like an adult and to say I could have acted better would be an understatement of the century. If I had the gift of foresight I would have done things differently. But even at that time I realized that there was no getting away from the direction both myself and all of us were all going in. We were all going to be hurt and none of us were going to be spared. Some of us would take it more personally then others but we would all be hurt.

            
So needless to say at the time things were less then rosey for some of us. But that is what made this first trip so special for me. For a couple of hours we all forgot about everything that was going on and we had fun. There were no squabbles over little things. We just squabbled over where to go next. We started with some oysters and some “Rocket Fuel” at a local establishment. Now I had never shucked an oyster before so this was a way out of my comfort zone thing to do. But best I can describe it would be it feels like you are swallowing a huge slimey slug.

            
It was interesting to say the least.

            
We then moved onto this other bar called, “The Sand Bar”. The ambiance in this place was awesome. The first thing you notice going in is red Radio Flyer wagons tacked on every wall with a large sign saying, “Park Your Wagon Here”. This has to do with for every $100 you spend you get a wagon which you can sign or draw on however you seen fit. It’s a very cool thing to see all of them hanging on the wall and to read what is written on them.

So we are there drinking and then the local band starts playing the song, “All Star” by Smashmouth. This would haunt me to know end as they would play this song no less then three times in one three hour period. It got so bad that the few of us who picked up on it began asking when they would play it over again. Sadly, they would play it over and over (as a side note I have hated that song ever since that day and I will feel physically bad when I hear it). But a great thing happened as the night went on. Barriers fell and we all just became people who want to have a great time with our friends. We were laughing, smiling, singing, dancing, and taking pictures. Time just melted away and we just kept having an amazing time. I never wanted that feeling to end. It is how you know something is great because you lose track of time which is what we did. Next thing we knew it was 11pm and we had to get on the final boat of the night or we would be stuck till the next morning after.

Needless to say we got on the top deck of the boat. We were exhausted, tired, spent, however you would like to put it. But as that cool breeze hit as the ferry took us back to the real world I looked back as a now lit Fire Island faded into the darkness. All I could think was one thing.

I just had one of the happiest moments of my life.

(The author at the end of a long day. I got up under my own power)

What more can I add that J didn't already cover? For me, this was one of the highlights of that entire year. I went skydiving with my buddy Margaret the day before. It was a beautiful day; perfect. It couldn't have been MORE perfect. The weather, the mood, the company; it was all just right.

Was there tension? Yeah. I mean, there isn't any way around it. There were some overwrought, under-appreciated sub-currents going on among all of us. Fights. Discussions. Suppressed resentment. Some of the best relationships and friendships go through this, but only the strongest ones get past it. I'm not going to conclusively say who got past it, and who didn't. I used to define that time as the best and worst of that period of my life, but the story isn't over yet, and whose to say who eventually comes out together at the end of the book?

By the time Fire Island rolled around, my partner and I didn't want to go. We were exhausted having spent the entire day before out on the tip of Long Island, up in the air. We got back at a reasonable time, around 10pm. We ordered Chinese take out, pulled out the air mattress so we could camp out in the living room and watch several episodes of Heroes. We woke up late the next day, both of us reluctant to leave sleep behind. We dragged all morning, not really wanting to drive all the way back out to Long Island to catch a Ferry and land on some Island we have never been to before.

By the time we rolled out to pick up J, I want to say it was nearly 2pm. It was a long drive, and it was a little bit of a wait for the Ferry. The three of us secured some seats up top, all of us strangely quiet and still very tired. We had packed a 5 gallon bucket, some beach towels, and a couple of accessories to play in the sand. We thought we were going to be camping out at the beach all day.

Once the Ferry started and the wind started to tussle our hair, the fog of weariness and unspoken annoyance seemed to lift. By the time the boat docked on the Island, we were all smiles, excited to see what this place had to offer.

Frankly, I was ready to see the famous gay community I had read all about. Would it be any different from so-called "straight" community or would the island be decked out in fabulous hues of color and pizzazz? To my surprise, there were kids...and families. And not ONE gay person in sight. WTF? Where was all the gay awesomeness I was looking forward to partaking in? Someone on the Ferry told me later on that there were several Islands that made up Fire Island, and the one I was thinking about was not this one. 

There were wagons, as J described, and that main street. We ran into a friend who was also there for the birthday celebrations; someone I had not spoken to in weeks and had a distinct air of suppressed rage darting at me. She was sea sick, having stayed below instead of riding up top with the fresh sea air, as we had done. She paid the price; wobbling off the Ferry- her face tinted green and her stomach rolling. The four of us joined forces, not knowing where the rest of our group was, and we all stopped to eat. The meal was phenomenal. We all put aside our underlying issues and enjoyed the mussels and calamari. By the time we finished eating, the birthday girl arrived and told us where our other friends were.

We never did get to the beach. It was early evening and the bars were hopping. The live band was really good, or the drinks were nice and strong. Alcohol flowed freely. Oysters were ordered. We all hung off each other, taking pictures, kissing anyone and everyone, and laughing-having one of the greatest moments in social history. Sweet Caroline blared from the stage, and we all drunkenly screamed the chorus throughout the restaurant. There was no fighting or anger or passive-aggressive bullshit moves that our group is famously guilty of. 

It was just fun. We were half an hour early for the last Ferry out, and luckily we were because we were among the first on line and therefore got the prime seats up top. Various sets had coupled off. I was snuggled up against my honey, his hand nestled invisibly beneath my skirt. The ride back felt good. J rode back with another friend so they could both head off to a bbq. My bf took me home so I could change into a club-type ensemble and was awesome enough to drive me all the way to the Lower East Side so I could join my cousin's bachelorette party. My friend Margaret met up with me there.

Was I completely wiped out from the experience? Heck yeah. I slept till 3pm the next day, and the only reason I got up was because my bf woke me so he could kick me out of his bed. I guess 3 days is more than enough, and he had all he could take of my company. He drove me home.

I've never jammed so much activity with so many people in such a short span of time before, but I don't regret a minute of any of it. If I had to do it all over again- I wouldn't have wasted to much time sleeping. I would have left earlier for Fire Island and played on the beach. I would have eaten another meal on the island besides the snack that we had.

And if I knew it was the last time I would ever have such a good time with all those people, I would have savored the moment a little better. Lesson learned.