A Spring Day on Fire Island with Kids

Want to forget for a day that you are in New York City there is not much that is more opposite the bustle of the Big Apple then the isolation of Fire Island in the off season.

This is one of the more unique places we have visited and it is just a mere hour or so from the heart of Brooklyn.

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To get to Fire Island you can drive onto one of the ends, but to access the portion where people actually live you will need to take a ferry. Ferry service is very limited in the off season so make sure to check the schedule carefully.

We went the first weekend in April when some of the residents were slowly heading back to the island to start their gardens and uncover their houses from any Winter disruption.

We rode the ferry from Sayville to Cherry Grove. We left Sayville at around 11 and took the 3:30 ferry back in the afternoon. Use the bathroom in the bar/restaurant at the Sayville ferry station – it will be your last chance for a while.

Bring cash!! They did not accept cards for ferry tickets – but the parking lot across the street did take our Visa.

It is a relatively brief ride but we did bring some binoculars to keep our excited twins focused.

One of the most unique things we discovered was that it is a town built on boardwalks and stilts. This of course makes sense given it’s role as a barrier island, but it still felt so surreal to walk around a mostly deserted town on long boardwalks.

Following Hurricane Sandy’s destructive wake much of this has been re-done so the boardwalks are smooth and would be stroller friendly.

They are definitely great for racing along. Our twins tested this out fully.

Our favorite part was the beach.

It is long but not super deep. I imagine in the summer this is crowded with swimmers and sunbathers, but in the early Spring it was completely deserted except for the array of beautiful seashells and rocks.

We came home with pocket fulls.

This time of year the island is largely deserted. We often felt like we were the only people on the island.

One of the reasons we picked Cherry Grove was it’s proximity to the Sunken Forest which is part of the National Park Service.

After a walk up the beach we quickly walked to the other side of the island again and found the trail for the Sunken Forest.

Kids ran through it chasing the items on our sensory Scavenger Hunt.

We hypothesized about the habitants of pond nests and were captivated by a lone deer on the boardwalk.

Along the way we found spots to rest and eat the sandwiches and snacks we had carried to the island.

NOTHING is open.

If you’re hoping to shop or get a bite come back during the regular season which starts after Memorial Day.

There was one bar half open next to the ferry dock. They invited us in for a quick soda and we thankfully got to use their bathroom. Otherwise everything else was closed until Summer.

This was not your typical Fire Island experience but we loved it. We loved the quiet. We loved feeling like we had discovered a quiet uninhabited corner of the world.

Our kids had space to run and explore and came home bursting with as many questions as their pockets contained shells.

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