Camping at Fire Island

Over Labor Day weekend, Dereck and I took a camping trip to Fire Island with our friend Sarah and a bunch of other people. The three of us woke up early and got on the Long Island Rail Road (just barely) with all of our stuff.



I seriously don't know how we carried all this stuff, but we did. When we got off the railroad, it was supposed to be right across the street where we catch the ferry. So we asked a taxi driver where it was and told us that it was about a mile away. Well, since none of us had ever been here, we piled all of our stuff into the van and off we went. Well, apparently it was the wrong ferry that took us to a different part of the island, so we piled back in and he proceeds to drop us off right across the street from the train station to the other ferry (after taking our $5/person)....
Grrrr....
We jumped on the ferry and headed to the island. This island is unique in that they don't allow cars.

Dereck on the ferryView from the ferry

This is the beach that greeted us when we got to the other side. Seriously amazing. The most beautiful blue water, soft beaches. Really great. So we pitched our tent, ate some lunch and hit the sand. We layed out all day and played in the water and just enjoyed nature. Well, when we got back to our campsite around 6ish, the mosquitos were in full force. Honestly ridiculous! I seriously have never seen them so thick. So we lathered on the bug spray and made dinner and went to bed. Somehow overnight, the ground turned to cement (or so it seemed) and when we woke up, the flies arrived. Not sure where they came from but they were out of control. They were undettered by bug spray and loved biting the ankles or any other body part for that matter. The only relief was by being IN the water. Even lying on the beach the 2nd day, we got attacked. It was unbearable. We instead decided to take a walk around the town which was so much fun and the flies didn't bother us too much. That night we discovered the most beautiful electricity in the sand. I don't even know how to describe it or what it was but we walked down to the beach at night and when we stepped, the ground lit up like little stars underneath our feet. It was beautiful, and magical. I could have stayed there all night trying to figure it out. So worth the trip right there.

Emma - waiting for the tide to die down.
Here we are hiding out in our tent. We both got sooo sunburnt! The other positive of the trip, was our delicious food. We couldn't make campfires, but we could cook on grills. So, we grilled every meal! We had salmon, shish-ka-bobs, turkey burgers, hot dogs, etc...
Yum!
I think we made our fellow campers jealous, but why should you have to eat poorly just cause you're camping! :)
The final day, I had had enough. The flies were ruining my flesh, I had a million mosiquito bites and my shoulders were burnt to a crisp, so instead of staying all day, we left in the afternoon. We came home dirty, happy, and tired. A fun, fun trip, but next time I go, I will be staying in a beach house instead!