Today I was pretty bored, (thanks to LAKE ATLANTIC and no waves…) and it was a relatively nice fall day out, so I decided to take the good ol’ Jeep out on the sand. I love how you can drive on the beach around here in the Hamptons. I worry that one day you won’t be allowed to (or there just won’t be enough beach left).
Some of the beaches have gotten really small lately. It’s just cyclical erosion as they tend to come back within a few weeks. But it’s a gradual loss, and as someone said “we’re living on a giant sugar cube.”
Anyway, driving on the beach is really thrilling to me. It really gets my adrenaline going, and the only reason for this is that I’m so scared I’m going to get stuck! Seriously, my heart is literally pounding the entire time, haha. I’m sure I’ll get used to it at some point and I won’t get so scared. The sand around here can be pretty soft, so it’s easy to get dug in if you’re in the wrong spot.
I have to air down my tires a bit as well, so it’s a little inconvenient if I have to drive a long distance later as I’d have to go right to the air pump and fill up. But just driving around town I can leave them a little low…I dropped them to 25 PSI from 33.
Anyway, there’s something fun about taking your car out on the beach and just driving around. I went out at a bunch of different beaches– Sagg Main, The Cut, and Peter’s Pond. Thanks to erosion it’s kind of sketchy to drive all the way down the coast because the beach gets kind of steep and there are small dropoffs and the erosion causes small cliffs to form. Forget it…if you started falling down that little cliff the car would probably roll over!
Sagg Main Beach
It was good practice today, and I didn’t get stuck at all. Didn’t even come close. I just have to be a bit more brave. I have a shovel and a tow strap, so it’s not like it’s the end of the world. There’s always someone driving on the beach. Well, maybe not way down by Peter’s Pond, where you might not see someone come by for hours.
The last time I drove on the beach I really did start getting stuck…I was almost up to the frame, but the reason was that somehow my 4 wheel drive didn’t engage, and I went halfway down the entrace in two wheel drive! Yeah that’s really great. Finally put it in a different 4 wheel gear and it got out very easily.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to do my surf check by driving onto the beach. Should be fun!!! I just wish the beaches weren’t so shot and I could just cruise down the coast. Oh well, maybe next year.