A weekend of island hopping it was.
Hop 1: Manhattan to City Island.
A ye olde ship building and fishing island in the Bronx and a very long way on the subway. It has one main drag at the end of which is the biggest fish and chips shop I've ever seen. The food is so deep fried even the seagulls know it's bad for you and stay well clear.
It also happened to be 'graduate from high school day' so there were lots of pimply teens in mortar boards and gowns celebrating the achievement by raising their cholesterol levels higher than their grade point average.
Hop 2: Manhattan to Long Island to Fire Island.
Another long train ride plus a shuttle bus and ferry this time and you land on Fire Island. It's a skinny but very long island off....yes, you guess it.....Long Island. The Island has no cars and takes about 10 minutes to walk the width (from bayside to beachside)....and a few days (probably) to walk the length.
There are no roads, only boardwalks and that's how you get everywhere. If you have luggage or shopping you pull it along on a red radio flyer cart (see pics). All the houses are built in the dunes and are connected by the boardwalks.
We landed at The Pines which is a 'No Straights in the Village' kind of place. There are just lots of beautiful gay boys, bars, a cafe and gourmet food market. Oh, and massive boats just moored in the marina. The houses here are amazing. Ocean views and pools all built into the sand dunes.
Cherry Grove is the next little village about a 25 minutes stroll through the dunes away. There are more pretty gay boys and also a few handsome (?) older lesbians. Again lots of houses (not as flash) connected by boardwalks with cafes, bars, restaurants and a couple of hotels.
We were there on Sunday afternoon so things were winding down for the weekend but I'm pretty sure both places go wild most weekends (if the empty condom packets in the bushes are anything to go by!).
