I’ve been craving a good swim in the ocean. Longing for the sun and the beach, if only because sand, sun and saltwater feel great on the hives I get due to my allergies. A lot of the local beaches on the bay don’t open until May, and the ocean is a couple hours away.
Enter Sandy Point State Park. It’s on the western shore of the bay, a sixteen mile drive from our place. There’s oodles of fishing, crabbing, boating and swimming at the park. The swimming area looks directly onto the bay bridge, where you can cackle at the people driving to the ocean rather than stopping to swim or sun right there.
It’s five dollars per Maryland resident, six dollars for out-of-state residents to enter the park. There are changing rooms and showers near the beach. I wore my suit under my clothes and waded into the water up to my waist. It was very cold, but the sun was warm. The beach was rocky and sunk under my feet – not entirely pleasant.
The gulls weren’t shy about coming close to Michael and I, which means they probably manage to get loads of foodstuffs during the on-season. This little fellow is Ring-Billed Gull.
We intended to rent a boat, but you have to be 35 years old (!) and put down a seventy dollar security deposit on a rowboat. Alternatively, you can show a boating safety certificate in place of the age requirement. This pretty much ruined all our plans, I was hoping to get out on the water with my binoculars. I’ve never been on a rowboat before.
I don’t understand the 35 year-old policy. I could rent a car at 25 years old, and cars are more expensive and more dangerous than a rowboat. Maybe someone from the state (dnr, coughcough) could re-examine that policy for sensibility. Or explain it to me.
Don’t waste your time at Sandy Point, unless you want to claim a patch on the beach and sun and swim, or if you have a boat you’d like to launch. If you do bring a boat to launch – be wary. They have loads of cops there.
In other news, Michael and I have invested in self-watering planters from gardeners.com. We transplanted our two pepper plants (one cayenne, one bell) into the container along with some basil and they appear to be doing well, although the soil is saturated beyond belief. Inari is desperate to get outside whenever we do upkeep on our plants and looks jealously on as we get to play in the soil that she wants to play in and water the plants that she wants to eat.
Pathetic, no? Adorable nonetheless.
4 Comments
35?! what!? well, that makes me (and N!) feel young. And I rented a car when I was 19!
I went to Sandy Point twice when I was in school for field trips (did you?). Once was to teach us how to eat crabs. We also always found wee tiny shark teeth as well.
Michael rented a car when we were in CO, but he could only because of his mensa membership.
I’d never been to Sandy Point before for school. I only had one field-trip to the bay and it was to go on a fishing-vessel and learn something… I don’t remember what. All I know is it was fun and we caught a lot of oyster shells and trash in the net.
Yeah, for some reason Alamo’s policy is/was “25 to rent, except if you belong to any sponsoring group, in which case it’s 21.” Weird, considering that organizations like the National Geographic Society would probably qualify you.
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