After New York I went to Seaside Heights in New Jersey, perhaps best known for the TV show Jersey Shore, all though that is not why I went there. I was looking for a combination of the ocean, beaches and national parks that was close to New York City. And that place was Seaside Heights! I took a bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Not a lot of people use this bus connection as far as I could see. I think there were six other people on the way there and there was only me on the way back a few days later.
The town of Seaside Heights lies on a barrier island with a bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other and is part of the huge stretch known as the Jersey Shore. I wasn’t there for long, since I extended my stay in New York and had to get back to New York for the weekend as well, but I think I spent my time quite well.
After arriving and checking in to the motel, just around the corner of the bus stop, I took a long walk along the boardwalk, watching the dunes, the beach and the sea. The boardwalk extended from Seaside Heights to the adjacent town of Seaside Park and then on to the entrance of a national park. It took me a few hours to get there and back, in part because I also walked on a beach and sand is not advantageous if you want to go fast, and in part because I wanted to take my sweet time. The park looked interesting, but was 8 miles long, so I wasn’t going to walk it that day (or any day, walking to the park was about 5 miles one way, so that adds up to a lot of walking).
The second day was my relax day, I slept in and then went to the beach to lie on the sand and do a bit of swimming in the Atlantic Ocean under the blistering sun. I did all right, only got a little red on my upper back.
The third day I rented a bike for four hours to cycle in the national park, where I got adopted by a small family of mosquitos when I walked on one of the side paths – got stung a bit, but it would’ve been worse if I hadn’t taken some precautions with a bug repellant. Even so, I only went down one side path to avoid any more bugs. Aside from mosquitos this was also tick country and that is one bug I want to avoid. More importantly, since I only had four hours, I wanted to make the most of my cycle time. The park itself is mostly a road, with some beach offshoots, and a kayaking spot near the end. So not the prettiest park if you’re just staying on the road like I did and are under a heavy time constraint. What made this park worth it for me was the Osprey. There was a nest of them and I got some good photos there, including the birds in flight. The cycling was good exercise too and after New York City I needed that.
