There was only one thing to do yesterday, and that was to go to the beach. Fortunately for me, that's sort of part of my job. As soon as I woke up and saw that the temperature was already 80 in the breezeway, I knew where we would go.As the Ocean State, Rhode Island is famous for its great public stretches of beach: Misquamicut, Narragansett, Scarborough, Roger Wheeler and Second are all beach names that roll off of everyone's tongue when you ask what their favorite beach is. Don't get me wrong: Those are all great, great beaches. But my own favorites are the ones that aren't on all the lists, because they're "private."
The word "private" in the context of beach has always been an invitation to me. My reasoning is that if they need to go that length to try to keep me out, it must be a really good beach. The more signs there are that say "No Beach Access," "Private Road" (heading straight to the ocean!), "Security Guard Ahead," the more I decide to make it my business to get there.
And you know what? It's not that hard. A security guard, even if there really is one, doesn't work 24/7. Generally, he's only there 10 to 3 on weekends between July 4 and Labor Day. And a lot of those "private roads" really aren't private. It's just that few people are willing to go to the bother of challenging a sign. Parking is generally the big hassle, but with a bicycle and someone else to drop off at the beach with your stuff, you can go anywhere, even between 10 and 3 in July and August.
What I like most about private beaches is that they are private. The noisy tattooed hordes are kept away, and you generally find a lovely spot all to yourself with no radios, no concession stands with their flocks of seagulls scavenging French fries, no lifeguards with bullhorns yelling at kids to quit horsing around in the water. There are no jammed parking lots, and no beach fees to pay.
So yesterday Retired Guy and I went to one of my favorite private beaches: Warren Point Beach Club in Little Compton. Getting there was especially easy because it was a weekday and, still being June, the club hasn't officially opened yet. And just as I knew it would be, it was the perfect first beach day of the year. The whole time we were there, from about 1 to 5 p.m., we saw maybe four other groups of people, most of them reading, collecting beach stones or watching kids play in the water. The small sandy beach is enclosed by rocks, and from a height of maybe 30 feet on the biggest rock, Little Comptonites have constructed a diving platform, which some people were already using yesterday.
No, I did not jump off the rock, but yes, I did go swimming. The water was cold but not that cold for this early in the year. My guess would be maybe low 60s. Retired Guy did not go in, saving that experience for Maine, where members of his family have braved the truly cold water of Saco Bay for untold generations. He has admitted to me that having spent all of his childhood summers on the rockless shining sands of the seven-mile-long beach at Ocean Park, with its huge tidal expanses and its seaweed-free water, he doesn't consider Rhode Island beaches to be in the same league.
Privately, I think he's wrong.
