Beach Etiquette

Beach season arrived over the weekend with many heading to the ocean to try and beat the heat and humidity although for most of Sunday a west wind offered little relief. That was in stark contrast to Saturday when it was more than 30 degrees cooler at the beach with many wearing sweat shirts believe it or not.

Anyway since you live here you probably know some of the basic rules of beach etiquette but if you have friends or relatives coming from out of town you might want to remind them of some of the do’s and don’ts.

* Do not wear socks with sandals because as you step onto the sand it
it will clearly send a message that you’re a visitor.
* Do not bring your backyard lounge chair….it’s too heavy to carry,
points you out as an amateur and should say in your backyard only.
* Do wear a bathing suit that matches your body. This is something
that shouldn’t be necessary to bring up but you see some sights that
just blow you away when it comes to women and men.
* Do not set yourself up right next to someone else, especially if there is
plenty of room on the beach. It’s always perplexing to me that even if
there are yards and yards of open sand somebody will put their
blanket five feet away from me.
* Do learn how to properly operate a beach umbrella, especially on a
windy day. Make sure the base is dug in well, angle the umbrella into
the wind and keep it as low as possible. When it does take off like a
javelin and nearly kills someone do not laugh and put it back up the
same way you did the first time.
* Do not play music for the entire beach because there’s a chance not
everyone likes what you’re playing. Better yet…bring an IPod.
* Do fill in any holes you dig. For some reason many people have this
great need to dig when they come to the beach which is fine for little
kids with pails and shovels. However many Dads now come to the
beach with an assortment of shovels and supervise digging projects
which often lead to 6 foot holes which if not filled in could have
negative results.
* Do not think that the ocean is like your backyard pool because it’s
not and can be very dangerous. Pay attention to the lifeguards as they
know the water and you don’t.
* Do enjoy the beach….it’s the best part of the Jersey Shore!