LIRR offers Beach Getaway packages to the Fire Island. You pick the town you want to visit for the day and purchase the package for that town. The Ocean Beach package was $30 per person from Penn Station. It includes (1) the train ticket to get to Bay Shore Station (you must transfer at Babylon Station; don't worry, the transfer involves simply walking across the platform - it's the 1st stop after the transfer), (2) the David Brothers Taxi shuttle ticket to get to Fire Island Ferries, and (3) the ferry ticket to get to Ocean Beach...and all the tickets you need to get back to Penn Station.
We caught the 10:10 am train. I won't lie. It was a hike. It took us about 2 hours to get there. But it's worth it!! We were ready for lunch rather than the beach by the time we got to Ocean Beach. Since Ocean Beach is super strict about it's "No Food/Drinks" policy on the beach (except for water bottles), we ate lunch first and then hit the beach. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the police continuously patrolled the beach for food/drink violators.
As a result, the beaches are pretty much pristine!
I'm all about packing light for the beach. The last thing I want is to lug around a bag filled with sandy personal belongings and other bulky beach items. Sunshine, however, wanted to bring chairs and an umbrella. Thankfully, I convinced him that all we needed were beach blankets. You can rent beach umbrellas from the lifeguards for $10 (or is it $15?) for the day. It's first come first serve; so if you want an umbrella, stop by the lifeguard station first.
Here is the walk to the beach. No cars are allowed on Fire Island so people get around by using golf carts and bicycles. They transport items via little red wagons. It's both weird and cute at the same time.
Here's another view of the beach:
Here's a view going back to the town center:
It takes all of 5 minutes (at most) to walk from the town center to the beach. I think it took us a little longer because I kept on getting distracted by the cutes cottages and houses.
The prices of the restaurants were reasonable (and the seafood is fresh and a little cheaper than what you'd find in the city). Maguire's make a really great pitcher of sangria. The special for that day was a very generous lobster roll. It was only $15! Needless to say, we had a great lunch. (Note: Per LIRR's website, we were supposed to get 10% off our lunch entrees with our LIRR coupon, but the restaurant waitstaff/manager seemed unaware of this promotion.)
For dinner, we went to a restaurant (I forget its name) that had a 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm (Weekend Happy Hour?) oyster, clam and beer special. I gorged on oysters and pina coladas while Sunshine gorged on clams and beer. We caught the 8:05 pm ferry back. It was a much-better-than-expected beach day...we'll be going back soon!
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