fort tilden beach

I went here yesterday, on Sunday, the day after my going away party, because my friend invited me to come with her. It was an auspicious day in every regard. We took the 1:30 PM ferry from the Pier 11 on Wall Street all the way to Rockaway Beach. The ferry was at overcapacity, and I was the last one allowed on the 1:30 PM ferry even though I arrived 20 minutes early (the next one was at 2:30). My friends arrived later than I did, but they managed to cut the line all the way into the front.

So we were allowed on the ferry, which took us to Rockaway Beach. Fort Tilden, in particular, is a beach slightly further from Rockaway, where tops were optional. As such, there were a couple of people who were topless.

I never really understood the appeal of going to beaches since I didn’t exactly have the tradition of going to beaches growing up. But it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit when I went to Fort Tilden Beach that day, and the breeze graced my body pleasantly as I layed in the sand. After I applied many layers of sunscreen, I fell asleep while listening to my On Repeat playlist on Spotify. It was a great nap, probably one of the best I’ve had in my life. The sun warmed me up. The breeze kept me cool. And behind the bass, there was the sound of the waves. Insert Virginia Woolf reference, which also popped up in conversation.

When we woke up, we played Rummy 500, talked about why toplessness is considered to be a transgression, and what is the line to be drawn between toplessness and bottomlessness. We left to go to dinner, shortly discovering that the A was not running that evening. If there ever was a transient day to conclude a dream, this was probably it.