Sarah DeBoard

The Open Ocean (at Fire Island)

September 21, 2012

Sarah DeBoard looked a little suspicious when she first saw the raft that we were planning to take out into the ocean.

Especially when she found out how she was going to have to get on board.

“I’ll swim out past the breaking waves with the boat,” I told her,

“and then when you see me get into the boat, you swim out after me.”

Sarah made it to the boat without a hitch,

and before long we were drifting with the current along the shore of Fire Island.

On our right, the houses and dunes passed lazily by in the almost-warm September sun,

and on our left, the open ocean.

This is not the first time that Sarah has been to sea.

Last year she sailed from England to Australia as crew aboard the racing yacht, Carina.

When she walked onto the Carina, she had never been aboard a sailboat in her life.

A year later she had crossed two oceans, visited the remote island chains of the Galapagos and Marquesas, and faired hapily in a 42 day open ocean stretch. (That is just to name a few of her nautical accomplishments.)

Presently, we spied something in the water.

Large drifts of jelly fish, with what I took to be their egg sacks, were passing quietly underneath the boat.

“I don’t think those are the kind that can sting you.” I said.

But we decided to go back to shore.

Getting the boat and ourselves back through the surf was just as tricky as it was coming out,

and just as cold after warming up in the sun,

but we made it back to shore,

and pulled the boat up on the beach at Cherry Grove.

“Technically, we have traveled from one town to the next by sea!” I said.

Sarah pointed out some of the interesting sites in Cherry Grove,

like the famouse Belvedere Hotel.

“It is an exclusive male resort,” explained Sarah, “no women allowed inside.”

(as she walked in for a peak)

We walked back through the sandy trails that separate Fire Island Pines from Cherry Grove,

A densely wooded area now known as the Meat Rack.

I was looking for signs of it’s vibrant life at night,

but we saw just one young buck.

“It’s beautiful up here,” said Sarah,

“just like the Galapagos.”

On the way back down we saw signs,

that explained why we should not walk on the dunes.

We were happy to oblige,

and warmed ourselves up back at the house.

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