Saw an article concerning the best beaches in America. One in my hometown was listed. This beach is on the ocean. I’m not an ocean beach guy; I’m a bay beach guy. We aren’t the same.

The ocean isn’t really for swimming. It’s more for getting past the breaking waves and bobbing up and down followed by an attempt to reach the shore without getting sucked back into the ocean. Not my idea of having fun.

Growing up with access to both the ocean and the bay I realize how lucky I was. Just something I took for granted. I soon realized the ocean was more about the show than anything else. It’s where all the “cool” people went. The objective being to get a tan and socialize.

In the 1960’s the surf craze began in earnest. Beach Blanket Bingo and all those Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon movies. You need the ocean to surf. Not any ocean beach will do though, the surfer beaches were separate from the “cool” people beaches. I’ve never tried surfing nor had any desire to do so.

Now I’m a bay beach person. In the bay you can swim, relax on an inner tube, maybe do some clamming. The beach there will not be crowded with folks. I could walk the shoreline and enjoy the rushing of those gentle waves on my feet. No concern about being dragged out.

Those rating beaches are the same people that rate amusement parks. It is all based on attendance and how “in” the place happens to be that year. Does it have amenities? In the case of beaches, does it attract celebrities?

The thing with me is the beach, whether ocean or bay, should be a peaceful place. It’s a way to commune with nature. It shouldn’t be people crowding into every square inch of sand. I don’t go to the beach for excitement, I go to relax.

Where I grew up it was a very common thing to drive up to the ocean to make sure it was still there. You didn’t necessarily get out of the car; you just parked and looked out over the ocean. For the locals it is a year-round thing but best enjoyed in the winter months. I don’t recall ever checking on the bay though, I was certain it was still there, the bay is eternal.

It’s been a very long time since I walked the shore of the bay where I played as a child. That would have been Gardiners Bay. From the beach, just over the horizon was Gardiner’s Island, home to pirates.

Captain Kid had visited that island and left treasure there. A story I was told many times. The lord of the Manor, David Gardnier, belonged to the church I attended. He took the Jr. choir to visit his island for a number of years. I went at least twice. I walked on the beach there as well.

I feel a connection to the bays, not so much to oceans. It’s funny because I did twenty years in the Navy and sailed many oceans. None of them would I care to revisit. Instead, I would visit the bays and the harbors, those protected enclaves that soothe my soul.

Ocean beaches are for the frivolous, the bay beaches for the more sensible folks among us. Those at the ocean clamor for the excitement, the thrill and the spotlight. Bay folks are contemplative and enjoy the more subtle nuances of nature. An easier pace, peaceful and calming. There, you have time to dream.

Sammis Beach, often called Sammy’s Beach is where I played as a child. Due south of Gardiners Island.