Grab the kids and get in the car – there are seals are at Sandy Hook! Given that temperatures are rising, however, this is a very limited engagement, so you need to go see the show now. Go!
I had been reading about the seals at the Hook for about a month now, but finding a time to go and a person to go with just wasn’t happening… until yesterday. My neighbor and I spent the entire day at the Hook, exploring ocean to bay, and everything in between. But the main show is in the harbor: the seals are SO cute, some of them floating on their backs, seeming to wave at the spectators watching them, while others were just piled on top of each other on the rocks, sunning themselves.
Now, the last time I was at Sandy Hook was as a chaperone for the Bear Tavern 4th grade field trip, and my main objective then was to not lose anyone, and to not let anyone run into the ocean, which was definitely not as easy as the teachers made it sound. But on this trip, I was able to relax and appreciate the totality of Sandy Hook. (Editor’s note: 4th grade was a long time ago!)
We started out on the ocean side, which was completely deserted. In case you didn’t know: the New York skyline is visible from the Sandy Hook beach – a nice perspective.
We even met a bald eagle on a beach perch. Sandy Hook has constructed multiple structures for the eagles, and the eagle we saw was not bothered by us at all. But, as we did not want to bother the eagle, we kept our distance.
Continuing our walk, we also came upon what appeared to be an entire tree that had washed up during a storm. Absolutely gorgeous.
Sandy Hook has so many beautiful coves and vistas, it is truly hard to say which is more beautiful than the next.
Naturally, we also visited the Sandy Hook lighthouse, a national historic landmark. The Sandy Hook lighthouse was lit for the first time in 1764, after multiple shipwrecks had occurred in the years preceding. Interestingly, when the lighthouse was built, it stood about 500 feet from the tip of Sandy Hook, but as the tides have built up the land, the lighthouse now stands one and a half miles from the tip!
The last thing I wanted to mention is the repair work going on. Fort Hancock, on Sandy Hook, is currently in a very poor state of disrepair, or even ruin. But work has begun to refurbish many of the buildings, which is awesome to see. So go to Sandy Hook, see the seals, and see the work being done to repair the fort, a great piece of NJ history.
All photos copyright Kim Robinson.
