Our beach adventure

Our trip to the beach took a turn that we weren’t expecting. We have been frequenting Roy Carpenter’s Beach in Matunuck, RI for 5 or 6 years now, mostly because it was very family oriented, with no loud radios, and very clean sand. It had the usual snack stand, bathhouse to change in and clean bathrooms. But, nothing ever stays the same, especially beachfront property in Rhode Island.

This bit of bad news is from The Providence Journal

Coastal storms lead to parking ban at Roy Carpenter’s Beach01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, June 5, 2007

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — This spring’s punishing coastal storms claimed a Rhode Island tradition dating to the 1930s: people will no longer be able to park at Roy Carpenter’s Beach for the day.

A nasty April storm ate another 10 feet into the shoreline, leading the owners of the popular beach colony in Matunuck to do away with the public parking lot altogether.

“We decided to leave the sand where nature put it and just have a bigger beach for the people who live here,” said Nancy Thoresen, whose family owns Roy Carpenter’s.

Since the 1930s, people could pay to park in the lot and enjoy a day at the beach that on clear days looks out to Block Island. The practice reached a height a few decades ago, when 400 to 500 cars would park there and some beachgoers would flock to nearby Moonstone Beach for nude sunbathing, Thoresen said.

Once a generous beach, the sand has crept inland over the past decade and is now approaching the first row of cottages. “The whole coast around here seems to be moving inland,” she said.

People are welcome to park elsewhere and walk in, but there will be no public parking available, she said.

The “parking elsewhere” mentioned in the last paragraph probably won’t happen very often unless you are a persistent soul, because the beach is surrounded by corn fields and private homes (no parking in either of course), plus it’s a hike in from the main road if you are able to find a place to park. So, we backtracked to the North Kingstown town beach, but then SB wanted to give the Breachway a try, where he had gone many times as a youngster, and that’s where we stayed for the day. Although not as nice as Roy Carpenter’s, and there were no stones there, except for the gigantic ones that make up the Breachway (I have buckets of “pretties” that I bring home from the beach every time I go) and there was no sun (very cloudy and hazy, and I still got a bit of pink on my face, even under the umbrella) it was still a nice time. The fog and haze drifted in and out all day, as you can see from the Breachway photo below. We did find out that they do not charge for parking before 7:00 AM or after 4:00 PM, so that is a thought. The parking for the day cost $12.00 and the bathrooms left a bit to be desired.

The houses sorry, cottages close to the water are built up on stilts to protect them from a storm surge if a hurricane should get close enough or come ashore. I’m not sure how high they are, probably 15 to 20 feet. It feels a bit alien driving down the road and seeing all of these cottages with their legs showing, so to speak. I feel like I’m looking at their underwear. BTW the cottage below is a rental that goes for $2750 per week with a 2 week minimum. YIKES!

This rental below ($4000 per week, 2 week minimum) is farther away from the water and for some reason is more than the other one that is just about at the edge of the ocean. Go figure.

Even with the haze, the glare was relentless. I knitted for awhile, but because I knit with my glasses off, I had to finally give up. SB read his book for awhile and then gave up because he brought the wrong sunglasses with him. We were very content to just sit and eat and doze.

I should also mention that Sweet Baboo won $3.00 at the casino, where we had gone to have breakfast before going to the beach. He was very excited. That’s $3.00, 3 singles, not a typo. See how happy he is?