Best of the Shore
Long Beach Island
Forget Boardwalks, theme parks and nightlife. Long Beach Island is all about one thing: quiet family relaxation. The narrow strip of small towns (some, you can blink and miss) spans just 18 mostly residential miles, with some of the Shore’s finest beaches and swankiest rentals. Increasingly, it’s an island getaway for the obviously well-to-do; witness the seaplane service from Manhattan’s East River that began a few years ago. The Causeway Bridge takes you onto the island, and separates the southern, more kid-friendly LBI towns (to the right of the bridge) from the quieter towns with newer homes at higher prices (to the left).
Barnegat Light
Along with its 150-year-old lighthouse, this northernmost tip of LBI—
idyllically dotted with fishing vessels—has retained a laid-back, scene-free vibe. (The highest-ranking civic official, a onetime pro fisherman, is known to sport a cap reading I’M THE MAYOR.) Farthest from the kid-friendly commercial strip of Beach Haven, picturesque and wealthy Barnegat Light has rustically beautiful beaches.
Best of Barnegat
Pie: Skipper’s Seafood. Make a pit stop about 15 miles off the island on Route 72 for this tiny lobster shack’s big and tangy Key lime pie (647 Route 72, Surf City; 609-698-4430).
Sunset spot: Children’s Bay Beach. Join what’s informally known as “The Sunset Club,” a group of convivial longtime visitors who convene daily at twilight to watch the sun dip below Sege Island across the bay (between 25th and 26th streets on Bayview Avenue).
Breakfast: Mustache Bill’s.
A classic ’50s diner with Formica tabletops and vinyl-seated stools, Bill’s specializes in big portions, like the Potato Skin Omelet: home fries, cheddar cheese, bacon, scallions and sour cream, all impossibly crammed into a three-egg omelet (8th Street and Broadway; 609-494-0155).
Seafood takeout: Viking Fresh off the Hook. The restaurant is adjacent to a working commercial fishing village that supplies the Fulton Fish Market in New York, among others. Which means you can sit and watch your dinner hit the dock (1905 Bayview Avenue; 609-361-8900).
Bar: Kubel’s. A masterful mix, of cocktails as well as people. You may have a guy in Brooks Brothers to your right, a fisherman to the left (7th Street and Bayview Avenue; 609-494-8592).
Bed & Beach
Average 2004 home price: $798,381
AVERAGE 1999 HOME PRICE: $242,564
Recent listing: Four-bedroom, three-bath home built in 1998 on an ocean block, with open porch and partial ocean view, $1,528,000.
Cost to rent a three-bedroom beach-block house: From $2,800 to $3,400 per week.
Where to Stay: The Sand Castle Bed and Breakfast, on the very end of the island, where most rooms overlook the bay (710 Bayview Avenue, 609-494-6555; sandcastlelbi.com).
On the beach: Best on the island, it’s half a mile wide in some spots, with wooden walkways leading down to the sand. Try around 11th Street for an ideal starting point.
