By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The skies were mainly sunny. The ocean water temperature was a comfy 70 degrees. The beach vibe was completely relaxing.
It was an exquisite day at the shore Sunday.
But everyone had one gnawing question in the back of their minds: Why can’t summer last longer?
With only two weeks to go before Labor Day weekend, beachgoers, boaters and others in Sea Isle City are facing that dreaded time of year – the end of their summer vacations.
Summer is slipping away. Fast.
“I’m really bummed out,” Kevin Reddington said of the inevitable change in the calendar from summer to fall.
Reddington, his wife, Emily, and their three sons, Kevin, 8, Patrick, 7, and Conall, 6, were enjoying the gorgeous weather Sunday afternoon on the 45th Street beach.
But even the boys seemed to sense that the end of summer was closing in as they used their toy shovels to dig a trench at the water’s edge.
“We have to go back to school in two weeks?” Conall asked his dad.
“Yep, after Labor Day,” Reddington told his son.
Kevin and Emily Reddington’s 18-year-old daughter, Ella May, has already left to begin her freshman year at the University of Alabama. Ella May spent this summer as a Sea Isle lifeguard for the second year.
The Reddingtons, of Flourtown, Pa., recently bought a summer home in Sea Isle on 44th Street. This weekend, they hosted their relatives, Shaun and Kate Kelly, who were visiting from Oreland, Pa.
Kate Kelly described their summer as “awesome.”
“We’ve had great weather and great food at the Sea Isle restaurants. We have been going to Ocean City, too,” she said of their visits to the shore.
Yet her mood and her husband’s turned a bit somber when they contemplated the end of summer.
“Sad,” Shaun Kelly said.
“Definitely sad,” Kate added.
The beaches at 45th Street and a few blocks down in each direction were packed with people who were savoring balmy temperatures in the 80s and the inviting surf. No doubt many of the beachgoers were trying to cram a lot of activities into the next-to-last weekend of August in an action-packed sendoff to summer.
After Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer at the shore, Sea Isle and other beach towns begin to quiet down as vacationers head back to work and school.
The fall at the shore, though, is usually accompanied by bathing suit weather through September and even early October. Sea Isle also stages festivals and other special events in the fall to continue drawing visitors to town during the off-season
Local residents acknowledge the importance of tourists for the shore economy, but they also note that the post-Labor Day slowdown allows them to enjoy the beaches, boardwalks and other attractions without having to contend with the surging crowds.
“We like to call it locals summer,” Courtney Hearon said as she relaxed Sunday on the back deck of her 29-foot boat, Serenity Now, while it was docked at the Sea Isle municipal marina.
Hearon was joined by her friends, husband and wife Stephen and Sandra Cowan. The Cowans and Hearon all live in Dennis Township.
Stephen Cowan said he is looking forward to lighter traffic on the Garden State Parkway as summer ends. Sandra Cowan said the cooler days of fall are appealing for her.
“I’m looking forward to opening my windows and getting some fresh air,” she said. “But I have to say, summer is my favorite season.”
Although Hearon is ready to welcome the soon-to-arrive “locals summer,” she noted that she will miss her summer break from her teaching job at the Woodbine Elementary School.
“I don’t work in summer. I have to go back to work in winter,” she said matter-of-factly.
So, for now, Hearon is stretching out the last few precious weeks of her summer vacation.
“We’re coming here, soaking up the sun,” she said while lounging on her boat. “We’re enjoying a little bit of peace. It is the calm before the storm.”
