By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Golf club in hand, Matt Flannery hit a ball down an empty stretch of beach and waited for his dog, Jagger, to retrieve the shot.
“He’s supposed to bring the ball back to me, but he’s not catching it,” Flannery said with a laugh about his rambunctious canine caddy.
Flannery and his family, from Glenside, Pa., were enjoying New Year’s Day with an outing on the beach that included some golf, a game of catch football and even an impromptu dip in the chilly ocean to save an errant soccer ball drifting out with the waves. Jagger didn’t want to retrieve that ball, either.
Although the shore is normally ghostly quiet in January, there was some foot traffic – both the two-footed and four-footed kind – on Sea Isle City’s beaches on New Year’s Day.
The tranquility of the beach beckoned visitors on the first day of 2020. With the excitement of New Year’s Eve and the fireworks just a memory, people headed out for a quiet and relaxing New Year’s Day.
Flannery, who was staying at his brother-in-law’s house in Sea Isle for the holiday, had his wife, Sue, and daughters, Dylan, 15, Bridget, 11, and Erin, 9, with him, along with a family friend, Ally Mancini.
Erin gazed at the nearly deserted beach at 43rd Street and smiled. She had a prime piece of shoreline – which will be crammed with beachgoers during the summer – virtually all to herself for the holiday.
“It’s really nice and relaxing,” she said.
At one point, Ally took off her shoes, rolled up her pants and tip-toed out into the brisk surf to retrieve a soccer ball that was being swept out from shore.
“It was really cold. I’m numb,” Ally said of the water.
Up on Sea Isle’s Promenade, the Gillespie and Deitch families, from Lafayette Hill, Pa., were savoring the ocean views and enjoying a no-stress holiday.
“I grew up coming here in the summer, so Sea Isle is a special family place,” said Terri Gillespie, who was with her husband, Bill, their daughter, Katherine, 10, and sons Billy, 8, and Aidan, 5.
Aidan boasted that he beat his mom on New Year’s Eve in a game of basketball at a local arcade. The family burst into laughter when he celebrated his win with a little dance.
The Gillespie and Deitch families are friends. They gathered underneath the Promenade’s gazebo at the end of John F. Kennedy Boulevard to talk about their plans for New Year’s Day. The day started with a snack of buns and coffee. A walk on the beach and a stop at the playground were also on the agenda.
“I like the shore during the off-season. We like relaxing and spending some time with our friends,” said Sam Deitch, who was with his wife, Marissa, their 11-year-old daughter, Sarah, and son Joshua, 9.
At the southern tip of Sea Isle, 10 members of the Earley and McKenney families, from Pennsylvania, walked out on the wind-swept beach overlooking Townsends Inlet.
They traveled to the shore to try something different for the New Year. In the past, they have celebrated the holiday by watching the annual “Wrench Drop,” a quirky tradition in Mechanicsburg, Pa., that mimics the ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
“We got sick and tired of the Wrench Drop and decided to come here instead,” said Chris Earley, who lives in Garnet Valley, Pa.
“It’s beautiful,” added Earley’s wife, Karen, while looking out at the beach and water.
Chris Earley may have started a new family tradition at the shore. He took a solo dip in the frosty surf to start New Year’s Day. He plunged into the ocean all by himself because the other family members refused to join him, he noted.
“It was so cold,” Earley said.
The Earley and McKenney families stopped at Townsends Inlet for a last glimpse of the beach before jumping in their cars for the drive back to their Pennsylvania homes.
Lindsay Earley, Chris and Karen’s daughter, groaned that she would have to return to her ninth grade classes at Garnet Valley High School on Thursday after enjoying a nearly two-week holiday break.
“I’m not excited about it,” Lindsay said of having to go back to school.
A few minutes later, the families left Townsends Inlet to begin the trip back home. Their holiday was just about over.
