The Shore

Not only is NYC surrounded by water, but 4 of the 5 boroughs are islands or part of islands - we're an island nation. Only the Bronx is attached to the mainland. And as Brooklyn and Queens residents know, we have some very nice shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean with white sand beaches: Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Coney Island, Riis Park and Rockaway. This photo is of a rock outcropping on a sand beach at Coney Island - click here for an aerial view I took last summer from the Wonder Wheel. These beaches get quite crowded in the summer with over a million people on a hot summer day. This is also the home of the Iceberg Athletic Club and the Coney Island Polar Bear Club - the oldest winter bathing organization in the United States. Click here for their website. In what may come as a surprise to outsiders, I have met numerous residents of the Brooklyn beach communities who cite the ocean as their primary reason for living there and wouldn't dream of living anywhere else ...