Superstorm Sandy ripped through the Rockaways in 2012, turning it into a federal disaster zone.
Frankie picked me up at the dock and drove me through a scene from the zombie apocalypse.
FEMA trucks hurried about, emphasizing the fact that this place was officially a federal disaster area.
Rockaway Beach.Paola + Murray
“Get a load a this,” he told me as we pulled up to his house.
His boat had been lifted up by the 12-foot king tide and smashed through his living room window.
“There’s a beach,here.A quick $4ferry ridefrom Wall Street?”
Paola + Murray
I remember saying to myself.
Maybe it was because it had already endured so many catastrophes.
Maybe it was because all the climate models predict the peninsula’s eventual inundation.
If you don’t stay at the Rockaway Hotel, you can still buy a swim pass for its pool.Paola + Murray
“This is a community effort.”
With the Rockaway Hotel and the ferry that now connects it to Manhattan, all that is rapidly changing.
Now a multigenerational crowd of families and hipsters pours off the ferry daily.
Left: The ferry trip from Wall Street to Rockaway Beach takes less than one hour. Right: Tacos and fresh fruit juices are the name of the game at Tacoway Beach.Paola + Murray
The hotel is usually booked solid, and the overflow walks the new storm-surge-resilient boardwalk all summer long.
Surfers head east from the ferry with their boards and hit the waves in the Beach 70s.
Afterward, they kick back for inventive mushroom-pepita vegan tacos and pineapple-piloncillo-ginger-lime iced tea at the totally tubularTacoway Beachrestaurant.
Paola + Murray
Meanwhile parents with kids tend to hop thefree shuttle fromthe ferry and head west to family-friendly Jacob Riis Beach.
There they can bodysurf or play a round ofpitch and putt golfin the dunes behind the beach.
“Our water was polluted.
Paola + Murray
We put all our industry along the ports.
But we’re sitting in a nature preserve here.
That’s the true secret of Rockaway.
Paola + Murray
It’s not just the beach.
It’s the bay.
It’s about 20,000 acres.
Brie Passano
That’s about 20 times the size of Central Park.”
And with that bit of information, I turned the next part of our vacation to open water.
Terence Tubridy
The true secret of Rockaway is that it’s not just the beach.
Brie Passano
It’s the bay.
It’s about 20,000 acres.
That’s about 20 times the size of Central Park.
Paola + Murray
Once upon a time the communities that lined the Jamaica Bay side of Rockaway were commercial fishing hamlets.
Then we whizzed up into one of the bay’s many feeder creeks.
Telling me to take the wheel, Vinnie threw his cast net over his shoulder.
Paola + Murray
“Go slow, go slow,” he said.
“Now hit it!''
These silvery, filter-feeding fish are the very base of the marine food web.
Paola + Murray
But the thing that bunkers bring that gets Vinnie excited are the striped bass.
Within a few minutes the live bunker at the end of my line started to tremble.
“Hit ‘em!”
Paola + Murray
The bass was quickly whisked off into the kitchen.
The bass came back transformed in three delicious waysoreganato, al limone and Livornese.
Don’t get me wrong.
Paola + Murray
Rockaway isnotthe complete escape from the city that the East Coast’s most famous resorts promise.
“Honey, I got us another night!”
the husband exclaimed happily after a successful negotiation with the front desk clerk.
The squalls and hurricanes that periodically wipe the Rockaways clean will surely come again.
It may technically be a staycation, but Rockaway takes you places you never thought you’d go.
Pine Drink
This refreshing drink from Tacoway Beach is just thing for a hot summer’s day.
Serve with crusty bread to sop up every last bit of the sauce.
The restaurant is BYOB.
Vetro Restaurant & Loungeserves up Italian cuisine and locally caught fish on Jamaica Bay.
Hotels
TheRockaway Hotel & Spa(below) offers a contemporary, calming aura by the beach.
Amenities include a hotel bar, heated pool, coffee shop, fishing, spa and more.
Summertime rates start at $320.
Activities
Captain Vinnie Calabrooffers charter boat experiences for both beginners and experts alike.
Catch black sea bass, striped bass, bluefish and tuna, if you’re lucky!
Rent paddleboards and surfboardsor even take a lessonfromBoarders.
Enjoy live music and waterfront views at theBungalow Bar(below).
Grab a burger or lobster roll or weekend brunch too.
