What a fantastic place for the whole family! For only 12$ US dollars for parking, you get to enjoy the beach, which is warmer than Maine and other places because is the Long Island Sound and not the wide open ocean BUT there are all the advantages anyway: Waves, tons of seashells for kids to collect, a little lake FILLED with many species of crabs and baby hermit crabs everywhere the kids can pick up by their shell to look at. We are from Montreal and it is only a 6 and a half hour drive to an ocean you can swim in. We will definitely be doing this again! I would suggest you be careful though on your way there as even mapquest directions seem to make you go through a ghetto-like neighborhood to get there so be vigilant, but Ocean Beach Park itself is clean and safe, we left our stuff unattended many times and people were even bringing us back things that had blown away. Although, of course, you never know. The sand is beautiful as can be seen on their website. There is a restaurant (maybe two?), a small gift shop and arcade, a gym, an Olympic size pool and a big water slide (a big expensive though at 3$ a ride or 15$ for the day), a free kiddie spray park and playground, a mini golf course and rides. The rides are a bit old (carnival type) but surprisingly, they are very fun. Both my daughters (age 4 and 9) enjoyed them and those work with tokens you must purchase but they aren't that expensive. On wednesday night, there is a magic show and on other nights, it's "movie in the park" night. While we were there, they were showing Harry Potter. All staff we encountered were very friendly and I would recommend to anyone to go at least once. If you don't want to spend much and do all the other things, for 12$ you (and the kids?) can have fun at the beach all day. You don't get the feeling they are there to rip you off like many other places. You can bring your own cooler and have a picnic. If you get there in late afternoon, the price is only 5$ a car. Enjoy...

This beach park has it all! We love it and go there several times a summer. Bring a net to go crabbing in the little river that flows into the ocean. Also, a raft to float down it. There is something for everyone here.

We visited Ocean Beach Park on Saturday August 6th, 2005. We had a wonderful time! We drove from Albany NY, and spent the day. The kids had a fantastic time. Very family oriented!

This is a letter of tremendous thanks to some very special people at Ocean Beach. Let me first begin by telling you about our day at Ocean Beach. For the first time our family was up and ready to go to the beach early this 27th day of July. We were all looking forward to a quiet day at the beach. We set up our gear, had a nice picnic lunch and then decided to go to the pool, after the pool we had fun building sandcastles and were really enjoying the sights and the sounds of the ocean. It is a place were we can all have fun. It was getting later in the day but decided that we would not be in a hurry to get home we were just having a wonderful day until my 7 year old daughter saw one of the most unbelievable acts of violence. We had notice these young men, they were playing football and really having no regard as to the people that were around them, we asked them to move and they did. Not knowing what they were doing we went back to relaxing. I then noticed that these same young men were throwing a potato chip bag up in the air which I thought to myself come on guys you don't have to liter the beach like that. Well apparently, what these men were doing was using the potato chip bag as bait for the seagulls. They were throwing the potato chips up in the air so that they could try to hit the seagulls with the football. Will they did hit one of the seagulls and decided to beat the living hell out of this seagull with the football over and over again until they killed the bird. My daughter witnessed the entire act of violence. She was horrified, I still get choked up when I think of what she saw, I saw the last three blows, the young men had succeeded in murdering this innocent bird. It took no time for the people all around us to get someone to take care of the matter. My daughter went up to the seagull to try to help it but it was too late. What she saw was one of the most horrible sites no one should have to see. People were all around screaming at these young men. You could hear everyone. "What the blank is the matter with you". Another voice "I can't believe you did that". My daughter was crying hysterically and the people where yelling at her to get away from the bird because they did not want her to see the bird with it's head bashed in, but it was to late. She kept asking why would they do that, why would they kill an innocent animal for no reason. I was so in shock myself that all I could do was hold her. When everyone realized what had happened and watch, the lifeguards and the security guards escort these young men off the beach. After the men were taking off the beach the security guards and the lifeguards came up to my daughter and asked her if she was all right. I was so impressed with the kindness they showed my daughter. Diane the Security guard told my daughter that when she was ready to go home to come to the cafe and see her before she goes home. At this point most of the people who were sitting around us knew that my daughter was quite upset at what she saw. So many people all different races, color, and backgrounds came up to her to comfort her and to let her know that the seagull was not suffering and that it went to heaven. We decided to pack it up because my daughter was just too upset to stay any longer. She thought if she were able to talk it out with Diane and tell her what she saw that maybe, she would feel better, so we did find Diane in her office. Diane was very kind to my daughter she took the time listen to her and she focused all of her attention on this little girl and she did help my daughter feel better. I then thought that if maybe she went on a ride maybe it would help her to forget this terrible act of cruelty. We went over to the merry-go-round. Well when they found out about what she went thought these two young men Brian and Paul were so sweet and so caring to our daughter. They told her that she could ride on any ride she wanted and for as many times as she wanted. I was so impressed with these two wonderful young men. Their parents should be very proud of their sons. I would like to send a very special thanks to Brian and Paul at the rides, all the Lifeguards for taking such quick action in dealing with these violent men and a huge thank you to Diane for her tremendous kindness. Who ever hired these people should be very proud of their employees. There are times when I wonder about people and think there is no more nice people there is no kindness and gentleness left in the world but, I was wrong, the people I had the pleasure to meet change my opinion on this day. Diane gave my daughter a free day at the beach and said that she will make sure that this little girl has a wonderful time the next time she came to Ocean Beach and kept apologizing to my daughter. I love Ocean Beach but most of all I love the people that work there and keep the beach nice for all to enjoy.From My Family to the very special people a very very special THANK YOU! THERE ARE NO WORDS TO EXPRESS HOW WE FEEL ABOUT THESE PEOPLE AND HOW SPECIAL THEY TREATED OUR FAMILY. ALSO TO THE MANY PEOPLE THAT CAME UP TO OUR DAUGHTER TO COMFORT HER WITH THEIR KIND WORDS AND TO MAKE SURE SHE WAS OK. THESE PEOPLE WHERE TOTAL STRANGERS BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, KINDNESS AND GOODNESS IN PEOPLE ARE STILL ALIVE AND LIVING AT OCEAN BEACH PARK. Congratulations on a great job done!Very Fondly Yours Rahbyn Morris and Family