SEA BRIGHT – The sky was sunny on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend at the Anchorage Beach but some of the people who came to enjoy the day there were not pleased.
The problem was that the formerly free beach was now charging an $8 fee for those who did not have a season pass for the town’s beaches.
”People are pretty angry” when they find they find out they have to pay, Bridget Manning, who was collecting the fee at the ticket booth at the beach’s entrance said.
The Borough Council made the decision this year to charge a fee for the beach while providing lifeguards on weekends and holidays.
Borough Administrator Joseph Verruni said there were two reasons the lifeguards were posted at the beach.
One was for safety he said, because with the growing amount of beachgoers there has been a number of calls for the lifeguards from the other borough beach in emergencies and the other was because the town had an agreement with the state that it would provide the same level of safety at the Anchorage beach that it did at the other borough beach.
Verruni said the site had always been regarded as a surfer’s beach but after beach replenishment the waves there changed so it was not as good for surfers. The Surfers Environmental Alliance (SAE) that is based in Long Branch has protested the change in the beach usage and wants it to remain a surfer’s beach. The organization could not be reached for comment.
Verunni said that there had been a discussion of setting designated surfing hours at the beach but the problem with was that the waves are not always the best at the set hours.
He said the surfers and swimmers could “co-exist” in the ocean.
“Everyone keeps their distance,” he said.
The ocean water is so cold now; Verruni said “the surfers have it mostly to themselves.”
He said the surfers usually use the beach early in the morning and in the evening when there are few swimmers.
Anchorage Beach is located north of the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge.
