Visitors Pack Ocean City Beaches During Heat Wave
By MADDY VITALE
Visitors found one way to beat the heat in Ocean City on Tuesday, when temperatures hit 88 on a sticky, humid day.
From the Music Pier looking south along the beachfront, many, if not most, beachgoers used umbrellas to escape the blazing sun in the late morning.
Then they jumped in the water.
And there was nothing warm about that.
“It was freezing. I am like icicles right now. The water numbs your whole body,” Andrew Sgambati, 16, of Saratoga, N.Y., said before he and some friends returned to a game of spike ball.
Andrew Sgambati, 16, of Saratoga, N.Y., in pink shorts, and his friends play spike ball.
Matt Gurcsik, 18, of Collingswood, and his brother, Ryan, 15, joined Andrew and their other friends in the beach game.
“We are down for vacation,” Matt Gurcsik noted. “The beach is the best place to get out of the heat. We will probably play a little mini-golf later.”
At times, cloud cover gave beachgoers some respite from the sun, albeit, short lived.
The Boardwalk bustled with people walking along, sipping cool drinks. Bicyclists zipped by and others used the boards to retreat to the beach.
It was just the second day of what is expected to be continued sweltering temperatures nearing 90 at the shore through the weekend.
Lifeguards Jack DeVita, left, and Andrew Gallagher keep an eye on swimmers from the top of the stand at the Ninth Street beach. Fellow lifeguards Charlotte Giacobetti and Jesse Hickman watch from the beach.
Lifeguards Andrew Gallagher, Jack DeVita, Jesse Hickman and Charlotte Giacobetti kept watch on the busy Ninth Street beach, as people waded in and took some chilly dips in the ocean.
“It may be like two or three degrees,” Gallagher joked of the water temperature. “It was 61 this morning. I am not sure what it is now, but it’s cold.”
The lifeguards also spoke about the water conditions. The water got choppier.
“There were no rescues yet today, but the waves are a lot bigger now, so we will keep everyone between the green flags,” Giacobetti explained.
Jennah Good, of Ephrata, Pa., with her daughter Lisa.
While bathers sat under umbrellas with books or chatted with their families and friends, Jennah Good, of Ephrata, Pa., decided to spend time at the water’s edge with her 6-year-old daughter, Lisa.
“We are here for a day trip. It’s 90 back home, so I thought we should come to the shore,” Good said. “It’s my first time in Ocean City, and Lisa’s first day at a beach.”
Good walked with Lisa and watched as her daughter scooped sand into a bucket, giggled and splashed in the water at the shoreline.
“It’s fun!” Lisa exclaimed. “I like the water, sand – all of it.”
Beachgoers hop in the water to escape the heat.
The Boardwalk bustles.