The real secret beach of NJ — and you don’t need a boat to get there

There is a post making the rounds about 3 secret beaches in New Jersey that made a national list of hidden beaches. These national lists usually don't have the local knowledge to really tell the whole story.

One beach is Gunnison Beach, known as the nude beach at Sandy Hook. The other is Pearl Beach, behind Pearl Avenue in Cape May. You can access it at the corner of Alexander and Crystal Avenue in Cape May Point.

The one that made #5 on the list is kinda bogus. It's on an island in the Barnegat Bay that is only accessible by boat. It's called Sedge Island and it's behind Island Beach State Park.

There are guided tours and there is one dock for a research group Rutgers that does work there. There is a 100-year-old duck hunting lodge there that was grandfathered in for a family when the state took over Island Beach and made it a state park. IBSP does have guided kayak tours, there which you can find out more about here.

The real secret beach in New Jersey is just across the bay from there. On Google Maps it's actually called "Secret Beach."

That's it in the background at sunset on a warm summer night. It's about as out-of-the-way you can get at the Jersey Shore due to the fact that it is at the back end of the tip of Long Beach Island.

It faces the open Atlantic Ocean but is technically in the Barnegat Bay. The beach gets plenty of clean ocean water with every tide, without all the development and crowds. You can find couples trying to find seclusion and the occasional dog walker.

Since there is only one way on and off LBI and this place is 9 miles north of the bridge access and then a quiet left turn off of the main road, it takes a little effort to find it — but you have GPS.

It's at the dead end of Sunset Boulevard and there is no "official" parking, so just park near the median of the road before the "no parking beyond this point" signs.

Shhhhh! Enjoy!

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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