On Saturday April 19 2020 Gov. Coumo announced the loosening of the restrictions on marinas and boaters. The following day I went looking for every day families working on their boats, happy for the opportunity to be getting ready for the upcoming boating and fishing season.
This lead me to a popular South Shore location at Wantagh State Park, south of Merrick Road, right off the Wantagh Parkway. A busy State park that hosts a large aquatic center, ball fields, a roller hockey rink, miniature golf, picnic and barbeque areas, room for families to fish and crab, a launching ramp for boats, as well as one of the best public docking facilities on the South Shore.
I was lucky to be able to get a brief interview with a father and his 2 sons, and another man prepping his boat. Dean Prainito, from Bellmore N.Y., with his two boys, Luke and Mark, expressed how happy they were to be able to start preparing for a summer on the water, and a chance to get out of the house. Dean was fortunate to get his boat in the water before the lockdown, but unable to do anything else after that point.
Mark Sanders from Wantagh N.Y. was cleaning up his vessel, happy to be able to get some work done on a clear but chilly day on the dock.
We hope that this action by the governor opening the waterways to the public is a small but sure sign of life returning to “normal” post COVID-19.
