After a work-out, this morning, in my room, I set off in a cab uptown to rendezvous with Mitch. I was heading for Fire Island to spend some time with my old friend Dennis, and since Mitch had a gig on Long Island, he'd offered to give me a lift to Sayville, where you can catch the ferry to Cherry Grove on Fire Island.

The drive to Sayville was about an hour or so, and soon I was on the ferry heading across to Fire Island. Up top, the sea breeze felt great, after the heat at the ferry landing. I got chatting to two cute women behind me, Laurie and MG, and said I'd email them copies of the pics we took.

Two women, Laurie and MG, I chatted with on the ferry

It was great to see Dennis waiting there at the ferry landing. I've a real soft spot for him. We've been friends ever since I came out of the closet twelve years or so ago. At that time, I was a grad student at University of Pennsylvania, and I was even more shy and introverted than now :) I came across Dennis in the gay group for graduate students, and with his quick, wicked wit, leather jacket, died blonde hair and cigarettes, I found him a little intimidating at first. But that glint of warmth in his beautiful, pale blue eyes revealed a big heart, and we became good friends over the following Summer.

Dennis is an artist, and a school-teacher of art in Manhattan. I own one of his paintings, and I think he's a pretty good artist. Why he's not more successful, I don't know - I think he needs a good agent :) For the summers, he manages the infamous Cherry Grove Beach Hotel, and that's where we spent most of the afternoon, apart from a great lunch at the Cherry Pit.

Lunch with Dennis at the Cherry Pit

Dennis snapped this shot of me at lunch

I wouldn't have come out to Fire Island if it hadn't been to see Dennis - beaches just aren't my thing, particularly not party beaches like Cherry Grove. Nevertheless, we watched the 3.00 show in the hotel. How those drag queens could cope with performing in those outfits in this heat, I don't know.

Merkala Crystal (I think that was her name) at the Cherry Grove Beach Hotel

Afternoon spanking competition!

A couple of cuties by the pool - particularly the guy on the left, yumm!

After hanging out with Dennis for the afternoon, I caught the 5.45 ferry back to Long Island. The whole journey back to my hotel took something like three hours. Once you get off the ferry, they cram you into a little bus to take you to the train station. Waiting for the train, as the sun slanted down, all you could see were gay men in tank tops.

Waiting for the train in Sayville

Two trains, and a subway later, I was able to plonk down, exhausted and smelly, on my hotel bed. For some reason, the hotel staff had left a bag of high-carbohydrate/high-fat goodies in my room, which I devoured, as I was too tired to go out for dinner. Today it really began to dawn on me that my wonderful vacation is winding down. One week from tomorrow, in fact, I'll be reporting to my new office for work. Still - I got one more full day in New York, and three in DC - I'm not through yet!