I went back another time or two, with my group of friends
from that second outing and each time was pretty similar to my first time with
them. We would head over in the afternoon, have some snacks or a light lunch
and spend the next few hours popping around to the different bars, restaurants
and clubs dancing, drinking and making friends until it was time to take the dreaded
ferry home. I always hated taking the ferry home because it meant that the
night was over.
One time, on a day trip out there, my group of friends and I
had decided that the only way we would be able to truly enjoy Cherry Grove and
get the full experience would be to stay overnight. We weren’t quite sure what
the options were as far as overnight accommodations and we were already a good
way into the summer season so we decided to start doing a bit of research. Basically
we found out that in cherry grove there are two hotels, The Grove Hotel and
then The Belvedere
The Grove Hotel typically offers the most affordable accommodations
and is in the heart of Cherry Grove. The Grove Hotel is part of a “complex”
that includes the Ice Palace Nightclub, a large in ground swimming pool, a small
store that sells costumes, drag supplies, novelties, cigarettes, jewelry etc.,
and underneath the Ice Palace is the delicious Cherry Grove Pizza. Staying at
the Grove Hotel would have had pro’s and con’s for my little group looking to
spend an extended weekend on Fire Island that summer. The rooms are affordable,
which was a plus, but the rooms only sleep 2 and we were a group of 4 so we
would have had to book two rooms. The hotel really is in the center of all the
nightlife in the grove, which was a plus, but then again what if we’d want to
go to bed early one night, or sleep in late, we’d heard that the hotel can be
rather noisy (which is to be expected b/c it’s in the center of everything and
attached to a night club) We were also on a very tight budget that first year
and although the rooms were affordable they only included a microwave, mini
fridge and a small sink so that meant we would be eating the majority of our
meals out at restaurants and that could end up being expensive.
The other hotel in Cherry Grove is The Belvedere. I’ve never
stayed there but just from walking past it you know it’s beautiful. Styled like
an old castle, it has murals and frescos and columns galore, a pool and a hot
tub, and beautiful views of the bay But our problem was that it’s a men’s only
hotel and we would be having a lady with us for the weekend so that was out.
Finally we stumbled upon Dune Point. We were unsure of the
specifics of it at first. Was it a Hotel? Was it like apartment rentals? Turns out
they have one large house that is divided into ocean front apartments and then
across the boardwalk they have a number of studio and one bedroom apartments. The
room was more expensive than a single room at the grove hotel but we would be
able to sleep 4 people in one room instead of in two rooms, and splitting the
cost of the room 4 ways made it more than affordable. Each unit comes with a
kitchen, including a full size fridge and a stove and all the pots, pans,
cooking utensils, and plates etc., that you could ever need. This meant we
would be able to bring a lot of our own food (and liquor) for the weekend and
cook all our major meals at home, which would save us a lot of money as opposed
to eating out at restaurants every night. So we decided to jump on it and
booked it for 2 nights, 3 days on Labor Day weekend; the final “party weekend”
of the summer…
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