Page 12 - Little Egg Harbor CC 2019 Book 6-17-19.indd

A Retirement Story - Finding Paradise Written By: David Silva

It was a simple statement, but a life-changing one. My wife Maria patience for it. If we wanted to go to the LBI beaches, we were
and I were at our home in Middlesex County on a typical Sunday close enough, to get there in off times and avoid the maddening
Morning. I was pouring through the NJ Star Ledger and her stop & go causeway traffi c. Property values were reasonable
statement, out of the blue was: I’d like to live on the water. It caught and still are. Post Superstorm Sandy and rebuilding of the area
me off-guard. We had been lifelong residents of NJ spending still provides great values in homes compared to other shore
all our years between Essex, Hudson Counties and about 30 years towns. We are close to Atlantic City. In about 35 minutes by car or
in Edison, NJ. Living on the water had never been discussed. My 25 minutes by boat we can be at a casino, catch a headliner show
wife, being Portuguese had lived as a child in a seaside village so or enjoy great cuisine at the hundreds of restaurants. If you are
I could understand her affi nity to the shoreline. While dating and fortunate to be on a lagoon you can hop in your boat as easy
after we had our two boys we certainly enjoyed doing weekends as your car and travel to any of the great restaurants with live
at the various Jersey shore locales such as Seaside Heights, entertainment on the Mullica, dock at the Golden Nugget and
Point Pleasant and LBI, to name a few shore points. As a lark, I enjoy any of their great restaurants, night clubs or outdoor bars.
turned to the Real Estate section of the paper and scanned it for If fi shing is your thing there is an abundance of it right in the Great
“water-front” properties. A very tiny ad for a home that was being Bay or venture out a little bit further and the Atlantic Ocean is a
remodeled by a contractor caught my eye. It mentioned “Mystic straight run through Great bay. No Boat? Surf fi shing at the Radio
Island”. Being a life long Jersey boy I had never heard of it. What’s Road Beach and Graveling point brings in Stripped Bass and Drum
a Mystic Island? We were about to fi nd out. Fish the size of a small child. There is no waterfront community
quite like it at the Jersey Shore. Join one of the Kayak clubs and
That afternoon we took a ride to Exit 58 off of the Garden venture through the estuaries enjoying nature like you have never
State Parkway. We discovered Mystic Island. It is a water-front seen it before.
community of Little Egg Harbor Township. Many of the homes
in this subdivision are on lagoons. We were intrigued to say the Not a “water” person? How about taking the kids camping in one
least. It was one of the best kept secrets in NJ. Maria & I were still of the several campgrounds we have in town or hiking in Bass
years from retirement, but we felt it would be nice to have a place River or Wharton State forests which abut Little Egg Harbor.
on the water. A place where we could get away for a weekend or
extended vacation time. A home where we could build memories Want to enjoy all of the benefi ts of living in a shore community,
with our loved ones, friends & family. A place that would but don’t want to retire in a house on the water? There are fi ve
ultimately be our retirement home. That day we met with a realtor active adult (55+) communities in town, Cranberry Creek, Mystic
and she began to show us various homes on this gem of a town. Shores, Sea Oaks, and Harbor Cove & Sunrise Bay. Sea Oaks is on
However, it would be several months and weekend trips before we a championship golf course with an amazing restaurant and on
found our “perfect” place. We closed at the end of June 2001 and site hotel. If they have no T-times available, the county runs a golf
had our fi rst 4th of July weekend in our new home. We had no course at Atlantis which also has a restaurant run by the culinary
furniture for the new place so our boys and their friends slept in institute at the county college.
sleeping bags dreaming about crabbing off our dock the next day.
Memories were starting to form. We do a bit of out-of-sate travel. Having the modernized Atlantic
City International Airport, a 35-minute car ride away & not having
I always look at the pros & cons of major decisions and purchasing to deal with travel crowds has been a Godsend.
a home certainly falls into that category. The more we researched
the better we felt about buying here in Little Egg Harbor. In no All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better place to live in NJ.
particular order here are some the things that helped us fall in We have it all. Almost 20 years later we can look back at the
love with Little Egg Harbor as a shore destination. Most important wonderful memories we have forged. We look forward to
there was no traffi c in getting to our shore home. We had been experiencing many more. I wish my wife had expressed her desire
stuck in LBI traffi c more times than we could count. We had no to “live on the water” a few years sooner.

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