Which is right for you?
Lots of people thinking about joining our house are faced with options in Kismet and in Ocean beach. If you’ve never been to Fire Island, it can be hard to know what the difference is. Kismet and Ocean Beach are both popular towns for sharehouses and offer healthy nightlife. If you’re looking for a weekend share on Fire Island and you are social, either town could be a good bet for you. Understanding what is similar and different is key to ending up somewhere that you are happy.
Here are a couple of key facts to keep in mind:
- Both Kismet and Ocean Beach are primarily filled with straight people. The predominantly gay communities are much further east.
- Ocean Beach is bigger than Kismet, there are more bars and restaurants and more houses; however, it is much more crowded as well. Both towns have upscale restaurants, bars with dancing and live music, pizza parlors, ice cream shops and grocery stores. Only Ocean Beach has clothing stores and other trinket shops.
- For singles or young people without kids: Ocean Beach leans more in the low 20’s age group with lots of groups of college kids or very recent post-grads (think ACE bar), whereas Kismet has a more mid 20’s – 30’s average age group.
- Since Ocean Beach is bigger and more crowded, it also has many more rules. Often called the “Land of No” rules include: no riding bikes, no drinking outside, no food or water allowed on the beach, no throwing games or kite flying on the beach, and you must wear shoes in town. For a full list of Ocean Beaches rules, see the code itself.
- Kismet is much more laid back and uncrowded, you will know everyone by the end of the summer. Great if you want to feel connected, not as good if you’re looking for anonymity
The last thing that is often overlooked by first-time Fire Islanders is the water taxi. Water Taxis are high speed boats the ferry you up and down the island from town to town. Getting to between Ocean Beach and Kismet costs $8 one-way and takes about 10 minutes. Taxis stop at the dock roughly every 20-30 minutes until around 1AM. It is not at all uncommon to hop on one and head to the other town to hit some bars or go to a restaurant. Every weekend there are groups that come from Ocean Beach and other communities to Kismet to have a great meal followed by dancing at the Kismet Surf’s Out, or hear a jazz or rock cover band play at the Inn.
