In Fairfield, good access with some cost and wrinkles

FAIRFIELD -- The town's shoreline begins with a salt marsh on Ash Creek and that's where we started day seven of the Hearst Connecticut Media Group's Breaking the Sound Barrier project.

The 25-plus acre open space area, acquired by the town between 1939 and 1978, is easily accessed from either Riverside Drive or south of the South Benson Marina, where a large parking lot abuts the property.

Photographer Christian Abraham and I head off into the cool green of the salt marsh, trying to spot the birds we can hear calling out. Dirt trails lead in several directions, some directly down to the water's edge, others off into the trees. We set off and in no time find ourselves at a picnic grove, with tables and grills right next to the

water.

Off to one side is a small playground with a giant plastic ship for climbing. Along the way we run into several dog walkers. Cher Anderson is walking Hercules and Sasha. "I do come here quite a lot," Anderson said, "especially this time of the year, because everyone's on a leave now."

Coming to Ash Creek, she said, "You feel like you're communing with nature. It's very relaxing."

SLIPPING INTO THE WATER

On the other side of the parking lot is South Benson Marina, a municipal facility with a long waiting list for the 625 slips available to town residents. While the marina boasts metal docks, a small concession and gas dock and a new building for the Marine Unit, Daniel Fontaine, 67, can remember when the

marina was nothing more than one dock.

"I've been in here 47 years," Fontaine, the treasurer of the Fairfield Boat Owners Association, said. "I came in here and that was the only slip," Fontaine said, pointing to one of the docks. And there was maybe 25 or 30 boats."

He points to his Grady White sitting in the first slip at one of the docks. Fontaine jokes he's got such a prime spot because he's been here so long.

But Fontaine's not just sitting at the marina kibbutzing or fishing for fluke. His company, Fontaine Flooring, installed the floors in the new marina building, constructed primarily with donated goods and services. The top floor will house the marine police, while the first floor will have public bathrooms and a small community room.

"Our boats are in the water and out there everyday," Officer Grant Dalling said. The new building, which he and buddy Thomas Kane dreamed up, will afford officers a bird's eye view of the marina, where they keep two boats -- a 26- and a 19-footer. They also just got a three-person personal watercraft.

"The most common call will be for assistance, someone has engine trouble or has run out of gas, or just hit the reef," Dalling said. The personal watercraft, he said, will come in handy rescuing fishermen who got caught out on the reef when the tide comes in.

At South Benson Outfitters, a concession stand and gas dock at the marina, owner Eric Peterson isn't always happy with the beach access afforded the state's residents.

"The problem I have is I've had several fishermen come and say they've been kicked off the beach for fishing. It's not like they're doing it on a sunny day or in the middle of the day," the 47-year-old Peterson said. "They're well within their rights if they're below the high water mark." He said he's checked with state officials and they agree with him.

A SUMMER DESTINATION

We cut through the marina parking lot and get to Jennings Beach, one of two town beaches that is open to both residents and non-residents. Parking stickers for the two beaches -- that are separated by a private beach club -- are $120 for non-residents and $18 for residents. Without a sticker, daily parking rates for non-residents at those beaches are $15 on weekdays and $25 on weekends and holidays.

Though the weather forecast at the week's start was promising for Friday, the foggy, overcast day meant the beach was pretty empty, and thunder, according to lifeguard Johnathan Zalucki, meant no one was swimming. In his fourth year lifeguarding, Zalucki will begin giving swimming lessons at the beach on Monday.

A short trip past the deserted Fairfield Beach Club -- posted signs alert you to the fact it's private property -- brings us to Penfield Beach, where friends Annette Moore, of Monroe, and Teresa Wojnoski, of Fairfield, are camped out with their kids. "We've been coming here for 12 years," Moore said, adding that $120 parking sticker was worth every cent. "This is my summer playground for my kids."

For sisters Ann and Colleen Roche, a visit to Penfield Pavilion, which houses showers, locker rooms and a concession stand, is a trip down memory lane back to when Penfield was a private beach club called Sun Haven. It was, Ann Roche said, a big hit with the large Irish families from Bridgeport.

Swim lessons, arts and crafts, and Friday night dances for grown-ups were among the activities. "There was a boardwalk in the sand and tables on either side, and everyone took the same table and we'd stay there until dark," Ann Roche said. Step into the pavilion building, Colleen Roche said, and a whiff of the sea air brings it all back.

The lockers now use modern key cards, but Colleen Roche managed to obtain a couple of the old, original locker keys. "We each have one on our Christmas tree," Ann Roche said.

On Friday, some sand sculptors commissioned by the Fairfield Beach Resident Association and Fairfield University were at work on their creations -- a Twilmish for Sean and Stacy Fitzpatrick and a replica of Bellarmine Hall for Suzanne Altamare, nearer the smaller Penfield Pavilion II, a rental facility. A twilmish, Sean Fitzpatrick explained, is a mythical creature that lives in sandcastles taken from a book by Jeffrey Ford.

He kept an eye on the sky, checking the weather radar to see if the severe weather that was forecasted would actually make an appearance.

We move on, onto private property once again. There are large homes, and smaller cottages that look as if they haven't been touched in 50 years. Cement sea walls repeat the private property reminder. We stick to sand below the high tide mark, but eventually that sand is replaced by thousands of shells. We stray onto the softer sand of the private beach but no one -- not that there are many people around -- says anything to us.

There is public access to Penfield Reef and the path is used most often by fishermen. It is off of Fairfield Beach Road, near Reef Road. However, there is no parking nearby.

We come to the end of the sand and rather than trying to find a way onto the beach, we're now trying to find a way off to get to my car parked out on Fairfield Beach Road. We spot a house under construction and cut through the yard and out to the street.

We've gotten a bit wet and I find myself splashing in puddles to clean the sand off my feet.

Tomorrow: Fairfield into Westport.