Sea Isle City Beach Tags
COVID 19 UPDATE:
Beach Tags are available at the Sea Isle Welcome Center 7 days a week, from 9am-4pm The preseason discount price of $20 will continue until June 30th. Like most Jersey shore beaches Sea Isle requires beach tags for everyone age 12 and over. Beach tags are required from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Beach tags can be purchased at the Welcome Center at 300 JFK Blvd (609-263-8687) from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM seven days a week in April, May and June. From July 1st until Labor Day beach tags can be purchased at the Welcome Center every day except Wednesday. Beach tags can also be purchased 24 hours a day 7 days a week from the beach tag vending machine in the lobby of Sea Isle's City Hall 233 JFK Blvd. Finally, beach tags can be ordered preseason by mailing payment (check payable to SIC Beach Fees) and along with a completed beach tag order form to Beach Tag Director, 233 JFK Blvd, 2nd Floor, Sea Isle City, NJ 08243.
In addition to standard beach tags, Sea Isle also sells commemorative beach tags. Sea Isle's commemorative tags include a Polar Plunge, Peyton's Promise, St Patrick's Day and Holiday Seasonal themed tags. These tags are pictured to the right. These tags are sold at annual special events such as the polar plunge, holiday weekend and the Peyton's Promise Run/Walk. The Holiday themed beach tag for the summer of 2017 is already sold out. For the summer of 2020 prices are as follows: Seasonal Beach Tags cost $20 per person if purchased by May 15th and $25 per person after May 15th. Daily Beach tags cost $5 per person. Weekly Beach Tags cost $10 per person. Wednesdays are Free beach days in Sea Isle. No Beach Tags are required. Beach Tags are free to active members of the military and their families as well as veterans with official documentation. You will find that beach tag enforcement in Sea Isle varies greatly depending on the beach location. From 32rd street to 53th street you will usually find a beach tag checker at the entrance to the beach (especially on weekends). North of 29th Street and south of 54th street you will rarely if ever find a beach tag checker at the entrance to the beach. One final note, Strathmere does not require beach tags so if you don't mind a short drive or a long walk you can go to the beach for free in Strathmere. MORE INFORMATION ON SEA ISLE CITY BEACHES Vending Machine / Mobile Beach TagsNew for 2017 Sea Isle has introduced two new ways to purchase beach tags:
The first way is the new Beach Tag Vending Machine. Located in the Lobby of City Hall, the vending machine is accessible 24/7 for the seasonal price of $25.00 The second way is the new mobile app purchase. All you need to do is download the app Viply. From the app you can pre purchase beach tags (including daily) and then head to the Welcome Center to pick them up. This is a great way to get tags if you don't have any cash on you! Over Zealous Beach Tag Checkers in Sea IsleThere have been numerous complaints about overzealous beach tag checkers is Sea Isle. While many beach tag checkers are low key and very polite, a few believe that their job is to harass beach goers and sell additional tags no matter what it takes. In fact several current and former beach tag checkers have confirmed that they are required to sell beach tags each day or they will risk losing their job. Recently the head of the beach tag department was seen verbally abusing a beach tag checker because while she was selling beach tags to a large group, two people walked onto the beach without showing their beach tag. This was uncalled for and a blatant example of what has so many Sea Isle beach goers fed up with the beach tag program.
The biggest complaint regarding the beach tag checkers stationed at the beach entrance is that they repeatedly ask people for beach tags that are returning to the beach after visiting a restroom or buying a hot dog. Even though they watch you walk past them when you leave the beach they don't remember a few minutes later when you return to the beach. Although you explain that your beach tag is on your chair and that you just walked past them when leaving the beach a few minutes ago they insist that you cannot return to the beach. The best way to handle this situation is to simply walk past them and ignore their protest. Although most adults are confident enough to do this, I have seen children and young teens that are afraid to return to the beach because of these over zealous beach tag checkers. The roving beach tag checkers can also be annoying. They often approach a large group and ask to see everyone's beach tag, even though it is obvious that everyone has a tag, as evidenced by multiple beach tags on chairs, beach bags, blankets and back packs. However instead of simply acknowledging that the group has tags, I have personally experienced beach tag checkers that insist on every tag being associated with a specific person in the hope that they will be able to sell a beach tag to someone in the group that forgot their tag. The best way to handle this is to simply tell the beach tag checker that everyone has a tag. Then simply ignore them until they move on. One last point is that everyone is entitled to access the beach that is covered by water at high tide. This tidal beach is not owned by Sea Isle City and beach tag checkers have no right to ask anyone on the wet sand for a beach tag. Public Trust Doctrine on Beach AccessThe State of NJ Supreme Court has ruled that access to the tidal beach must be made available to all. That means, if the sand is covered by high tide (wet sand) you do not need a beach tag for access, because the state owns the land. If the sand is below the mean tide line, you are unable to be charged a beach fee. Now, you may think, well it is impossible to get to the tidal sand without crossing the dry sand that the city can enforce beach tags on, but the State of NJ also ruled that the city must allow Linear/Lateral access to be able to cross the "private" beach to get to the tidal beach freely.
So the next time you are going down to the beach, you do not need a tag as long as you sit on the tidal sand below the mean high tide line. This is perfect if you are just heading to the beach to fish or surf. While this may be the law, we expect that most beach tag checkers and even some towns will not know this law, and will therefore give you trouble about not having a tag. For more information check out: Public Access Handbook New Jersey |
Some of Sea Isle's Recent Beach Tag are Below |
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