Cedar Point Beach unfurls along Sandusky Bay like a bonus act, the stretch of sand most guests discover only after they've exhausted the midway. The lake here is shallow enough that you can wade out fifty yards and still stand, the sandy bottom firm underfoot, the water温 enough by July to make you forget you're swimming in a Great Lake. Overhead, the skeletal spine of Steel Vengeance cuts against the clouds, and every two minutes the roar of a coaster train punctuates the lapping of wavelets.
“The only Great Lakes beach where you can bodysurf in the shadow of seventeen world-class roller coasters.”
Credit: FlickrHouse, gables, cedar shakes, arched fence entrance, view of Lake Washington, North Matthews Beach, Sand Point Way Uplands, Seattle, Washington, USA
The beach belongs to the resort complex, but its character shifts with the light. Midday belongs to families spreading striped towels and inflating floaties. By evening, couples claim the western end, where the sun drops behind the Sandusky skyline in shades of tangerine and bruised plum. The sand here is trucked-in fine, not the pebbly native shore you'll find elsewhere on Erie's southern coast, and the grooming shows—you won't stub your toe on driftwood.
What Cedar Point Beach lacks in wild beauty it compensates for in convenience: showers, chair rentals, a beachside bar slinging frozen margaritas. You come here not to escape civilization but to enjoy it at water temperature, where the only decision is whether to catch one more coaster or one more hour of sun.
