Coney Island Leg 1: Sea Gate to the New York Aquarium (distance covered: 1.41 miles; total distance logged: 6.1 miles)
1. First failure It never occurred to me that going to Sea Gate, the exclusive neighborhood at the western end of Coney Island where I was start my barriers walk, might involve getting through actual gates. I figured that I could just park on a random street in the neighborhood, head to the Coney Island Lighthouse on Norton Point at the western tip, and continue in the southeasterly direction on the beach (ocean on the right) and cruise down to the boardwalk to the New York Aquarium before turning around (ocean on the left) to head back to my car. Check that off. First leg complete. Wrong. The tipoff came on closer examination of Google maps for Sea Gate, which I now know is a gated community, true to its name. Ok, I’ll just park outside the gates and walk around and get into Sea Gate on the beach (as if no one else had ever thought of that). Nope. Fences. Serious fences. Chain-link fences right up to the shoreline and to the edge of the jetty, along with several no-nonsense "No