Friday, May 28: Sunset Beach, Shelter Island

Sunset Beach, the world-class Shelter Island restaurant that has drawn the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker and Christy Turlington, was hopping Friday night as the Memorial Day weekend kicked off.

The start of the season was in the air as leggy young women leaned back in their lounge chairs, sipping minty mojitos as the sky turned pink. You got the feeling that you were in San Tropez, or Brazil, or anywhere other than Long Island. The French voices of overheard conversations lay delicately over the Latin rhythms that floated from the speakers. Taller- than-tall girls from foreign lands greeted clientele decked out in breezy summer kurtas and oversized sunglasses to eat dinner at tables nestled right into the sand.

From beneath sunny yellow awnings, a triple-tiered yacht was seen bobbing in the rolling blue bay. The clinking of glasses signaled toasts being made from table to table, as everyone happily welcomed a brand new summer.