Super Stop Convenience

Beach days generate a shopping list of their own, and most of it goes unremembered until the car is already loaded. Ice, cold drinks, sunscreen, something to eat on the sand, a bag for the wet towels. Gellatly Bay draws exactly that traffic through the warm months, with its beaches, its boat launches and the shoreline walkway running along the water.

Treat a stop here as the quick fill rather than the weekly shop. Ranges are chosen to suit the street, so a store near the water leans differently from one on a quiet hillside road, and if you need something specific, asking at the counter costs nothing, since small shops often stock to their regulars. Two practical notes for summer. Parking near the bay tightens considerably once the beach fills, so the store is easier reached on foot than by car on a hot afternoon, and ice tends to go first on exactly the days you want it most, which is an argument for buying on the way in rather than after the swim.