About 11 cars of beachgoers, mostly fishermen, lined up at the gate of the Iroquois Point Island Club at sunrise yesterday, the first day in several years that the Iroquois Point beach opened to the public.

A new agreement, reached between the Navy and the management company for the private, gated community, allows up to 23 cars to park in designated stalls for public use of the beach from dawn to dusk.

Kiran Polk, general manager of the Iroquois Point Island Club, said a "periodic" stream of cars asked for parking placards to enter the community to use the beach.

Through midday, no cars were turned away or told to wait for a parking space, Polk said.