I have that same feeling as well....I also had this feeling around the time of the NY GOP Convention.
As an aside, my husband and I windsurf so I have pretty good knowledge of bay areas, inlets etc. That said, I have been going to a beach in Southern Delaware for about 10+ years just about every week-end in the summer. This summer for the first time we were comming in and I noticed on the beach a group of Middle Eastern people old/young/women/men. All dressed in traditional garb, it was July and about 90 degrees. So the site was a little odd...the thing is that I have never in all my years seen ME's in this area; most likely tourists but it struck me as very odd. We have seen in the last summer eary fall Amish families who because of their religion go into the ocean fully dressed....but NEVER ME's. My first thought is that they were casing the area...after some of the TM articles we have had in the past about scuba, boats...well it didn't seem like such a farfetched thought.
That's an interesting story, all4one. I have also seen more ME in traditional garb here on Long Island (mostly women with black covering their entire bodies and heads). This is all since 911! I don't recall seeing one before 911. Isn't that funny? I think I would surely remember all the garb before 911.
This is what always gets me: In late October of 2001, I brought my car in for an inspection at a long-standing shop I had never been to previously. The door of the shop had a large target practice photo of usama bin laden on it! 911 is all the owner and I discussed while my car was inspected.
The next year, 2002, I returned to that nice shop with the nice owner and I brought my Bible with me in case I would have the chance to read. Although I usually never do when I bring it along. I was in the shop for about 10 minutes when a ME male with a long beard and dressed in a traditional tunic came in, sat down and after awhile started rocking to and fro with a book in his hands. I am sure it was the koran. I looked at him for a long time and then I grabbed my Bible out of my pocketbook and started reading it. The owner's son arrived and started conversing with the man about a car repair. I found it amusing that the ME man was blaming his wife for the car troubles (a cultural similarity!?). But then I wondered if there really was a wife... It seemed to me that the ME man might have been at the shop before because he seemed to be somewhat known by the owner and his son or maybe they were just being super respectful.
I noticed that the usama target practice poster was gone. Alot had changed in a year.
So I sat there and read my Bible (or tried to -- to be honest) while the ME man rocked and read his book. I thought how weird this all was and what were the odds of this occurring outside a big city! I wondered if anyone would believe me. Me with a Bible, he with his book. Sitting almost across from each other in an area where previously muslims were not seen. But since 911, I see ME men and women more and more here in the suburbs.
I brought my car back to this shop in 2003 but had a bad experience and I ended up leaving and having my car inspected at the usual place.