From The North Fork Long Island: Lighthouse

Oct 16, 2009

Lights Enroute to Gardener's Island and the Race

Recently we put the boat in at Greenport Harbor and headed due east to do some fly casting on and beyond the Plum and Gardiners Islands flats. The day was a bit hazy and the air had a little bite to it. We were hoping to catch blue fish, striped bass and false albacore (little tunny) but the weather from the northeast two days earlier had put them down and only the "albies" were spotted under a flock of gulls hitting the water to eat the scraps left by the marauding fish. I fought one briefly before it managed to get unhooked, a risk I take by using only barbless hooks which do almost no damage to the fish I want to release. Only their egos are hurt. The day was not a total loss however. I had my camera and squeezed off a few shots of the light houses we passed along the way and enjoyed the companionship of my boat mates and an excellent packed lunch to be eaten at slack tide waiting for the change to incoming.

Long Beach Bar Light (Bug Light)

Little Gull Light

Plum Island Light

Orient Point Light (the Coffee Pot)

Plum Gut at slack tide with the Coffee Pot to the extreme left and Plum Light on the right. The water goes through this two mile wide gut with depths from 60 to 200 - 300 feet. My brother Bruce would remember a white knuckle passage we made several years ago. Click here for a video made from a powered sailboat fighting the current.

For more photos and commentary about this area and north to Connecticut see Matthew Housekeepers excellent blog "Soundbounder".

Apr 7, 2009

Orient Point

We took a spin out to the very end of the North Fork, Orient Point. The eastern-most building is a cable house from which electricity is sent to the Orient Point Light known as the Coffee Pot. A mile or more beyond the light and across Plum Gut sits Plum Island which has been the home of the Plum Island Light established in 1827 and an animal disease research center since 1954. Only research personnel and staff are permitted on the island. They commute by the center's ferry.

In the 4th photo the water was very turbulent and carried sand west in a sand line to the edge of a rip. I've never seen it so distinct.

A half mile west of the cable house a Cross Island Ferry was being boarded by cars, trucks and bicycle riders all heading to New London, Connecticut. Reservations are needed and if some folks are getting late they'll drive with no regard to speed limits or much of anything else. Some locals sport bumper stickers that state "I don't care if you're late for the ferry!" Very early morning returnees from Connecticut's Mohican Sun Casino often end up in a ditch or worse after a night of gambling and drinking with no sleep. Good time to stay off the road.

Orient Beach State Park is open to anyone at no charge during the off season. It hosts many bird species and is a waypoint for migrating birds in the Spring and Fall. Newly arrived ospreys, our sure sign of spring, were repairing the winter damage to their nests here and there.

On our way back home we stopped in East Marion to see how the lavender farm, Lavender by the Bay, was doing. The bees will be busy very soon.