Anchorages long Island sound

I would suggest you buy some charts that you can refer to at anytime when on your pride and joy

I'd suggest you go to Active Captain and look. There are dozens of anchorages shown all around you.

There are several good anchorages both inside Northport Bay, over in Lloyd Harbor, and close to shore on the east side of Eaton's Neck (Asharoken Beach) and along Smithtown Bay. The exact location would help, but I think you're talking about that little bay on the west side. If so the answer is that you should be ok, but be cautious entering. I haven't personally been inside there though. It may actually be Coast Guard property (part of the lighthouse property). If so you'll probably find keep out signs. A similar spot you might find more comfortable is the Sand Hole on the west side of Lloyd Pt. That's one of the favorites in that area. Another place people like to play is over in West Harbor / Oyster Bay (inside Centre Island).

If he has to ask these kinds of questions, maybe he needs to consider some kind of boating course and at least learn how to use and read charts. I think he needs to do more reading and less boating.

You won't learn this sort of thing in any boating class, and charts will only tell you so much about gunk holes. He did exactly the right thing looking for "Local Knowledge". The OP just moved his boat to Long Island's north shore, which is a totally different boating experience from it's south shore where he boated before. Keep in mind that Long Island has about 60 miles of connected bays on the south shore, running from Brooklyn to Southampton; then it has 120 miles of ocean coastline, 120 miles of L.I. Sound coastline, another 150 miles of New England L.I.Sound coastline 3 to 17 miles away, plus the fishtail. Lots of nooks and crannies. I've been running these waters for almost 60 years, and I'm still finding new places to explore. If summer were longer and dock space more plentiful this would be one of the best boater's paradises in America.

If you tell him to go to "Northport Bay, over in Lloyd Harbor" and he doesn't have a chart or can't read a chart, how will he get there? We were new at this too at one point and bought the proper charts and cruising guides and yes, local knowledge and found our way. We cruised through LI sound on the way back from Maine to TX, so I realize it's a big place. But with a cruising guide for the area or AC and the proper charts it's not rocket science.

"Yes, I have a few, but they are a litte too large and don't show enough detail. There never really is a subsitute for local knowledge, which I'm hoping to get with this post.

I'm also finding that the tied swells are FAR greater here on the Sound then in the Great South Bay. I do not want to get into a place and have to call Sea Tow to get me out."

That lead me to believe you had the wrong charts or did not know how to use them. How about tide tables?

"Maybe more boating and less posting for you?"

Wife and I cruise from TX to St. Martin and up the East Coast to Maine and back. I think we have done plenty of "boating".

Ever consider reading the manual for your genset?

Bob, if you pull up a chart of Huntington Bay and look at the west side of Eaton's Neck you'll see a very small cove. I believe that's the spot the OP was asking about. I don't care what chart you're looking at. They won't show the surprises that may await you at the entrance. Same with the Sand Hole just west of Lloyd Pt. The north shore of Long Island is rock. It's where the glaciers of the last ice age deposited the rocks and boulders. We also have about a 9' tide in that area. Meanwhile Long Island's south shore is one big sand bar interupted by a little bit of moving channel. So you not only need to be able to read a chart; you better be able to read the waters as well. This stuff is only taught by experience. If you don't have the experience, you get the experience of others by calling out for "local knowledge " as the OP did.
The fear of being thought of as a fool keeps too many people from asking "dumb questions" in all sorts of life situations. The only really dumb question is the one you don't ask. We want to encourage those questions so we have fewer boaters getting into trouble.

How does "local knowledge" help you with 9' tides? That's where tide tables come in or one of the many tide programs available. One of the best sources of "local knowledge", in my opinion, is Active Captain. I guess the OP never heard of that one.

The 9' tide tells you to enter the first time at low tide so you can see where the rocks are. That's "local knowledge", or (if I were more familiar) I could tell him which side of the entrance to favor, where the big rocks are etc. For instance at the Sand Hole (which I'm more familiar with) there's a breakwater that often submerges at high tide, so you want to say left then hang a hard right once in. As for Active Captain, I can't stand it. They waste too much time. TMI. They deluge me with mile long emails every day. In an unfamiliar area I'd much prefer, and trust more, the advice from a local who runs those waters everyday and like me won't be putting his knowledge in Active Captain. I think the condescending attitude of your posts are serving absolutely no positive purpose. Do you have anything helpful to offer the OP about this area?

OP I think you've gotten the info you're looking for. I'm going to unsubscribe from this thread.

Probably a forlorn hope as most folks looking for things don't know what the search function is or how it looks