Club

• Mattituck: The first harbor west of Orient Point is Mattituck. Watch the current here if the wind is onshore. The channel between the breakwaters isn't very wide, and if the wind is out of the north with an ebb pouring out of the creek, very steep standing waves can build up. There's a restaurant and boatyard along the west bank of the creek, but if you want access to the village, you'll have to go to Matt-a-Mar or the municipal facility at the very end of the creek (an excellent hurricane hole). Matt-a-Mar has an Olympic pool and Laundromat. Famous for mosquitoes.
• Mt. Sinai: A weekend alternative to Port Jefferson. Three marinas and a yacht club.
• Port Jefferson: Or Port Jeff, as it's generally known. A lot of people like to anchor out behind Old Field Beach or Mt. Misery Point; great if you have a dink and kids who what to frolic on the dunes, but creatures of comfort head for Bayles Dock, the marina at Danfords Inn. Bayles is expensive during the high season. Alternatively, you can take one of the municipal moorings (call the harbor master on the VHF channel that's posted on the sides of the yellow launches) and use the launch service or your dinghy to get to shore. Make enough trips on the launch, however, and it can get as expensive as a slip. Port Jeff used to be a regular town, complete with a couple of major food stores. Now it's a major tourist destination for people coming out from the City or from Connecticut via the ferry, and the IGA we used to stock up at during 70s has yielded to candle and T-shirt boutiques. With the exception of Danfords, avoid the tourist trap restaurants on the main drag. There are some good small places toward the east end of town. There are some beautiful old houses up the hill on the east side, too. The presence of elegant old houses on the high ground in such harbor towns as Port Jeff and Mystic are common because this is where the local captains and merchants lived. The captain's wives could keep lookout for their returning husbands and the merchants for their cargoes.
• Huntington Bay: The mouth of the bay features the little anchoring hole at Eaton's Neck, a favorite CYC overnight anchorage. In Northport, we used to go to the marina at the very end of the harbor. It was a funky, laid-back place with a half-century of mildew on the shower stall walls, but it's since been replaced by an upscale marina and tennis club. No more mildew, but it's one of the most expensive places to stay--right up there with the private marina at Sag Harbor. So, now your best bet is to take a mooring at the Northport YC, which has always been hospitable, has a nice pool, and is a reasonable walk to town. The downside of the club is that it's an hour from the Sound.
• Hempstead Harbor: Ignoring the marinas way down in Glenwood Landing, there are two basic choices here, either a mooring at the very hospitable Sea Cliff YC or one of the marinas along the south side of Glen Cove Creek. There are some good restaurants up in the village of Sea Cliff, but it's quite a climb up the steps across from the club. The park at the top of the steps has a great view of the harbor.
• Manhasset Bay: The big Brewer's marina is a good fuel stop, but take a mooring at one of the yacht clubs along the east shore. The Kinckerbocker is closest to Louie's restaurant, which features great seafood. Since Consolidated Marine on City Island took out its fuel pumps some years ago, Brewer's is the most easily accessed fuel stop in the area.

Now it's back through Throgs Neck. This time, you must be at Throgs Neck about halfway through the ebb cycle so that you ride out the tail end of the ebb going down the East River. The object here is to minimize the time you'll have to buck the ebb that will still be coming down the Hudson when you round The Battery. Or, depending on the time of day and how long you'd have to buck the flood, this might be a good time to head for one of the Jersey marinas for the night and pick up the next day's flood up the Hudson.