The town of Port Jefferson is definitely touristy. We breezed through in about ten minutes!
The primary draw....bars, ice cream shops and nick-knack trinket stores - in that order. I found it intriguing that within a six block radius, we passed a bar about every third doorway, but we also passed five churches. Turns out the little town actually has 20 churches.
I was however, thrilled by the many ice cream shops and convinced Tad to stop at Roger Frigates, a sweet-shop on steroids...you know ladies, the kind of place that puts calories on your hips just by walking in! After enjoying a scoop of Maple Pecan and Butter Brickel, I'm contemplating making it my duty to test ice cream at each port we visit!. I have a feeling Tad will try to talk me out of this the idea!
The Danford Resort is supposed to be the real draw to Port Jefferson, and it looked to be a great way to spend a day, especially if you have friends along, but the marina was full and we didn't want to pay to get into the resort, so we decided to relax on the boat reading, playing cards (yep, I won!) and watching the ferry go by every 30 minutes..... ahhh, felt like home!I
Today's Tip: DockWa is a great tool (app and website) for reserving slips and mooring. But, you have to reserve in advance! We also have a Safe Harbor Seasonal Membership. If you register it with DockWa, you get two free transient slip rentals, 50% after, and 20cents off of fuel at any Safe Harbor marina. We've already saved around $660 in our first week.
On Tad's run in the morning, he came upon the Rip Van Winkle bell . It appears the ship's life (1845-1872) had many purposes and many owners, but was best known as one of the only steam-liners owned by people of color. The bell was rescued when the ship's engine and hull were damaged in an accident that rendered the boat non-restorable.
We also came across two cool lighthouses. The first was named The Orient and the second had no name. The no-name lighthouse looked like someone took a house from a neighborhood, added stilts, and put it on a jetty! The last image is the narrow passageway into port. Our boat draws 4' and you could see the sandbar on both sides! I was super nervous!
Marina Info:
Since Danfords was full, we buoyed and used the Port Jefferson Launch & Water Taxi. They were very responsive and did a great job getting us to and from boat and town.
Off to Greenport!