Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Port Jefferson, NY
Port Jefferson (informally known as Port Jeff) is an incorporated village in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. Officially known as the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson, the population was 7,750 as of the 2010 United States Census.
Port Jefferson was first settled in the 17th century and remained a rural community until its development as an active shipbuilding center in the mid-19th century. The village has since transitioned to a tourist-based economy. The port remains active as terminus of the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry, one of two commercial ferry lines between Long Island and Connecticut, and is supplemented by the terminus of the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Jefferson Branch. It is also the center of the Greater Port Jefferson region of northwestern Brookhaven, serving as the cultural, commercial and transportation hub of the neighboring Port Jefferson Station, Belle Terre, Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Poquott, and the Setaukets.
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Port Jefferson Harbor, on the south shore of Long Island Sound eastward of Old Field Point, is entered through a dredged channel that leads between two jetties that are in ruins to a docking area near the southwestern end of the harbor; the jetties are each marked by a light. The approach is marked by a lighted whistle buoy, about 1.1 miles northwest of the entrance. Three stacks on the west side near the head of the harbor are conspicuous landmarks. A 12 mph speed limit is enforced in the main entrance channel, and a 5 mph speed limit is enforced at the head of the harbor in the vicinity of the mooring areas and wharves.
There are small-craft facilities at the head of the harbor. A launching ramp is at the head of the harbor.
Setauket Harbor has gasoline, moorings, and limited marine supplies are available at the boatyard; a flatbed trailer can haul out craft to 32 feet long.
The approach to Port Jefferson Harbor is clear, taking care to avoid Mount Misery Shoal with depths of 7 to 12 feet, about 0.8 mile north-northeast of the east jetty light.
A Federal project provides for a channel 26 feet deep from Long Island Sound to the south end of Port Jefferson Harbor. The channel is marked by lighted and unlighted buoys and a 146° lighted range. In 1982, it was reported that due to the closeness of the range lights it may be difficult to determine when they are in line. It was further reported that the range may be obscured by vessels tied up at the oil wharf on the west side of the harbor.
Shoals with little depth are on both sides of the channel from the entrance to Port Jefferson to Lighted Bell Buoy 5 inside the entrance. The ground from the east jetty to the lighted bell buoy is broken, with shoals covered 4 to 11 feet. The lighted bell buoy cannot be seen over the breakwater at low tide by small vessels approaching the harbor.
Port Jefferson Harbor is entered through a dredged channel that leads between two jetties which are in ruins to a docking area near the southwestern end of the harbor; the jetties are each marked by a light. The approach is marked by a lighted whistle buoy, about 1.1 miles northwest of the entrance. Two stacks on the west side near the head of the harbor are conspicuous landmarks.
A 121°-301° measured nautical mile is westward of the entrance to Port Jefferson Harbor on Old Field Beach. The front markers are orange posts about 8 feet high; the rear markers are rectangles mounted on legs about 12 feet high, painted red with a 6-inch black vertical stripe in the middle.
Setauket Harbor, on the western side of Port Jefferson Harbor, has a narrow crooked channel. In 1981, a reported depth of about 2½ feet was available in the channel to the boatyard at Setauket. The entrance from Port Jefferson is marked by private seasonal buoys.
