Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Port Washington, Manhasset Bay, NY

Port Washington is a village on the south side of a shoal bight about 1.2 miles southeastward of Plum Point. An apartment complex on Toms Point, 0.9 mile east of Plum Point, is prominent. Depths of about 8 feet can be carried in the buoyed approach from the lighted buoy off Plum Point to the docks at Port Washington, thence through the unmarked channel along the east side of the bight to its north end northeastward of Toms Point. In 1979, shoaling to 1½ feet was reported in the approach to the wharves east of Toms Point in about 40°50’04″N., 73°42’17″W. In 1981, depths of 5 feet were reported on the north side of the town dock with 2 and 4 feet on the west and south sides, respectively. Depths at the other wharves are reported to range from 4 to 9 feet.

There are extensive small-craft facilities at Port Washington and to the eastward and westward of Toms Point at Manorhaven. Port Washington’s Bay Constable monitors VHF-FM channels 9 and 16 from the town dock.

Manhasset Bay, between Barker Point and Hewlett Point, affords excellent shelter for vessels of about 12 feet or less draft, and is much frequented by yachts in the summer. The depths in the outer part of the bay range from 12 to 17 feet, and 7 to 12 feet in the inner part inside Plum Point. The extreme south end of the bay is shallow with extensive mudflats. Depths of about 6 to 2 feet can be taken through a natural channel almost to the head of the bay. A 5 mph speed limit is enforced.

Hewlett Point (40°50.3’N., 73°45.2’W.) is on the west side of the entrance to Manhasset Bay. A boulder reef, mostly bare at low water and marked by a lighted buoy at its northern end, extends about 0.2 mile northward from the point.

Plum Point is a low spit extending southward from the eastern shore about 0.6 mile southward of Barker Point. A seasonal lighted entrance buoy is about 150 yards southward of Plum Point. The bight eastward of Plum Point is shoal.