Last night, the Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society held their 5th Annual Beacons of the Night Cruise. It was originally supposed to be held September 18th, but Hurricane Ivan kicked up the waves so much, we had to postpone the cruise.

During this sunset/moonlight cruise, we see 5 lighthouses: Long Beach Bar, Orient Point, Plum Island, Little Gull Island, and Race Rock. Usually by the time we get out to Little Gull, the sun has set, and we get to see the lighthouses as they are meant to be seen...at night...with their lights flashing.

We had a beautiful night. Here are just a few photos:

Long Beach Bar:
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce31b3127ccea86a61bef8c10000001610[/img]

Orient Point:
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce31b3127ccea86a61a779e80000001610[/img]

Plum Island:
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce31b3127ccea86a61ad79e20000001610[/img]

I wasn't able to get decent photos of Little Gull and Race Rock.

And here is a photo of Dr. Carol House, the Chapter's new President, along with our Founding and Past President, Bob Muller:

[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce31b3127ccea86a61cef8b10000002610[/img]

Diane,

Thanks for the pictures. Sorry I couldn't make it to the rescheduled cruise.

Maybe next year- of course that's what I had to say last year also. I'm going to get to this event eventually!

Dennis

Thanks to Bob Muller for his great leadership and congratulations to Carol House who has been a guiding force on the BOD since the inception.
Bob
from Sandy, Utah - no LHs but some awesome sites!

Dennis, we'll keep our fingers crossed that everything works out for you to join us next year.

Thanks for sharing the pics, Diane!

Bob

We definitely had a fun evening. This has been one of my favorite events since its inception in 2000. We once again had a few special guests on board, including Tom Sheridan, Assistant Director at the Plum Island Animal Disease Labaratory (who told us about the stabilization of the bluff at the lighthouse, using the rocks the Long Island Chapter procured a few years ago), Rick Shalvoy, who rows 300 miles around Long Island each year to raise funds for breast cancer research, and Bob Allen, whose great-grandfather was the last keeper at the Cedar Island and Long Beach Bar lights.

I'm already psyched for next year's Beacons of the Night cruise.

Bob,

What's the date so I can reserve my room now before they sell out.

I both hope it is the weekend of the Maritime Festival and isn't that weekend. Rooms are always hard to find that weekend.

Third time hopefully will be the charm for me. I've tried to get to this Cruise twice- first time I went and had heart surgery and the second time it was a Hurricane that stopped me.

The Long Island Curse lives on! I might be able to break it, though. It looks like the Red sox are on the road to breaking the Curse Of The Bambino so almost anything is possible.

Dennis

Dennis,

You've got that right.

bobo

Hi Dennis,

We won't have a date for the 2006 Beacons cruise until the Spring (probably mid-May).

When we first created the cruise, we kept it away from the maritime festival to avoid parking and crowding problems. Then one year they moved the festival date to the same weekend as our cruise. It worked out well, giving people more to do during their time in Greenport (essentially giving people more for their money) so we kept it there. I'm not sure if that tradition will continue next year, but I will mention your concerns to our events people.

Thanks for all your support. We'll get you on that boat yet.