We went to Port Jefferson on Saturday (12/06) to do a little photography, not knowing what we got ourselves into. I am only familiar with Port Jefferson because of the National Grid power station over there. Turns out the quaint little town of about 7000 was celebrating a Charles Dickens weekend, where the town plays the roles of characters from "A Christmas Carol". It was very interesting and different from what we are used to in New York City and Stony Brook; the people there were actually nice, and we each received a candy cane on two separate occasions: one from Santa at the restaurant we ate at, and one from the lady who runs the town information office, whom we asked for a bus schedule back to Stony Brook.
The two of us ended up hiking the beach at low tide (this was not the kind of beach for tourists and sunbathers), and we had traveled a total of about 10 miles on foot that day. We ended up going up the west coast of the Belle Terre peninsula from the Port Jefferson LIRR station. We turned back just as we got to the McAllister County Park bay (See the iPhone GPA Map insert.) Rather than pay for the LIRR to go back to Stony Brook (at $2.25 one way), we decided to try out the Suffolk County Bus which was only $1.00. In this trip, we not only pulled off some interesting and very cool shots, we have gained the first-person experience of what tides can mean and what walking miles on sand and rocks means for the feet. (If you look on the satellite view of this beach, you'll notice that the beach is actually under water at high tide. By the time we made it out to where we were, there was a little fear that some parts may become impassable because of the rising water. Thinking back now, that was some scary trip. Man...)
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I have posted photos to Flickr. Also check out Adrian's Port Jefferson photo set.