Just a few miles west of the Horton Point Lighthouse in Southold is McCabe's Beach. This is a resident-only town beach in the summer months, but during the off-season no proof of residency is required. This is one of those locations that I stumbled upon while trying to find someplace else. I had followed Horton Point Lane hoping to find the lighthouse of the same name, but instead the road came to an end at this beach.
It was one of those beautiful November days which resembled September more than Veterans Day, but that is not what I remember most. What stands out more from this day was how clear the water was. For reasons I do not fully understand, the waters of Long Island Sound tend to be at their clearest during the autumn months. It has something to do with the growth suspended in the water that dies off as the days grow shorter (I think).
Clarity however, is not the same thing as cleanliness. It took me a long time to understand the difference. As an estuary, the Sound is a brackish mixture of fresh and salt water that is fed by numerous rivers and two daily tides. It tends to be a cloudy body of water; that much I know. The peaks and valleys of clarity are not neccesarily an indication of the Sound's health. There is an old saying which states a little bit of knowledge is dangerous. But looking out from McCabes Beach on that November afternoon, I remembered another old line about the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
Panoramio: Photo And Map
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