Lighthouse Safaris "sm" September 18, 2025
South by Land, North by Sea Tour

For those of you unfamiliar with Lighthouse Safaris, Inc., here's a quick background. Lighthouse Safaris, Inc. was formed in 1996 by former Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society President Gayle Haines, Ed. D. Dr. Haines, a lifelong educator, is also a Board Member for the National Lighthouse Center and Museum. Her goal with the company was to provide enjoyable, educational tours of lighthouses. Her tours have thus far been limited to Long Island lighthouses (not that that is really "limited" at all), but will be expanding up and down the East Coast in 2000.

I met Gayle early in 1999 while conducting research for my book, and this web site, on Long Island lighthouses. Her help has been invaluable in this endeavor. Gayle knows everybody in the world of Long Island lighthouses, and many more lighthouse experts throughout the country. My growing knowledge of the island's lights, combined with my willingness to get out and meet people and help them learn more about Long Island's wonderful lighthouse heritage, made it almost automatic that I would end up working with Gayle on her tours. "Lighthouse people" are always such a joy to be around, that there's no way I could turn down the opportunity to meet more of them.

On Saturday, September 18th, I joined Gayle on her South by Land, North by Sea tour. I met Gayle at 7AM. It was an almost-perfect day, weatherwise. After getting our deluxe motorcoach and driver at the bus depot, we picked up some people at two different pickup points before joining the rest of the group at The Museums at Stony Brook. There, the group enjoyed a continental breakfast before touring the museum's exhibition on Long Island lighthouses. Since the museum's history curator, Joshua Ruff, could not join us for the day, I was elected to give the tour. While I at first felt a bit out of place giving a tour of Mr. Ruff's exhibit, I soon fell into autopilot mode - so much so that Gayle had to remind me that I was already ten minutes past the time to leave the museum with four lighthouses left to be described. Oops.

From Stony Brook, we all boarded the bus down to Fire Island. At Fire Island, we got a special tower tour. Those who did not wish to climb the tower saw a video presentation on the lighthouse. There was plenty of time to wander around the light and the nearby beach, and lunch was served at the light. Early in the afternoon, we left Fire Island for Glen Cove. There, we boarded the paddlewheeler Thomas Jefferson. We ventured out to Execution Rocks and Sands Point at a nice, leisurely pace. We got a good look at those two lights and could see Stepping Stones off in the distance. The weather the entire time had remained close to perfect. We boarded the bus and wound down for the day. By the time we dropped off the bus and I drove home, it had been an 11 hour day for me. But it was worth it. I'm looking forward to the next trip in October.

Below are some images I took during the day. The Execution Rocks and Sands Point shots aren't too close since I was narrating at that point in the paddlewheeler cruise. That's always a problem for me on cruises, but I adapt.

We started out at the Museums at Stony Brook...

The folks on the tour got to listen to (endure?) myself and Gayle describing some of the lighthouse history of Long Island...

One of the displays at the museum is a Fifth Order Fresnel lens...

A little after 10AM we boarded the bus for Fire Island...

And had  lovely time there. It was a great day for photography...

Two of the Fire island tower's former lenses are on display, including a Fourth Order lens...

The weather continued to be splendid for a ride aboard the paddlewheeler...

There's construction on the property where the Sands Point light stands...

But little happens these days at the Execution Rocks light station, although it is still an active aid to navigation...

There is one more Lighthouse Safari scheduled for this year on which there are still seats (as of September 28). That tour is on Saturday, October 23. I'll be a tour guide on that tour. If you're along, be sure to take a moment to offer any suggestions for this site, or for future Lighthouse Safaris. To reserve a seat, or get more information, call Gayle at 516-422-4213 or e-mail her at gayle@lighthousesafaris.com. Her web site is at www.lighthousesafaris.com.

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