Great South Bay is a bay situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is approximately 45 miles (72 km) long. It's protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island and Captree Island.
Robert Moses Causeway adjoins the Great South Bay Bridge, which leads to Robert Moses State Park.
The bay is accessible from the ocean through Fire Island Inlet, which lies between the western tip of Fire Island and the eastern tip of Jones Beach Island.
The bay adjoins South Oyster Bay on its western end and Patchogue and Moriches Bays at the east end.
In the early 17th century, European settlers first encountered the native Meroke tribes. Among the earliest British families were the Smith, Carman and Hewlett families
Rapid population growth on the northern shore of the bay has made it a popular destination for yachts and other pleasure craft. During spring and summer, Great South Bay is a popular area for boating and fishing.
Read more about Great South Bay: Environmental Concerns
Famous quotes containing the words south and/or bay:
“...I believe it is now the duty of the slaves of the South to rebuke their masters for their robbery, oppression and crime.... No station or character can destroy individual responsibility, in the matter of reproving sin.”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)
“Three miles long and two streets wide, the town curls around the bay ... a gaudy run with Mediterranean splashes of color, crowded steep-pitched roofs, fishing piers and fishing boats whose stench of mackerel and gasoline is as aphrodisiac to the sensuous nose as the clean bar-whisky smell of a nightclub where call girls congregate.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)