Sailors Haven
Maintained by the National Seashore, Sailors Haven is a Fire Island day-tripper destination and boaters’ sanctuary with a 45-slip marina with electricity and water hook-up as well as a pump-out station. The site is well equipped with a lifeguarded public beach, restrooms, showers, picnic area, snack bar, small nature museum, guided ranger tours – but no residential living. It has access to and is operated in conjunction with the adjacent Sunken Forrest, also a FINS facility.
Nestled between the community of Point O’ Woods to the west and Cherry Grove to its east, Sailor’s Haven was originally conceived as a private residential development for boating enthusiasts in 1960. The Sailor’s Haven Company had plans for apartment units, single-family dwellings, restaurant, country store, tennis court and other amenities for boaters in the summer as well as fishing and duck hunters into the cooler months.
However the enterprise was organized after the cut-off date for recognition in Fire Island National Seashore’s enacting legislation and because Sailor’s Haven Company operated on strictly a lease basis, a lengthy condemnation process was not required for longtime residents as it was in other Fire Island National Seashore territories. The Sailor’s Haven Company therefore quickly dissolved only a few years after first opening. By 1966 FINS acquired the existing faculties which were converted and reopened as the first of the Fire Island National Seashore public visitor’s center. While the original marina was designed for 100-boats, FINS scaled back the design to the 45 slips that are in use today.
Reservations can be made at 631-597-6171. Visits are limited to a maximum of 14 days. Ferry service is also available out of Sayville, NY and it is accessible by lateral water taxi from neighboring Fire Island communities. Quite simply said Sailor’s Haven is the nautical National Park Service experience at its very best.