West Babylon Creek Inlet

About

Introduction:

West Babylon Creek is located off Great South Bay on the south shore of Long Island about six miles west of Fire Island Inlet and 14 miles east of Jones Beach. Inside the small creek you will find one marina with transient facilities just beyond the creek entrance on the western shore. The creek has six-foot depths at the entrance and a little farther up the creek.

Navigating the Water:

Use NOAA Chart 12352.

West Babylon Creek is approached from the south via Great South Bay. Of special concern is the northern portion of the channel that cuts through Great South Bay from Babylon to Nassau Shores, which can shoal to one-foot depths. If you choose to run your boat in this area, do not do so without a good depth sounder, a current chart and good piloting skills.

From the west, you will need to work your way from South Oyster Bay to the Great South Bay channel at Unqua Point south of Nassau Shores. From here, you can head east along the Great South Bay Channel to red nun “6” and green can “7” south of the entrance to West Babylon Creek at Santapogue Point, and then feel your way in toward the creek entrance.

If you are approaching from the State Boat Channel along Jones Island Beach, you can take Amityville Cut or Fox Creek Channel north through the extensive flats of Great South Bay to the main channel that hugs the shoreline near West Babylon Creek. Amityville cut is the deeper of the two channels (eight- to ten-foot depths), but it is unmarked. Fox Channel is shallower (six-foot depths), but is well-marked with a series of lighted and unlighted buoys along its length.

From the east, pass underneath the Robert Moses Causeway (60-foot fixed vertical clearance), and then work your way to the west to red nun “6” and green can “7” at West Babylon Creek. Inside the creek is a marina with transient facilities and a public access area on the west side of the creek. This is mainly a “stopover” location; there is little in the way of provisioning opportunities.

Local Notices to Mariners:

Local Notices to Mariners are available online from the U.S. Coast Guard.