Enjoying A Tour Along The Peconic River

Enjoy A Very Fun Adventure On The North Fork That Brings Ear To Ear Smiles To Everyone

By Debbie Tuma

A great way to escape from the hustle-bustle of life is to take the kids on a wonderful boat tour of the Peconic River. Even people living in Riverhead may not realize what a gem of a natural eco-system they have in their own back yard.

Photo by Debbie Tuma

The Peconic River Boat Tour leaves several times a day from behind the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium, on West Main Street in Riverhead. This large, wide, flat-bottom boat, which is covered to protect from the sun, holds around 50 people. It is open on the sides for great viewing of the many birds, salt marshes, and sea creatures you will see and touch on this trip. This educational trip is led by a guide, who in our case, was Eileen Gerle, a marine biologist and Educational Director of Atlantis Marine World.

As we pulled away from the dock, she pointed out the Great egrets, swans, herons and ospreys, nesting along the river. She explained how the ospreys are making a comeback in recent years, after having been decimated by the toxic pesticides like DDT used on the lawns during the 1950's and 60's.

"We're happy to say these birds are now more plentiful here," said Gerle. She also explained that the Peconic River, which flows into Peconic Bay, is the longest and the only one on Long island that flows from west to east. As out boat sped up and cruised past golf courses and small marinas, Gerle passed around some native sea creatures from a tank. She showed the kids a large, fully grown horse show crab, explaining that this species has been around the planet for 300 million years, and is now threatened.

"In New York State, these ancient creatures are still not protected, and they should be, since their blue blood contains an enzyme which detects bacteria in surgical instruments," she said. "Too many people use them as bait, and their numbers are sadly dwindling."

The boat's captain, Bob Leonti, stopped at a salt marsh, and we all got out and walked around this sandy area waterfront with green vegetation. Eileen Gerle picked up a handful of muddy dirt that she explained is "peat," which helps act as a filter system.

"Most people don't appreciate a salt marsh, so they fill them in and build on them, like they did at LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports," she said. "But we need to protect these areas, since they provide important habitats, they are nursery areas, they are storm buffers and they act as filters which clean out the waters."

She and marine scientist Kerri Dobbs showed the crowd how to seine for fish with a net. "Seining is an old fishing method in Long Island," explained Dobbs, as she scooped up some grass shrimp, flipper snails, baby crabs, Atlantic silversides (small fish), and striped killie fish in her net.

Back on the boat, as we explored more waters of this scenic river, Eileen showed the children some large conch shells, with the slug inside. She explained that "mollusks" are clams, scallops and mussels. She showed them the egg case of a conch or welk shell.

Just then, Kerri threw a giant cage-like trap over the side of the boat, and pulled up some spider crabs, which she also showed to the kids.

"What is that orange thing?" asked Willie McCumsky, 8, who was aboard the tour with his sister and mother, of Oyster Bay.

Kerri explained that the orange eggs were part of the female spider crab, which looks different from the male crab.

"We're all having such a god time out on this cruise today," said her mother, Maria McCumsky. "We came out to Riverhead to get away from it all for a day on the water, and teach our kids about nature."

For more information about the Peconic River Boat Tour, including a schedule of times, call the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium at 631-208-9200.

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