Lighthouse Boat Tours

Lighthouse Cruise Series with the National Lighthouse Museum

The National Lighthouse Museum and Seastreak are teaming up to provide a series of narrated cruises introducing passengers to the many historic lighthouses found along the shores of New Jersey and New York. Each of the five cruises takes a unique route to visit different compelling locations. Join us on the one you find most interesting, or come along for all of them and become a local lighthouse expert!

• Where do you want to explore?

  All cruises in the Lighthouse Series are approximately five hours long and depart from Belford, NJ at 10:00 am. Read on to learn more about each unique route. Each cruise will make a brief stop in Staten Island to pick up Lighthouse Museum staff and passengers.

   

  Sunday, June 4^th

  – Circumnavigation of Staten Island –

  Explore fascinating and mysterious sites unfamiliar to most New Yorkers on this exciting boat ride that circumnavigates Staten Island. Pass critical points of maritime interest including the historically rich Shooters and the Isle of Meadows (the center of what was once the world’s largest garbage dump, and now serves as Fresh Kills Park).

  The journey up the Kill Van Kull, and the Arthur Kill waterways, contains much important history critical to NYC’s development and to its maritime life.

  Lighthouses described and seen on this exciting tour include: Robbin’s Reef, Great Beds, Prince’s Bay, Staten Island’s Rear Range, (site of the Old Orchard Shoals Lighthouse destroyed by Sandy in 2012), New Dorp, Elmtree Beacon and the Battery Weed Light of Fort Wadsworth.

   

  Sunday, July 9^th

  – East River Tour –

  Many of NYC’s most fascinating and noteworthy historical sights are highlighted on this unforgettable journey up the East River and Long Island Sound.

  Sights include Robbins Reef Lighthouse (aka “Kate’s Light”), the docks of Red Hook, notable vessels at the South Street Seaport such as the Ambrose Lightship and the Waverley, the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Corlears Hook, Roosevelt Island’s newly restored lighthouse, Hell Gate, Rikers Island, the Vernon C. Bain Prison Ship, Fort Schuyler, Stepping Stones Lighthouse, Execution Rocks Lighthouse, and Sands Point Lighthouse.

  Enjoy captivating stories about Corlears Hook, a once dangerous and sordid hotbed of criminal East River Maritime life, and the legendary North Shore “Gold Coast” immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Great Gatsby. 

   

  Sunday, August 6^th

  – Signature Tour –

  This popular tour familiarizes passengers with key lighthouses that facilitate safe passage from the Atlantic Ocean into Lower New York Harbor. Sail past historic Fort Wadsworth and Fort Hamilton at the Narrows, and head under the Verrazano Bridge passing the former Quarantine stations of Hoffman and Swineburn Islands. Continue on past Sandy Hook Lighthouse and Fort Hancock, learning about the role that this proud and historic beacon has played on behalf of NYC’s maritime trade and commerce over the centuries.

  Then we will head for the Shrewsbury River. Along the way, you’ll pass the Naval Weapons Station Earle, and one of the most spectacular lighthouses in America – The Navesink Twin Lights Station.

  You’ll see a total of nine lighthouses: Battery Weed Light, the Coney Island Lighthouse, West Bank and Romer Shoals Lighthouses, the Sandy Hook Light, The Twin Lights, the Staten Island Rear Range, the New Dorp Light, and the Elm Tree Beacon.

   

  Sunday, September 10^th

  – Newark Bay Tour and 9/11 Tribute –

  Tour Newark Bay, the city of Newark, Bayonne, Jersey City and famous memorials that pay solemn tribute to the victims of 9/11.

  The cruise will visit and describe in detail the “Postcards” Memorial in Staten Island, the Tear Drop Memorials at Bayonne’s Military Ocean/Cruise Terminal, the “Empty Sky Memorial” in Jersey City, the Freedom Tower, the Bergen Point Lighthouse, Port Elizabeth, Port Newark, the Vertical Lift Railroad Bridge connecting Bayonne and Newark, Kearny Point, and the Robbins Reef Lighthouse where passengers will learn about the life and career of one of NYC’s legendary Keepers, Kate Walker.

   

  Saturday, October 28^th

  – Fall Foliage Tour up the Hudson River to Haunted Sleepy Hollow –

  Join us, if you dare….on a memorable Halloween maritime tour and discover macabre, often terrifying tales of murder, mayhem and piracy associated with the history of the mighty Hudson River.

  Immerse yourself in the Halloween spirit and dress in your favorite costume. Enjoy an eerie and haunting look at maritime madness as we journey up the Hudson past the Little Red Lighthouse to the famed Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse exploring key sights and the origin of legends and tales that would establish Washington Irving as a premiere American writer.

• Narration by an experienced historian

  The series will be narrated by Wade R. Goria. Wade is a National Lighthouse Museum historian, author, and former New York University professor.

  Learn more about the National Lighthouse Museum using the link below!

  http://lighthousemuseum.org/