Thimble Islands, Eastern Long Island Sound

Thimble Islands (Stony Creek, CT)- High Island Anchorage

http://www.coastalboating.net/Cruising/Destinations/LIS/Thimbles/index.html

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The Thimble Islands are an archipelago of small islands in Long Island Sound, in and near the harbor of Stony Creek, Connecticut in the southeast corner of Branford, Connecticut. Some of the shoreline residences in the nearby Stony Creek and Pine Orchard sections of Branford have a spectacular view of the Thimbles.

Outer Island, the outermost of the Thimble Islands located off the coast of Stony Creek, Connecticut, is part of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. The island is home to many species of flora and fauna and is the site for a wide range of environmental, education and research opportunities. Outer Island is approximately five acres in size and includes granite outcroppings, boulder and cobble beaches in the intertidal zone, as well as two small salt marshes.

The Thimbles are 100 to 365 islands, depending on whether you count small rocks, reefs, ledges and sandbars that surface at low tide, off Branford, east of New Haven. The largest, Horse Island, owned by the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, is 17 acres. They look like chunks of coastal Maine — with pink granite bases and lush covers of hardwoods, pines and thickets — that have somehow ended up in Long Island Sound.

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