Point Judith is commonly considered a stopover destination for transient boaters heading to more glamorous ports along the coast, or as a jumping-off point for trips to Block Island, Newport, or Long Island. However, the curious boater who chooses to spend some time here will find some good reasons to stick around.

Snug Harbor Marina is popular with sportfishermen.

“Point Jude” is really three ports rolled into one. Galilee, on the east side of the pond, is a long-established commercial port, home to huge draggers, lobster boats, the Block Island ferry, and a fleet of party- and charter boats. On the other side is Snug Harbor, where you’ll find several marinas that serve the area’s numerous recreational fishermen and boaters. Lastly, there’s the handful of marinas in the quiet upper portion of the pond, in the town of Wakefield.

Point Judith Pond itself is a 1,777-acre, 3.5-mile-long estuary where fresh water from the Saugatucket River blends with salt water from the ocean. The result is a marvelously rich ecosystem that serves as home and nursery to an enormous array of marine life, from clams and mummichogs to crabs and winter flounder. Many species of waterfowl depend on the pond, as well, and the expansive marshes on its eastern edge are a popular spot for birdwatching, especially during the spring and fall migration periods.

The pond is a maze of shallow bars and narrow channels best explored in a small boat, canoe, SUP, or kayak, although a deep channel extends three miles to its very northern end and the aforementioned marinas. The shallow area north of Plato Island in the center of the pond is a haven for adventurers, with plenty of room to drop anchor or beach canoes, skiffs, small sailboats and kayaks. It would be easy to spend a full weekend relaxing in the pond’s warm, protected coves. Just be sure to stay clear of the oyster farms, which are marked by yellow floats.

Point Judith Lighthouse has served as an important aid to navigation since 1810.

The popular transient anchorage north of Plato is marked by white floats. To access the anchorage, follow the channel until you are just north of the island (don’t take the shortcut or you’ll hit a mudflat) then cut across to the anchorage between Plato and Gardner Islands. At dead low tide, the water is only four feet deep between the channel and the seven-foot-deep anchorage, so larger boats should run north of the islands and enter the anchorage between Gardner and Beach Islands.

Boaters can access the pond via several launch ramps or through the busy ocean inlet, also known as the breachway. The 15-foot-deep, 150-foot-wide breachway is the environmental and commercial lifeblood of Point Judith. It can also be a chaotic place, especially during the summer when it’s plied by hundreds of recreational and commercial vessels each day.

The breachway has existed since the last ice age, although the natural inlet was widened and reinforced with riprap in the early 1900s to accommodate the increasing number of fishing vessels in Galilee. In the mid-’30s, a nearly three-mile-long, semicircular breakwater made of granite boulders was constructed to create a harbor of refuge for commercial and steamship traffic between New York and Boston—although by the time it was finished so was the heyday of coastal steamship travel and shipping. Nevertheless, the breakwater does a fine job of protecting the breachway, Salty Brine and Roger Wheeler Beaches, and the cottage community of Breakwater Village from the full force of the sea, as well as providing an excellent anchorage for transient boaters.

Admittedly, there’s not a whole lot to do onshore in the immediate area, except possibly eat (numerous restaurants exist on both sides of the pond) and take a stroll, bike ride, or swim. Rather, most of the diversions for visiting boaters will be of the natural kind. From the marinas on the Snug Harbor side of the pond, kayakers and paddleboarders can explore the tidal creeks of Hazard Island and Potter Pond, or maybe go for a swim at East Matunuck State Beach. Still, for many folks looking to take a break from ocean travel, that can be more than enough.