Summer scenes: Port Jefferson's a lively maritime destination

A honk from the departing ferry lets you know you've arrived in Port Jefferson. In the bustling harbor district, restaurants boast about the freshness of their seafood and the quality of their harbor view.

Port Jeff is a pedestrian-friendly town with marked walkways and a harborfront promenade. You can dine or drink outside on wide, wood decks with umbrella-topped tables.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Tara Nemeth, 31, of Mount Sinai was walking with two friends toward the sound of live reggae music at Portside Bar & Grill. The restaurant was featuring a Red Stripe beer special on its back deck.

"We love the music, the alcohol, the people," Nemeth says of the Port Jeff party scene. "It's always lively."

SEAFOOD WITH A VIEW

Port Jeff's restaurants draw visitors from far and wide - on motorcycles as well as by ferry and auto.

Eric Kara, 21, of Westhampton had just parked his Kawasaki Ninja and was meeting his girlfriend at a restaurant. Port Jeff is "a nice hangout spot by the water," Kara says.

Port Jefferson's restaurants offer indoor dining rooms as well as outdoor decks where you can breeze through seafood offerings. At The Steamroom on East Broadway, the atmosphere is casual; order at the window (a "clambake special," for instance, costs $22.50) and have yourself a feast on the water-view deck. Climb the outside stairs at The Catch on West Broadway to the second-floor deck overlooking the harbor. The service is family-style at big picnic tables. You can watch the ferry dock while you gobble up clams, oysters or shrimp from the raw bar, or quaff local beers with names like Greenport Harbor Disorient IPA.

At Danfords Hotel and Marina, a Port Jeff landmark, the Admiral's Deck serves "upscale New American cuisine" under tables with dark-green umbrellas. You sit within a few yards of the boats in their slips.

INSIDE/OUTSIDE

In good weather, you can stroll around Port Jeff for hours, visiting boutiques and specialty shops. Z-Pita on Main Street has Fondue Nights (choice of cheese or chocolate) seven days a week. The Pindar and Duck Walk Tasting Room, also on Main Street, offers free shot-glass-size samples of Long Island varietals - one of the few places you can do that outside wine country.

Coffee and ice cream also are on the local menu. In Chandler Square, at Main Street and West Broadway, there was a line at the simply named Ice Cream. At Starbuck's on Main Street, you can set up your laptop and sip your favorite icy concoction in front of a bay window.

KIDS IN TOW

The Port Jefferson Village Center at Harborfront Park opened in 2005. It offers changing exhibits, classes and special events. Outdoor "harborside" concerts begin at 8 p.m. July 15 and 29, Aug. 12 and 26. Movies are shown on summer Tuesdays on the lawn. They begin at dusk and include "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" (July 20) and "New Moon" (Aug. 31).

The Children's Maritime Museum, inside the village center, offers interactive, hands-on exhibits about science and maritime history. The center stays open late on weekends, so you can find a public restroom until 9:30 p.m.