Connecticut's Well Kept Secret Beach

UPDATE: Dogs are no longer allowed on the beach during bird (piping plover) nesting season - all summer. My letter to CT DEEP:

   As you will note from the DEEP Website which I have attached, Bluff Point is designated as a swimming area (see "Activities") though it is "Unsupervised Swimming" which is what many of the visitors there do. The beach area remains open during the plover season for people and their children and used to be open to dogs on leash as well.

    It is unfortunate that well-behaved dogs who may have less of an impact on nesting plovers than poorly behaved children, are banned from this beach. In addition, Dogs were always required to be on a leash, whereas children are not. 

   I don't think the dog restriction at Bluff Point was reasonably thought out before adopting the ban, but was rather a knee-jerk reaction to the presence of piping plovers. Dogs automatically become enemy number one: Dogs and plovers - the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

  Bluff Point was at one time a jewel in Connecticut's otherwise "dog-unfriendly" environment. The loss of this gem is unfortunate.

  So many other states make reasonable accommodations for families with dogs to enjoy the beach by designating areas where dogs are permitted. The several expansive shoreline beaches on Cape Cod's National Seashore being the the most dog-friendly places in New England even near and along side the piping plover nesting areas which are fenced off.

  Besides being dog-unfriendly, in view of the many other restrictions imposed by our State legislators and State Park bureaucrats, I propose that Connecticut's tourism motto should be "Have Fun, But Not In Our State"

I've posted pics of Bluff Point before (mostly the rocky bluff to the east of the beach which is pictured below) (see here) and (here) and I visited there again yesterday.

It is Connecticut's only unspoiled public beach.  (Given the fact that Connecticut has the worst beaches in New England, if not the country.)

Bluff Point is nearly deserted on most weekdays because you have to walk or bike about a mile and a half from the parking lot - or come in by boat.  There are no amenities.

It would be the perfect place except for the beach flies that zeroed in on me like I was the only meal in town.  I guess I pretty much was, yesterday.

Bushy Point Beach at Bluff Point State Park

The Perfect Spot Except For The Flies

Electric Boat, Groton on the Right

New London Lighthouse on the Right