City Island Harbor is the protected body of water between City Island and Hart Island in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, open to

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

at its northern and southern extremities. It is not a true harbor, but a

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

. Other minor islands in and around City Island Harbor include the Chimney Sweeps Islands, the Blauzes, and Rat Island. Green Flats Reef is exposed at low tide. Every July 4, to celebrate

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

, there is a large

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

show at nearby Orchard Beach. Hundreds of boats typically gather in the harbor to view the show. On the evening of January 24, 2003, four local boys, 15 and 16 years old, were killed when their 8-foot

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, whic ...

sank in City Island Harbor. The boys placed a short phone call to

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency n ...

but no action was taken due to insufficient information. In any case, given the frigid water temperature it is unlikely they would have survived long enough for help to arrive. Their boat was found in February and all four bodies were found in the harbor a few months later.

References

External links

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Geography of the Bronx Long Island Sound City Island, Bronx Bodies of water of the Bronx {{Bronx-geo-stub