I'm not aware of any houseboats nearby..not to say that there might not be one. What you see on the opposite side of the canal from the pier are people's backyards. As I mentioned, all along the waterfront coast are canals, roughly about two blocks apart that extend varying distances into the mainland. They go from Suffolk through Nassau Counties that I know of. If you were to drive down one of the blocks where houses backyards were on a canal, you might never be aware it was there. A few blocks that I'm aware of, face the canal and ownership of docking rights is across a street. The range of craft docked might be as small as a rowboat or sea-doo or a big luxury boat. All of the access is private to owners of the property or possibly to someone renting dock space if the owner does not have a boat or has extra room.

The pier shown on this particular canal is one of the only public access ones I'm aware of..at least in this area. There are public piers directly on the Bay. Each canal empties into the Bay and from there into the ocean itself if desired.

When my best friend was alive, they had a boat we'd often go out on. It was a charter boat for deep sea fishing but my husband suffered from seasickness. As long as we remained in the Bay he didn't have a problem. The transition channel from Bay waters to the Ocean has nothing visible for the uninitiated to discern the difference. Time and time again, we tried to make that transition without his knowledge but never got very far without him being aware and had to turn back into the Bay. My guess is that there is a difference in the ocean's pitch and roll. I could understand feeling the difference if the craft were moving slowly or anchored but at full throttle, I never discerned a difference..but he could.