ITHACA -- A strange optical illusion happens when one puts a boat into Cayuga Lake for the first time.After seeing this body of water, the largest of the Finger Lakes, from above on Route 34 or Route 89, one would think that from a boat, it must look like an ocean. From the air, or Route 34, it certainly seems ocean-like, its undulating green, brown and blue waters stretching beyond the line of trees into the endless distance.
But from a sailboat, a tiny 16-foot racer, it seems strangely cozy. Perhaps it is the lake's narrow width and high shale cliffs that run along the shore which make the lake seem close and small.
No matter what the reason is behind this optical illusion, a ride on the lake in a boat, be it a sailboat, a canoe, a motorboat or otherwise, offers as much in the way of views, from breathtaking landscapes and geological phenomena, as in local flora and fauna.
Along the southern tip of the lake, particularly on the west side, there are other views -- examples of elaborate and unique architecture as exhibited by the expensive summer homes built along this part of the lake.
And there are other interesting things to see on the shore:
Lighthouse at Myers Point: This park, where Lansing and surrounding residents boat and swim throughout the summer months, now hosts a tiny working lighthouse. The 20-foot-high brick and stucco structure, which would have cost $3,000 to build without donated materials and labor, was built in June last year after the light the boats had relied on failed to function. It is one of at least two lighthouses on the southern end of the lake, the other being at the end of the Cayuga Inlet. Shale palisades: Near Bolton Point and directly opposite the Ithaca Yacht Club is a stretch of palisades, a line of steep cliffs, made of shale that can only be found on this part of the lake and the British Isles. Birds: Cayuga Lake is a haven for a number of waterfowl and other types of birds, from the gulls and ducks seen bobbing on top of the waters in front of Stewart Park to the red-tailed and rough-legged hawks spotted off of Lake Ridge Road in Lansing. Other birds non-motorized boaters might get a chance to see if they steal silently enough along the shore include loons, grebes, dark-eyed junco, Cerulean and Canadian Warblers, tufted titmice and kinglets. As far as coves, islands or other nooks and crannies, Cayuga Lake, like the other Finger Lakes, does not offer much in the way of places to tuck one's boat in for the night or to weather a storm.Some of the more prominent ones as seen from the lake include Taughannock Point in Trumansburg; Frontenac Island, the only island on Cayuga Lake -- located in Union Springs, north of Aurora; Crowbar Point, where one of the oldest operating Girl Scout camps exists; and Glenwood Point, where the Ithaca Yacht Club is located. -
Near Bolton Point and directly opposite the Ithaca Yacht Club is a stretch of palisades, a line of steep cliffs, made of shale that can only be found on this part of the lake and the British Isles.
