My wife and I are planning a nine day cruise, beginning in Newburyport, MA and working our way up to Bar Harbor and then back. We're looking for some scenic/deep water ports to stop in on our way up where we won't be limited by the tides. Does anyone have recommendations?
Planning a Maine Trip
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Depth is a non-issue in most of the Maine anchorages and coves you'd visit. I would not waste your time taking the boat to Bar Harbor. NE Harbor is much more transient friendly and the free Island Explorer bus will take you anywhere on MDI.
Some insider tips:
Robinhood Cove - Ignore the marina end of the cove and head down SW into the long cove, good holding and peace & quiet. Beware worst mosquitoes on the cost reside on the Georgetown and Phippsburg peninsulas.
Love Cove Ebenecook - on the West side of Townsend Gut. You'll need to anchor.
Seal Cove - up the Damariscotta River come in at the top half of the tide and you can get over the shallow spot.
Seal Bay - Vinalhaven - One of the most beautiful spots on the coast.
Long Cove Vinal Haven - Beautiful spot if you go up in.
The Basin Vinalhaven - DO NOT take your boat in there. I've been in multiple times, mostly by dinghy, but now that I am older won't do that again in the big boat. I suggest anchoring in Long Cove, next door, and taking the dink over for a lobster bake on one of the many small islands that dot the Basin. One of the most beautiful spots on the coast. YouTube - The Basin - Vinalhaven Island, ME
Winter Harbor Vinalhaven - Simply amazing you can go way in past the big rock and no one else will follow you
Carvers Cove (Not Carvers Harbor) best sunrises on the coast
Sand Beach - Marshall Island (great day stop)
Frenchboro / Long Island - Lunt's dock has the best lobster on the planet. This is is second best hike on the coast. I have ALWAYS had excellent holding just outside the moorings beyond the ferry dock.
Wreck Island - Merchant Row
McGlathery Island (West Side) - Great beach for a lobster bake
Hells Half Acre (North Side) - Great spot -
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Isle Au Haut Thorofare - Moorings put money in coke bottle, best hiking ANYWHERE on the coast. A few of the moorings are tight but I have seen 60+ footers in there. Plan to spend a full day hiking the trails of Acadia. Duck Harbor is nice but has lots of granite and can be poor holding have seen more than one boat on the rocks there.
Duck Harbor view from Duck Harbor Mtn. 
Burnt Coat Harbor Swans Island - Go in and pass the rental moorings near the big building. GO past all the fishing boats and anchor up in the cove roughly across from the church. No morning lobster boat traffic and a nice peaceful spot.
Over Rated Spots IMHO (as a local):
Camden
Pulpit Harbor
Perry Creek
SW Harbor
Rockport
Tennants Harbor
Rockland
Bar Harbor (stay at NE Harbor and take the free Island Explorer bus system to anywhere on MDI including Bar Harbor.)
Under Rated Spots IMHO:
Round Pond - Muscongus Bay
Castine
Belfast
Northeast Harbor
JO Browns North Haven - Fox Isle Thorofare
Stonington - Anchor off town and can provision at the store which is right off the town docks where you can tie your dinghy
Some insider tips:
Robinhood Cove - Ignore the marina end of the cove and head down SW into the long cove, good holding and peace & quiet. Beware worst mosquitoes on the cost reside on the Georgetown and Phippsburg peninsulas.
Love Cove Ebenecook - on the West side of Townsend Gut. You'll need to anchor.
Seal Cove - up the Damariscotta River come in at the top half of the tide and you can get over the shallow spot.
Seal Bay - Vinalhaven - One of the most beautiful spots on the coast.
Long Cove Vinal Haven - Beautiful spot if you go up in.
The Basin Vinalhaven - DO NOT take your boat in there. I've been in multiple times, mostly by dinghy, but now that I am older won't do that again in the big boat. I suggest anchoring in Long Cove, next door, and taking the dink over for a lobster bake on one of the many small islands that dot the Basin. One of the most beautiful spots on the coast. YouTube - The Basin - Vinalhaven Island, ME
Winter Harbor Vinalhaven - Simply amazing you can go way in past the big rock and no one else will follow you
Carvers Cove (Not Carvers Harbor) best sunrises on the coast
Sand Beach - Marshall Island (great day stop)
Frenchboro / Long Island - Lunt's dock has the best lobster on the planet. This is is second best hike on the coast. I have ALWAYS had excellent holding just outside the moorings beyond the ferry dock.
Wreck Island - Merchant Row
McGlathery Island (West Side) - Great beach for a lobster bake
Hells Half Acre (North Side) - Great spot -
/
Isle Au Haut Thorofare - Moorings put money in coke bottle, best hiking ANYWHERE on the coast. A few of the moorings are tight but I have seen 60+ footers in there. Plan to spend a full day hiking the trails of Acadia. Duck Harbor is nice but has lots of granite and can be poor holding have seen more than one boat on the rocks there.
Duck Harbor view from Duck Harbor Mtn. 
Burnt Coat Harbor Swans Island - Go in and pass the rental moorings near the big building. GO past all the fishing boats and anchor up in the cove roughly across from the church. No morning lobster boat traffic and a nice peaceful spot.
Over Rated Spots IMHO (as a local):
Camden
Pulpit Harbor
Perry Creek
SW Harbor
Rockport
Tennants Harbor
Rockland
Bar Harbor (stay at NE Harbor and take the free Island Explorer bus system to anywhere on MDI including Bar Harbor.)
Under Rated Spots IMHO:
Round Pond - Muscongus Bay
Castine
Belfast
Northeast Harbor
JO Browns North Haven - Fox Isle Thorofare
Stonington - Anchor off town and can provision at the store which is right off the town docks where you can tie your dinghy
I just did a quick check on Google Maps and some of these recommendations seem ideal for what we're planning to do. Thanks for all the detail and your photos are beautiful!
We have sailed to Maine many times. See our website
http://north-c.com/AppliedPhysics/applied_physics_home.shtml
If you don't do an overnight, it is possible to go from Gloucester MA to Potts Harbor (Casco Bay) in one long day if the weather is good (It helps to have a fast boat.) You can usually grab a mooring half way at the Isle of Shoals if you go mid-week.
We usually go from Potts Harbors to Tenants Harbor just outside Penobscot Bay. If the weather is poor you can break up that leg and stop in Linekin Bay. From Tenants you can go on the outside to Northeast Harbor.
The advantage of Acadia is that there are free buses in the park so you can get around without a car. The sailing, however, is better in Penobscot Bay:
better wind, less fog, and few lobster pots.
Other things to consider: if you are short on time, you MUST have radar, otherwise you can't move when there is fog, which is often. Be sure to have backup GPSs and VHFs. The wind is usually from the southwest, so it will take longer to get home than to get there. Buy "A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast" by Hank and Jan Taft and Curtis Rindlaub. Also, the Maptech New England Embassy Guide is a highly valuable.
Have fun!
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MaineSail writes about Long Cove. We had a mini-adventure there. Here is text I copied from
http://north-c.com/AppliedPhysics/2009_cruise.shtml
*****
Long Cove:
On July 17 (2009) in Rockland Janet left and Stuart and Sylvine came aboard. July 18 was foggy, but we decided to sail to Long Cove on Vinalhaven. While we were in a narrow channel with fog and a swift current the Raymarine chart plotter quit. I have a handheld Garmin to use as a spare. Stuart watched the Garmin and guided me safely to a mooring.
Later that day we decided to take the dinghy in to a place called "the Basin." It has a narrow entrance with a shallow channel that flows like a rapids much of the time. It was about a two mile ride in the dinghy to get to the entry. Once there, we were swept in.
We had a nice stroll along part of the banks of the basin, and then it was time to leave. Impossible. The 4hp engine of the dingy could not overcome the swift current in the rapids. Someone on the shore called us over and told us the current would not ease until dark, but that we could motor to the south end of the basin, and then portage the dingy across a road and proceed through a gentler channel back to the bay. We took this approach, first carrying the engine, and then the dinghy. Not fun. The experience was made worse by mosquitoes. Somehow Stuart also got bloody. No one complained.
Then the fog came in. I forgot to bring a GPS. Fortunately Stuart had an iPhone with an app, and that worked well enough.
In hindsight, I realized that if I had left Stuart and Sylvine on shore, they could have walked around past the rapids. Without the extra weight the dinghy can plane and achieve a much high speed.I could have motored successfully against the current.
http://north-c.com/AppliedPhysics/2009_cruise.shtml
*****
Long Cove:
On July 17 (2009) in Rockland Janet left and Stuart and Sylvine came aboard. July 18 was foggy, but we decided to sail to Long Cove on Vinalhaven. While we were in a narrow channel with fog and a swift current the Raymarine chart plotter quit. I have a handheld Garmin to use as a spare. Stuart watched the Garmin and guided me safely to a mooring.
Later that day we decided to take the dinghy in to a place called "the Basin." It has a narrow entrance with a shallow channel that flows like a rapids much of the time. It was about a two mile ride in the dinghy to get to the entry. Once there, we were swept in.
We had a nice stroll along part of the banks of the basin, and then it was time to leave. Impossible. The 4hp engine of the dingy could not overcome the swift current in the rapids. Someone on the shore called us over and told us the current would not ease until dark, but that we could motor to the south end of the basin, and then portage the dingy across a road and proceed through a gentler channel back to the bay. We took this approach, first carrying the engine, and then the dinghy. Not fun. The experience was made worse by mosquitoes. Somehow Stuart also got bloody. No one complained.
Then the fog came in. I forgot to bring a GPS. Fortunately Stuart had an iPhone with an app, and that worked well enough.
In hindsight, I realized that if I had left Stuart and Sylvine on shore, they could have walked around past the rapids. Without the extra weight the dinghy can plane and achieve a much high speed.I could have motored successfully against the current.
Larry,
I've got all but the backup GPS, but I think a handheld is in order... Beautiful photos. Thanks.
I've got all but the backup GPS, but I think a handheld is in order... Beautiful photos. Thanks.
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