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Tour Maine's Coast in One Week

A weeklong tour of Maine's coast.

For most cruisers, Maine isn’t a week-long destination, but instead a place they explore every year or two, visiting a couple of favorite harbors and discovering a few new ones during each visit. But if you find yourself afloat for just a week or so, a delightful circuit involves the stunning waters between Penobscot Bay and Mount Desert Island. Beginning in Rockland, a pleasant downwind romp up the west side of Penobscot Bay will take you to Bucks Harbor, where you can rent a mooring for the night and take in the parade of traditional ships. Next head east down Eggemoggin Reach and across Jericho and Blue Hill bays to Pretty Marsh Harbor (do yourself a favor and pull as far into the harbor as you can) for a night, followed by an evening in Burntcoat Harbor, on Swans Island. From there, you owe it to yourself to explore Acadia, and while Southwest Harbor can be rolly and a bit of a row in the dinghy, it offers good access to the park. At this point you’ll probably need to start heading west, and either Stonington or one of the many islands in the Deer Island Thorofare and Merchant Row (NOAA Chart No. 13313) will make for a pleasant stop (make sure you plan for a fair tide when passing through the Western
Way, just off MDI). Finally, slip through the Fox Island Thorofare (watch the buoys if you do this route backwards, as the buoys are ordered from east to west and so you’ll have to reverse the “red-right-returning” adage if you come from the west) and back to Rockland. You’ll have covered some of Maine’s most stunning coastline in this weeklong tour — and yet you’ll have left plenty for next year.