Best cruising East Coast of North America

[Kettlewell]

I've been cruising the East Coast of North America for a long time, from Labrador down to Florida, and Mexico to Panama. I've also done the Bahamas and chunks of the Caribbean, but I'm going to leave those tropical destinations out of this post. I've spent a fair bit of time cruising in every coastal state down to Florida, and I've lived in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and South Carolina.

IMHO the best cruising ground, particularly under sail, is Southern New England from the Cape Cod Canal to Block Island. Here are my reasons why:
1. Great and reliable wind most of the time
2. Fun destinations of all sorts: deserted beach anchorages, busy New England towns, places with hiking and trails, ports for stocking up and repairs, and almost everything in between. The terrain is interesting with hills, beaches, rocks, islands, sand, marsh, shallows, etc.
3. The water is warm enough for swimming from June through September, and there are many harbors with clean water.
4. Many safe harbors with 360-degree protection suitable for riding out any ordinary gale, plus numerous hurricane holes.
5. No need to use marinas or moorings unless you want to. We anchor out every night.
6. Low on hassles: marine authorities leave you alone mostly, no crime, easy to get supplies, easy to get fuel, easy to get ashore (dinghy docks everywhere).
7. Typically great holding in anchorages, with a few exceptions for very weedy spots.
8. Variable weather that keeps things interesting during the 6-month sailing season.
9. Low incidence of major hurricane destruction, and they move by fast.
10. Interesting other boaters from all over the world to meet.

In my hierarchy Maine would be second: great beauty, tricky and fun navigation, many wonderful towns to visit, but with water too cold for swimming, unreliable wind, lots of fog, and too many lobster traps.

The Chesapeake is right up there too: thousands of interesting destinations, great for supplies, fuel, repairs, lots of other sailors, but it is too hot and humid in the summer, swimming is iffy because of stinging nettles, many anchorages feature iffy holding in stinky ooze, thunderstorms every afternoon, and lack of interesting terrain features.

How about you?