First time cruise Cape Cod Canal to Bar Harbor, ME. Ports?

[Rickdowe2]

Isles of shoals, pick up a mooring or anchor, if you get there middle of the week you have more of a chance with a mooring, no weekend crowd.
Jewel island in Casco bay you can anchor.
Segiun lighthouse, three mooring to pick up no cost.
Rockland, maine anchor inside the 1 mile breakwater or 2 free moorings at the end near the shore.
Go down Eggemoggin Reach plenty of places to anchor.
Pickup a mooring at Northeast Harbor and hope the free shuttle to Bar harbor.
Or go to Bar Harbor and anchor on the west side of the causeway going out to Burnt island.
Maine offers endless places to anchor.

[CarlF]

Many ways to do this. My favorite

1: Overnight: With a nice SW breeze Canal to Rockland is a magical trip.
2: Day hops: Canal to Gloucester Harbor mooring. Then mooring at Biddeford Pool Yacht Club, Boothbay, Rockland

I always push to get to Penobscot Bay and Stonington area as quickly as possible. This is the promised land of Maine cruising. You could easily spend the full summer here never repeating an anchorage. Acadia is far less good. If tight for time, skip it.

Coming home you are likely to be beating so it’s the best time to visit Muscongus Bay, Boothbay, and Casco Bay.

Try to buy or borrow a copy of Hank Taft’s Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast. It’s always sold out but a used copy is just as good. Describes and rates every Maine harbor along with wonderful bits of history and lore.

Remember the tides exceed 10ft. When anchoring calculate your scope for high tide.

Bring a wet suit in case you have to swim to free a lobster pot. Also get a hook knife (BTW - Lobster pots in Maine are set in strings with a buoy at each end. If you have to cut a buoy off, the lobsterman doesn’t lose his gear. Just a $3 buoy.it’s worse to accidently drag a string of traps while trying to free it because you drag it over other trap strings creating a massive tangle) https://sailorssolutions.com/index.a...ails&Item=CH01

[WoodsHolean]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

There are great hotels and campgrounds in the Mt. Desert area. There's also an airport. Sounds like the boating part could easily be avoided entirely.

I'm not trying to be snarky. Just offering something to think about.

Thanks, but the boating part is what is driving the trip. That is why I joined this forum.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by WoodsHolean

...We are much more interested in Mt Desert Island and hiking in Accadia, not interested in walking yet another waterfront touristy town...

Originally Posted by WoodsHolean

Thanks, but the boating part is what is driving the trip...

And why I suggested taking it slow and enjoying the trip. You don't need a boat for hiking and buying souvenirs. I'd go so far as to say you're better off ashore if that's the point of the trip.

FWIW, Bar Harbor is probably the most touristy town in Maine. I still go there when I'm in the area, but not for long.

Again, I'm trying to offer some perspective. It's your voyage, you do what seems best for you. It'll be great whatever you decide. I actually like the suggestion to get there fast and take more time on the way back.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Many ways to do this. My favorite

1: Overnight: With a nice SW breeze Canal to Rockland is a magical trip.
2: Day hops: Canal to Gloucester Harbor mooring. Then mooring at Biddeford Pool Yacht Club, Boothbay, Rockland

I always push to get to Penobscot Bay and Stonington area as quickly as possible. This is the promised land of Maine cruising. You could easily spend the full summer here never repeating an anchorage. Acadia is far less good. If tight for time, skip it.

Coming home you are likely to be beating so it’s the best time to visit Muscongus Bay, Boothbay, and Casco Bay.

Try to buy or borrow a copy of Hank Taft’s Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast. It’s always sold out but a used copy is just as good. Describes and rates every Maine harbor along with wonderful bits of history and lore.

Remember the tides exceed 10ft. When anchoring calculate your scope for high tide.

Bring a wet suit in case you have to swim to free a lobster pot. Also get a hook knife (BTW - Lobster pots in Maine are set in strings with a buoy at each end. If you have to cut a buoy off, the lobsterman doesn’t lose his gear. Just a $3 buoy.it’s worse to accidently drag a string of traps while trying to free it because you drag it over other trap strings creating a massive tangle) https://sailorssolutions.com/index.a...ails&Item=CH01

Strongly, strongly suggest this book.


It’s not just a great cruising guide to the main coast, it’s one of the best books ever written. You can sit down and thumb through this book or read it cover to cover dreaming about your trip before you take it and it is one of the most satisfying reads. I cannot say enough about how great this book is.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by CarlF

...Bring a wet suit in case you have to swim to free a lobster pot. Also get a hook knife (BTW - Lobster pots in Maine are set in strings with a buoy at each end. If you have to cut a buoy off, the lobsterman doesn’t lose his gear. Just a $3 buoy...

Good advice (as is Taft's book) but I do have one quibble.

Not all traps are set the same. Sometimes there are two pick-up buoys, sometimes not.

I don't want anyone to think cutting lobster gear is no big deal.

Besides being illegal, it's far more costly than a a "$3 buoy." The buoy alone is going to be more than twice that much. Then there's the spindle. Some guys use a marker flag. Don't forget that the rope will need to be replaced. And the whole thing painted and re-assembled. Lost time and lost gear means lost revenue.

Oh, and messing with someone else's gear has been known to get people shot.

This is their livelihood. You're in their home waters for recreation. If you are going to bring a cavalier attitude toward their equipment, you're not going to find yourself very welcome in Maine.

One final word: COLREGs require you to maintain an adequate lookout. You should not assume it's OK to snag a lobster buoy just because it's inconvenient to watch out for them. Yes, it can happen to the even the most alert helmsman. Be prepared. But it should be very, very rare.

[hlev00]

Another vote for Taft's. Maybe it has been said, and maybe you are already planning for this, but be sure to allow a buffer at the end of your trip so you can try to have something other than one-the-nose all the way back to the canal.

Again, maybe old news, but for anyone else, the other is that the canal can be brutal when you exit back into Buzzards Bay on a ebbing current into anything over 15kts out of the SW. If in doubt, have a nice night or even a few hours at Onset to wait for the current to change, then continue on. And study the AtoNs to enter Onset from the canal to know which are marking the Hog Island channel and which are marking the entrance to Onset.

[Chachere]

Did that trip 4 times when we, too, had a Catalina 36, and agree with all the previous posts (including sailing overnight direct to Penobscot May). I'd add a few more suggestions:
1) If you do want to explore Mt. Desert Island, Southeast Harbor, Northwest Harbor, and the far end of Somes Sound are nice alternatives to Bar Harbor and still give you access to the free busses that will take you anywhere on the island. All have moorings and/or reasonably priced dockage.
2) For the way back south, here are some of the intermediate stops that we've enjoyed enough for repeat visits: Rockland, ME, Tenants Harbor ME, Boothbay Harbor ME, Portland ME, Biddeford Pool ME, York ME, Rockport MA, MArblehead MA, and Provincetown MA.

Have fun!

[Godshalk]

Try this: https://guides.cruisingclub.org

[pekabo]

If you have time to hang out in a lovely spot, go beyond Bar Harbor to Winter Harbor and book a mooring at the Yacht Club (there are places to anchor, too). They have a fleet of 100+ year old Winter Harbor Knockabouts with races on Saturdays. Beautiful sailboats. It’s an easy walk to town with restaurants, farmers market, provisions. The free Island Explorer bus to Schoodic and lots of trails.

[rupertfb]

Get a printed guide book/Pilot
I went to the NE for my first time recently and took three books

The spiral bound Maptech 'Embassy Cruising Guide New England' proved excellent with a wealth of information at all levels.

[BobMc]

Originally Posted by WoodsHolean

Sailing a Catalina 36 from Cape Cod Canal to Bar Harbor and back for first time. Game plan is a week or less north, then a week or less back. No serious time pressure. We'd like to do a little hiking at Accadia while there.

I'm looking for any advice anyone can give for this route, in particular, for overnight anchorages on the way up, ports to visit. We're thinking to sail all day, anchor an hour or two before sundown so that we can make dinner, enjoy the sunset. Figure we'll be up with dawn, and set off shortly after sunrise.

There are a number of great anchorages in Buzzards Bay that put you in good position for tide/wind conditions at the Buzzards Bay entrance to the canal.

On the north/Cape Cod Bay side, there's a very nice anchorage along the coast heading north at the southern end of Plymouth Bay (assuming the wind has a southerly component, or even inside along the channel leading to Plymouth.

The worse part of the Cape Cod Canal is the Buzzards Bay side if you happen to get opposing southerly current from the canal colliding with a northerly wind off Buzzards Bay - it will turn your boat into a rocking horse. Been there, done that!

[rasher]

We haven't been Downeast since before COVID, so I'm VERY jealous. We've only ever chartered sailboats out of Rockland and gone as far east as Acadia, so I don't know about the overnight but... my 2 cents would be to do the overnight to get there so you have max. time to work your way back.

We've only ever stayed at Northeast Harbor on Acadia and it's such a great location I don't have any reason to want to try anywhere else. The free bus picks you up just a few steps from the marina office. One of the most fun nights of my life involved closing down a bar in Bar Harbor and taking an offered midnight ride from the bartender's brother back to NE Harbor. Great people there. Acadia Nat. Park is wonderful. Rent a bike from the shop near NE Harbor and ride everywhere.

One year on our way back to Rockland, we heard about Northport Yacht Club's "Around Ilseboro Race" happening the next day, so we pulled into the bay to ask about it. They invited us to enter the race (doublehanding a chartered Sabre 36!) and it was so much fun. That day was like a dream, really.

Wifey and I love cruising Penobscot Bay so much, it's kind of a shame we haven't been there in 4 years. Have a great trip!

[Bravo46]

While indeed the encyclopedic Taft Guide is out of print and 7 years out of date, there is a new, online, up to date and free guide to the coast of Maine authored by the Cruising Club of America available at https://guides.cruisingclub.org/.

[chicagocpo]

Been a while since I cried Maine, but we used to spend the night in the Harbor of Refuge (west end of the CCC, Sandwich, MA?), start early and sail overnight to Tennant's Harbor, ME. Reliably a 26 hour broad reach in our Pearson 39 with prevailing winds, close to beam reach for the return trip. A great overnight if you're just "getting your feet wet", leaves you with more time to cruise Maine!

Can't go wrong there, one stop that sticks out in memory is the Eggomogan Reach. Deep channel with steep rocky walls like a fjord, found great hiking along the shores. Of course, back then I was into climbing and bouldering... ��