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COBSCOOK
BAY

Travelog  

Boating the Cobscook Bay region should be considered a side trip for those with small boats because the voyage from Machias would require travelling beside a long stretch of bold coast. It should be considered a trip for very experienced boaters only. Such a trip places you in a remote area with few other boaters and extreme tides. The tidal range in the area is on the order of 15 to 24 feet. The volume of water moving in and out of the bay is huge; the period of time the tide is slack is quite short. Lowe tide occurs significantly later in the far reaches, such as Whiting Bay and Dennys Bay.
"Cobscook" means "boiling tides" and there are dangerous reversing falls where Whiting and Dennys meet Cobscook Bay. Even seasoned boaters are awed by the strength of the currents throughout the Cobscook Bay region.

Lubec and Eastport are but three miles apart, yet to drive between them takes the better part of an hour.

LUBEC

Lubec is the easternmost town in the United States.
The Lubec Marina has slips; call the harbormaster at 733-8999.
Pasage through Lubec Narrows is difficult due to very strong tidal currents and eddies.
Books-n-Brew is not only the nation’s easternmost bookstore, but also, according to Dunn and Bradsheet, its smallest. Still owner Ken Anderson stocks a nice selection of recent releases along with a generous assortment of regional, romance, mystery, and other titles. Ken also runs a small gift shop and sells jewelry, cards, sterling silver jewelry, mystical tee shirts, crystals, and candles among much else. Drop on by and enjoy a complementary cup of coffee.
Lubec is joined by a bridge to Campobello Island, which is part of New Brunswick and home to the Roosevelt-Campobello Island International Park. The island protects the entrances to Cobscook and Passamquoddy bays. You can go ashore by docking In the man-made harbor of Welshpool.

In the western part of the bay, you can land at Cobscook Bay State Park on Broad Cove in Whiting Bay; you’ll find walking trails there.

Four miles north of the park is a large island called Hallowell, described on the chart as Williams. Since it is part of the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, no pets, fires or camping are allowed; walk along the shoreline, as there are no trails in the island’s interior. South of the park is Commissary Point, a wildlife management area of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. They manage another mainland site of note for boaters at Morong Point, on the south shore of Morong Cove, which is south of Coffins Neck near Trescott. No pets, fires, or camping are permitted at either of these properties.


EASTPORT

A hundred and twenty years ago, Eastport was the second largest port on the east coast of the United States. It is testimony to the supurb seamanship of the old sea captains that they navigated these waters without benefit of power or modern communications.
For nearly a quarter of a century, Moose Island Marine has been supplying seafarers a wide range of marine services and discount supplies. The guys here haul up to 50 tons and provide indoor storage to 48 feet. They can fix whatever’s broken.
The Motel East provides one of the region's most spectacular panoramas. From one of its balconies, you can look across Passamaquoddy Bay to Campobello and Grand Manan Islands. To the north lies St. Croix Bay and the coast of New Brunswick. Call 207-853-4747.
The Eastport Inner Basin has finger slips; call the harbormaster at 853-4259, channel 10.
Outside the town of Eastport, by the Washington County Technical College Marine Technology Center, is Shackford Head State Park. The park is a 90-acre peninsula with a trail along a headland overlooking outer Cobscook Bay. Day-visitors can land on the gravel beach on the east side of the park. The Center has a granite ramp that provides access to Deep Cove in Cobscook Bay with water at all tides.

Some of the best gunkholing on the coast lies Downeast, assuming the fog doesn’t keep you ashore.
The Nature Conservancy owns two headlands with almost 924 acres. The Conservation Foundation has protected 8,900 acres of non-shoreline land north of Cutler. Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands owns and manages 2,100 acres at one head and 263 acres at another; it also manages two public islands at the mouth of Bailey’s Mistake.

The small town of Robbinston lies at the mouth of the St. Croix River, which marks the boundary between the United States and Canada. The lower section of the river is deep and almost a mile wide, more like a bay than a river, and there’s plenty of room for good sailing. Sailors must beware of shoals south of St. Croix Island (which held the first European settlement in the New World; Champlain and 80 other Frenchman landed here in 1604, but retreated to Port Royal, Nova Scotia after suffering through a particularly nasty winter.) The five-acre island is now an international park with an inviting beach on the southeastern end.

An international bridge links Calais and St. Stephen; both towns are ports of entry. This section of the river should be navigated on a rising tide. Above Spruce Point, the river is narrow and winding, with a channel that was dredged but is not maintained. It is possible to anchor with excellent protection on the west side of the channel, just above Whitlocks Mill Light, in 14 feet at low. Calais and St. Stephen lie at the head of navigation.
There are wharves on both sides of the river, but they dry out at low tide. It is possible to anchor in midriver during average tides if you draw no more than four feet. The mean tidal range in Calais is 20 feet—more than any other town in the continental U.S. Calais has no facilities for boats other than the town landing.

Marilyn Bernardini, owner of Bernardini's, an Italian restaurant on Main Street, was named 1999 Restaurateur of the Year by the Maine Restaurant Association. The Calais Motor Inn has Washington County's only heated, indoor, Olympic-sized swimming pool. The stately Brewer House B&B was once the northernmost stopover for the underground railroad.