Sept. 12, 2026 Castine anchorage (Smith Cove)

Sept. 12-14, 2026 Rockland, ME to Smith Cove Anchorage 29 miles and 3.5 hours

Very pleasant mid-morning departure from Rockland Landing Marina. Sunny and 60. Winds hadn't started up yet making our departure easy. Primarily an open water cruise today, but in the more protected waters of Penobscot Bay. Make our way out the harbor and past the lighthouse protecting the town seawall. Pleasant scenery with the Camden hills off to the port side and various islands along the way.

The Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse built at the end of a 4000' breakwater
protecting the harbor from strong "northeasters"

Camden Hills in the background as we head across Penobscot Bay

Decided we could be content with this house and boat for our summer cottage

Lobster traps around but mostly scattered and not creating a terrible obstacle for us. Otto is getting a bit restless going unused, but course corrections still occur too frequently. We would constantly be engaging and disengaging him. Just easier to steer ourselves for a couple hours. Take a NE heading cutting across West Penobscot Bay before settling into a N tack. This heads us up Penobscot Bay proper. Water is fairly protected from any sea swells this far inland but southerly winds at our stern are starting to change flat calm into ripples. Water is cold and deep in the main channel. 250' deep and 61 degrees. Keeps the area free of lobster pots providing a bit of a breather.

Approaching the waters between Belfast and Castine we're inundated with sailboats working their way back and forth across the open bay. Interesting to see the heading all aligned on AIS. Pretty obvious we're cutting right through their regatta. Manage to get through without forcing any boats to alter course and lose time. Bunch of nice boats making decent time now that the winds have picked up.

Headed for the regatta

Old wooden classic sailboat still has plenty of life

Our plan was to do a day stop in Castine. Use their town dock for a few hours to quickly walk the town. Supposedly some nice historic homes nestled along the water. Didn't see any transient boaters out on the water and with it being after Labor Day figured it wouldn't be an issue finding space. Castine is home to the Maine Maritime Academy and their training vessel State of Maine. Not a huge dock to begin with and a few of the locals already had their boats secured. Figured prospects were dim that a couple of them would leave simultaneously so we could fit.

Passing Dyce Head Lighthouse built in 1828 as we turn
into Bagaduce River and head for Castine

Maine Maritime Academy on the hill overlooking Penobscot Bay

No way you can miss the State of Maine at their dock in Castine

Left side of this picture is the Castine town dock.

We had planned on staying in Smith Cove across from the town, so just went and anchored. Good spot with nice protection from the SW winds that have been building and are expected to continue. Tree lined shore with just a few homes mostly hidden and scattered in the woods. Had the anchorage completely to ourselves. Forecast calling for rain all day Sunday so we'll stay anchored and plan on stopping for a quick tour of Castine Monday morning on our way out. Late afternoon we heard a commotion outside in the water. Watched as a combination of seals and cormorants were feeding on a school of fish.

School of baitfish jumping to avoid the seals

Sunday was a complete washout. Rain most of the day. Good day for some football and F1 racing on the TV. Thank you Starlink and Amazon Firestick! Wound up starting Monday at the same anchorage. Rain all gone and a nice sunny day. Still cool in mid 60's. Winds picked up from the NNW with small craft advisories due to 25-30 mph gusts. By the time we would have been ready to head for a different anchorage the winds were already blowing strong so decided to just stay here the extra day. A bit exposed to the winds so feeling a little chop which became a bit bigger chop with whitecaps. Bouncing a bit and swinging with the wind. Kept checking our anchor alarms and could tell we were doing a very slow drag. Not good as that would now be taking us towards shore if the anchor fully let loose. Rough conditions but decided best to move now rather than risking anything catastrophic during the night. Started the engines, raised the anchor (last 50' of chain caked in mud but anchor came up clean!) and headed for a less exposed area in the cove. Sizeable mooring balls not being used so grabbed one hoping the ground tackle was sufficient for our size. All worked out in the end. Even able to see a decent sunset where a bar opens up between two islands.