Cruising Guide to Boothbay, Maine

Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive cruising guide to Boothbay, but a summary of our experience and recommendations and what we believe would be interesting to fellow travelers. If you have additional recommendations, please feel free to reach out.

Boothbay was a surprising stop for us. We had heard about it, but didn’t know much about it. Because we got there late in the season, most things were closed. However, this gave us the opportunity to talk to the locals and not be grouped in to the tourist “crowd”. We stayed three nights, one of which was free since we were the only ones there.

Dockage and Mooring

Carousel Marina

• Dockage and mooring at Carousel is done through Dockwa. Mooring is $55/night. We officially stayed for two nights, but due to the weather and how empty the marina was at the time, we stayed for an extra night for free. This is the perk of visiting during the off-season.
• Carousel amenities include laundry, restrooms, a ship’s store, and a small cafe. The store and the cafe were closed while we were there, but we could access the laundry and restrooms through the side door.
• The laundry did not have a coin machine. Thankfully we had enough to get by because we were desperate at this point in the trip. For two washers and two dryers, we spent about $20, which was our average monthly for laundry.
• The dinghy dock is located north of the floating docks with a separate gangway entrance.

Things to Do

• Bridge House – Located on the footbridge, this house was beautifully lit up at night. One of the dinghy docks to access the town is right next to it.
• Footbridge Brewery – The brewery was unable to seat us inside with a dog but they let us stay on the patio past closing time. There was live music and the bartender was friendly and accommodating. We ended up staying a long time after closing chatting with another couple and the musician.

Resources

• Cruising Club of America – This is the resource that we used to figure out where to anchor or moor along Maine’s coast. This link specifically directs you to the Boothbay page.