Cruising Guide to Somes Sound, Maine

Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive cruising guide to Somes Sound, 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.

Anchorage and Mooring

Henry R Abel & Co Yacht Yard

• There are a few balls here that you can reserve on Dockwa. We were going to pick up a ball here, but we couldn’t figure out which ball to pick up. Online it said it would be the pink ones, but it was getting dark enough that we couldn’t tell. Plus we couldn’t tell if orange was just a faded pink? There is dinghy dockage, water and pump out here.

Head of Somes Sound

• This was hands down our favorite anchorage. We anchored just outside of five mooring balls that were clustered in front of some private residences. We tried picking one up, but it was a private ball and the pendant was completely overgrown. There was no one around. It was absolutely beautiful. We were initially going to just stay for the weekend and ended up being there for five days.

Things to Do

• Acadia National Park
  • If you want to access the park, tie the dinghy up at the yacht yard and walk up the hill. We’ve read that you can wave down the shuttle from the main road. If you would rather walk, you can take a right and access the Giant Slide Trailhead.
  • Giant Slide Trailhead – There was some debate on the Google review about whether this was dog friendly or not. If you have a medium to large size dog who is agile, this trail is fine. Charlie absolutely loved it. We only ran into people on the walking/bike path.
• Abel’s Lobster – We arrived on their last weekend and planned to go hiking and come back for dinner. However, because it was their last weekend, they sold out after lunch! By the time we walked back by they were already closing up and the staff was enjoying the view for the evening. Needless to say, we’ll just have to come back and try this place.

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 Somes Sound page.