Coastal Water Access - Marina's (Portland, Bangor: sales, apartments, home)

[Seaver41]

My ex-wife and I used to spend time in ME. Ogunquit, usually in the winter. A few weekends here and there. Didn't want to deal with the summer crowds and increased room rates. We could easily access all the beaches etc at this time. Walk along the shore, freeze our butts off, find something hot to drink, etc.

Anyway. I have considered Maine for quite some time. I would most likely be looking at southern maine, portland and mid-coast areas. Maybe Bangor.

How is the public water/beach access in Maine? Just because there is a lot of coast line does not mean it's accessible. This is my main question. I love the water, especially the ocean. I currently live in CT and although I enjoy the sound, it's definitely not the Atlantic. Also since I am 41 and single I should ask how the female single population is for the same age bracket in the areas I am interested in. I'm an IT tech with 15+ years experience mainly with e-mail and IT project management.

I can find info on jobs, apartments, etc on line and once I've done a little more research I'll ask more specifics. I plan on getting a boat again and would love to have it in a slip and tow it home for winter storage. I enjoy saltwater fishing as well as freshwater. I also play baseball in a Wood bat 28+ league and Portland has about 12 teams, that's another reason for the areas I chose. Living in Bangor would limit me there.

[Acadianlion]

Not a lot of marinas such as you mention. One of the reasons for this is that there is such a large tide that building a marina that has floats is quite an expensive project. A lot of coastal access, with a lot of boat ramps for loading and off loading boats from trailers. Mooring a boat in a small harbor where one lives is often difficult because mooring space is sometimes tight to not available. Your best bet would be to plan to put the boat in the water
by rolling it off the trailer at a loading ramp, and then plan on hauling out at the end of the day. The boat would live on the trailer and be ready to travel so you can explore a lot of new areas easily.

[Seaver41]

Thanks. Did the trailer thing for years. Weekends started getting a little hectic, so we decided to keep it in the water for 1 year and then kept it on the trailer at the marina and launched from there. I did not realize that the tide was so extreme. Appreciate the info.

[MRVphotog]

Many towns along the coast do have a town landings that gives residents free access to the ocean. Check their websites, should have that info. Many of the towns that are around my place have that.

Bangor tho is not near the ocean so you would have to trailer the boat for that.

[deerislesmile]

Here are some, but you may also try some on this page:
marinas in maine and yacht clubs -- charternet.com

Boothbay Region Boatyard Southport Boothbay Region Boatyard
DiMillo’s Old Port Yacht Sales Portland DiMillo's - Fine Dining-Marina-Next Day Lobster - Portland Maine
Journey’s End Marina Rockland
Little River Marine Gainesville Rowing - Rowing shells - Row Boat - Rowboats - Rowing Boats - From Little River Marine
Maine Yacht Center Portland Maine Yacht Center Portland Maine Marinas on Casco Bay
Pemaquid Marine New Harbor Maine Indoor and Outdoor Boat Storage, Pemaquid Marine, New Harbor, Maine
Wayfarer Marine Camden Wayfarer Marine Corporation, Camden, Maine
Wotton’s Wharf Boothbay Harbor Wotton's Wharf, Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Yankee Marina & Boatyard Yarmouth Yankee Marina and Boatyard, Yarmouth, Maine, Boatyard and Marina Services and Storage
York Marine Rockland York Marine Inc.

Bangor's waterfront (Penobscot River) is growing, so shouldn't be knocked off the list. I couldn't find more info on availablae slips and what not (it appears the page is under construction), but Bangor and some of the surrounding towns (Winterport, Hampden, Bucksport, among others) do offer boating opportunities..(and you can reach the Atlantic Ocean from a Bangor location- it just takes a while! ) Turtle (?) Marina in Hampden offers slips, and you can check on others by going here:
Marinas.com | Map

Good Luck!

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by MRVphotog

Many towns along the coast do have a town landings that gives residents free access to the ocean. Check their websites, should have that info. Many of the towns that are around my place have that.

Bangor tho is not near the ocean so you would have to trailer the boat for that.

It's true that Bangor is a little ways from the open ocean, but the river (Penobscot) is navigable to Bangor. Here is a link to Bangor Harbor: City of Bangor | City Services, Infrastructure: Harbor

[Seaver41]

I'm much more of an ocean guy then rivers and lakes, but Bangor intrigues me. I'll have to come up for a 3-4 day visit. My current assignment is scheduled to end mid-September. Does Maine get inundated with leaf peepers like Vermont? If so what is the time frame? I assume it's earlier then CT.

[MRVphotog]

Maine has an amazing number of lakes with many towns operating local beaches and boat launches. Warmer water, good fishing, calmer for just floating around and relaxing and usually not as crowded as coastal beaches.

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by Seaver41

I'm much more of an ocean guy then rivers and lakes, but Bangor intrigues me. I'll have to come up for a 3-4 day visit. My current assignment is scheduled to end mid-September. Does Maine get inundated with leaf peepers like Vermont? If so what is the time frame? I assume it's earlier then CT.

Yes, we get peepers probably starting in mid to late September. My guess is that they are mostly in the western mountains or within a certain distance of the I-95 corridor. They don't gather much in the immediate Bangor area or along the river or the coast, I don't think.

[deerislesmile]

Except the Bar Harbor route- lots of peepers there..