FETCHING
ALONG/Da vid
Buckman
David Buckman photo
Northeast Harbor from the west shore. A trio of spruce trees (two shown) mark the limits of navigation.
What little I know about Cross Island ross Island is on the edge of things – big things. A few hours sail westward, the legendary beauty of Roque Island beckons, while, close northeast, the Bay of Fundy is possessed of breathtaking drama and the world’s highest tides. While the waters often get a bad rap for their various challenges, I once cruised the notoriously foggy coast in an 18-foot daysailer, without electronics of any sort, and found ordinary care would do. It’s a spectacle not to be missed. The first sight of the island is a sheer of 200-foot cliffs along the south shore. Northeast Harbor, the anchorage of choice, is accessible via the Cross Island Narrows. We’ve stemmed foul tides in the channel with a fair breeze, and powered through the well-buoyed passage to the tune of a three-horsepower outboard. Favoring the western flank of Mink Island will keep you clear of Seal Cove Ledge, which only shows towards low water. We’ve always anchored well under the shore, in line with a trio of spruce trees, in a grassy sward on the west side of the cove (see photo above). The trees mark the limit of navigation, and offer a fathom at low water on
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60 Points East Midwinter 2013
14-foot tides, which are common here. A few boat lengths astern, depths of seven to 10 feet are available. The holding is good in mud, and the anchorage protected southeast through west. The one fly in the ointment at Cross Island, which has nothing to do with the island itself, are the U.S. Navy communication towers on nearby Cutler Peninsula. There are more than a dozen of them. They hardly seem to intrude upon the wildness of the place, however, for the island offers commanding prospects on every quarter, and in southerly weather they are astern. The arc of Northeast Harbor is a imposing sweep of granite, greenery and shingle beach that shows no sign of man’s ambitions. A National Wildlife Refuge, the island is a birder’s paradise. Green-winged teal, goldeneye, bufflehead, storm petrels, eider, osprey, eagles, guillemots, gulls, terns and plovers fish the waters. It is one of the few nesting sites in the country for razorbilled auks, and puffins can be seen flickering above the restless waters along the south shore. The usual landing spot on the east shore of the cove is next to the whitish ledge about 20 yards in front of editor@pointseast.com