PULPIT HARBOR

Note corrected waypoints! NE of Pulpit Rk.: 44° 09.62’N 068° 53.38’W Anchorage: 44° 09.28’N 068° 53.16’W Cabot Cove: 44° 09.32’N 068° 53.50’W

4th ed. Cruising Guide page 212

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Charts: 13308, 13302, 13305

Chart Kit: 68B, 68, 19, 20, 21

Penobscot Bay overview chart Pulpit Harbor chart

PULPIT is a true harbor, nearly landlocked, on the northwest coast of North Haven Island. It is easy to get to, easy to enter, and stunningly beautiful. As you approach, a hidden entrance reveals itself, guarded by an osprey nest on Pulpit Rock. Once inside, the protection is excellent for a hundred boats or more. In the evening, the sun sets through the harbor entrance and over the Camden Hills. And Pulpit is only a two-hour sail from Camden or less than an hour from the Fox Islands Thorofare.COPYRIGHT 2002 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
Pulpit’s beauty, accessiblity, protection, and its size make this ground zero for Penobscot Bay cruising. It’s on the harbor list of nearly every boat that is cruising the bay for the first time, and yacht club cruises rarely pass it by. If you want an anchorage to yourself, this is not it. But if you want one of the best sunsets on the coast of Maine in a setting you will never forget, here’s a contender.
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It is customary for several windjammers to anchor here on Friday nights to give them a short sail back to Camden on Saturday morning. It’s a glorious sight to watch these stately schooners glide into Pulpit and drop the hook.

Approaches. Pulpit Harbor chart. Pulpit Harbor is hard to find, especially from the south or west. At a distance, look for a clearing in the woods and a meadow sloping to a barn-red house on the left side of the entrance.

From the north, find the large, yellow house on the crest of the hill north of the entrance and look for a cluster of small gray cottages inside the harbor.

Pulpit Rock, a bold pinnacle that gives the harbor its name, is notoriously hard to see against the shore. Sometimes you can distinguish it at a distance by its speckling of white guano. A huge osprey nest balances on its top.

The entrance is northeast of Pulpit Rock. Leave Pulpit to starboard and turn south, passing halfway between it and the small cliffs on shore to port. Stay in the middle as you turn to the southeast, away from the ledges that make out from the north side.
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As you enter, have your binoculars ready. The enormous osprey nest has crowned Pulpit Rock for more than 150 years. In the early summer, you can watch the parents returning to the nest to feed their squawking chicks, grasping fat fish in their talons and landing with loud chirps of triumph.
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Anchorages, Moorings. Just after you enter the harbor, a cove extends to your right. The land surrounding this cove has been owned for generations by the Cabot family, and it is known locally as Cabot Cove. The several moorings here are private. You can anchor a long way in, in 15 to 20 feet at low, with excellent holding and protection.
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For an unobstructed view of the sunset on the Camden Hills, head for the southeast end of Pulpit Harbor, anchoring in 16 to 20 feet anywhere along the perimeter. Latecomers and the big schooners anchor more in the middle of the harbor, where depths are 20 to 30 feet. Private markers may designate a channel through the anchorage.
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Another cove stretching out to the east has a number of private moorings maintained by Thayer’s Y-Knot Boatyard. During July and August, they are likely to be occupied, but you might be able to find an empty one in the spring and fall.
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Pulpit Harbor's mud bottom is generally good holding ground. There are also patches of kelp, however, so be sure your hook is set. The encircling hills provide good protection from winds from any direction, and it is a superb harbor under all conditions.
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Getting Ashore. Dinghy to the floats at the public landing, at the head of the cove stretching east.
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For the Boat. The public landing has water, with 7 feet at the end of the floats at low tide.
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Thayer’s Y-Knot Boatyard (Ch. 09; 207-867-4701). Thayer's is based a short distance away in Southern Harbor. The yard keeps a work boat in Pulpit for tows and repairs.
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For the Crew. Pulpit Harbor was once North Haven’s population center, with three general stores, a post office, and a customs house. All this has disappeared. Now the nearest store is a fair trek from the public landing.
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Walk south over the little bridge, following the harbor around past the graveyard and up the hill. The small Islander Grocery Store (867-4771) is just beyond the summit. They will deliver substantial orders—and perhaps their orderers—back to the public landing. They have a good line of groceries, beer, wine, and ice. The public landing has a pay phone.
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Things to Do. Please respect the tranquility of this special place. The harbor holds many boats that won’t want to share in your revelry—or hear the hum of your generator.
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Rural walks lead from Pulpit in all directions. Allow an hour to walk to the town of North Haven, plus time for collecting raspberries. Aside from taking walks, it’s fun to poke around with the dinghy. Row up under the little bridge to the east. This provides a lovely, peaceful passage, and you can go for a mile, if you wish, at high tide.
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A special thanks goes to Roland Burns for discovering the incorrect waypoints in our published guide. Fortunately, the published waypoints are off by a lot, not a little, a fact that should be apparent to anyone plugging them into a GPS or plotter. They reference Dix and High Island off the Muscle Ridge Channel. The reason they appear on Pulpit is that in order to format the waypoint type, I was pasting an existing waypoint into the heading and then changing it to the correct waypoint. I missed that last step on this one, and missed the fact that I missed it in proofing the book. This is an explanation, not an excuse. My apologies, and thank you again, Mr. Burns, for your keen observation.

Additional waypoint corrections