Gilkey Harbor is a secure anchorage with good holding ground, and is frequented by many yachts in summer. There are a number of private float landings for small craft, but no commercial wharves.
Warren Island is a State park. A 200-foot pier with seasonal dockage and 4 feet reported alongside is on the east side of the island.
Dark Harbor has grocery and hardware stores, a snack bar, and a gas station. Small craft visiting the resort tie up at the yacht club or other private floats in Gilkey Harbor.
The Tarratine Yacht Club is on the east side of Ames Cove, near Dark Harbor; the clubhouse has a float landing with a depth of 4 feet alongside. Some supplies can be obtained in the village, and water is available at the float. A boatyard, at the east end of Ames Cove, has a machine shop and a 40-foot marine railway. Gasoline, covered and uncovered storage, and hull and engine repairs are available. Ames Cove is inaccessible at low water.
Cradle Cove is a shallow indentation on the northeast side of Seven Hundred Acre Island. A boatyard, near the eastern entrance point of the cove, has a machine shop and a marine railway capable of hauling out craft to 60 feet long or 25 tons for hull and engine repairs, and dry covered or open winter storage. Electric and electronic repairs can generally be made, and the yard has a small crane and pile driver. Gasoline and diesel fuel are available at the 300-foot pier and float landing, which has 6 feet reported alongside. Water, ice, marine supplies, and electricity are available, and the yard maintains guest moorings.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
The main entrance to Gilkey Harbor is from southwestward between Job Island and Ensign Islands; the controlling depth is about 27 feet in midchannel between Minot Island and Seven Hundred Acre Island. Unmarked rocks of less depth are near the sides. The channel is partially buoyed and easily entered. The entrance from the northward is marked by Grindel Point Light (44°16’53″N., 68°56’35″W.), 39 feet above the water, shown from a white square tower with a green square daymark, close to an abandoned lighthouse on the north side of the entrance. The State ferry slip, and a municipal float landing with 12 feet reported alongside, are close southeastward of the light; a municipal small-craft launching ramp is adjacent eastward of the shore end of the ferry auto ramp. A lighted bell buoy is west of the entrance, and the channel into Gilkey Harbor is partially marked by buoys.
Small craft can also enter Gilkey Harbor through narrow, crooked Bracketts Channel, westward of the south end of Islesboro Island and eastward of Job Island and Minot Island. The unmarked channel is said to have a controlling depth of about 6 feet. The best water favors the east side.
No difficulty should be experienced in entering Gilkey Harbor from the southward or northwestward with close attention to the chart and bearing in mind a number of unmarked 14- to 18-foot spots in the northern half of the harbor. Wooded Thrumcap (Thrumcap Island), near the middle of the harbor, has a reef extending westward from it which is marked by a buoy. Lobster Rock, awash 0.6 mile east-southeast of Grindle Point, is unmarked.
