Welcome to Cape Cod Canal, East (Sandwich), MA

Mooring basins, with tie-up dolphins, are at both ends of the canal. One is just inside the eastern entrance to the canal. A small boat basin is on the south side of the channel just inside the eastern entrance to the canal; depths of 8 to 13 feet were available in the basin in 1969.

Navigation: Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.

Cape Cod Canal is a deep-draft sea-level waterway that extends westward from Cape Cod Bay to the head of Buzzards Bay. The waterway has a project depth of 32 feet and a least overhead clearance of 135 feet. The eastern entrance to the canal is marked by a lighted 244°54′ range, lighted and unlighted buoys, a light, and a sound signal. A tall strobe-lighted stack and buildings of the powerplant on the south bank of the canal, about 0.75 miles above the eastern entrance, are prominent.

The canal shortens the distance between points north and south of Cape Cod by 50 to 150 miles and provides an inside passage to avoid Nantucket Shoals.

Traffic lights (red, green, and yellow) are located at the easterly canal entrance at Sandwich; at the Canal Electric Terminal basin on the south side of the canal at Sandwich; and at the westerly entrance of Hog Island Channel at Wings Neck. These signals apply to all vessels over 65 feet in length.

Cape Cod Canal Breakwater Light 6 (41°46’47″N., 70°29’23″W.), 43 feet above the water, is shown from a red cylindrical tower on the end of the north breakwater at the east entrance to Cape Cod Canal from Cape Cod Bay. A sound signal is at the light. The most prominent landmark when approaching from Cape Cod Bay is the tall lighted stack of the powerplant about 1.1 miles west-southwest of Cape Cod Canal Breakwater Light 6. The high-level highway bridge across the canal at Sagamore, 2.5 miles west of the breakwater light, is also prominent. The breakwaters at the east entrance to the canal should not be confused with the smaller jetties at Sandwich Harbor, 1 mile to the southeast.

The federal project provides for a channel 32 feet deep through the Cape Cod Canal. The canal is lighted at night on both banks by mercury-vapor lights, generally spaced 500 feet apart.

The Cape Cod Canal is crossed by three bridges. The railroad bridge at the village of Buzzards Bay, 7.8 miles above Cleveland East Ledge Light, has a vertical-lift span with a clearance of 7 feet down and 135 feet up. The span is normally maintained in the raised position and lowered for train passage. The State Route 25/28 highway bridge at Bourne, 9 miles above Cleveland East Ledge Light, has a fixed span with a clearance of 135 feet. The U.S. 6/State Route 3 highway bridge at Sagamore, 11.8 miles above Cleveland East Ledge Light, has a fixed span with a clearance of 135 feet.

Due to the strong tidal currents in the canal, especially during spring tides, low-powered vessels should wait for slack water or a favorable current. Navigators are warned to be on the alert for possible bank suction and bank cushion, the effects of which may cause a vessel to take a sudden and decided sheer.