Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Falmouth Harbor, MA

Falmouth Harbor, the open roadstead off the south shore of Cape Cod eastward of Nobska Point Light, affords an anchorage for vessels in 24 to 36 feet about 0.8 mile from shore. Smaller vessels can anchor closer to the shore in 15 to 18 feet. The bottom is generally sticky and good holding ground; the depths shoal gradually toward the shore. The anchorage affords a lee in northerly winds; in southerly winds the sea is somewhat broken by L’Hommedieu Shoal and the shoals westward of it so that a vessel with good ground tackle can ride out a gale in comparative safety.

Falmouth Harbor is frequently used by vessels with good ground tackle that prefer this anchorage to the anchorage in Vineyard Haven Harbor, which may be crowded in bad weather. Vessels approaching the anchorage are cautioned to stay clear of the two shoal areas with depths of 10 to 16 feet marked by buoys which extend westward of L’Hommedieu Shoal.

Vessels can enter Falmouth Harbor from the southward on a course of 344° with West Chop Light eastern, and pass about 0.1 mile westward of Falmouth Harbor East Shoal Buoy 17. Vessels in the vicinity of Nobska Point Light can pass 0.4 mile eastward of the light on a north-northeasterly course, and when Tarpaulin Cove and Nobska Point Lights are nearly in range, stand eastward to an anchorage.

Falmouth Heights, about 3 miles east-northeast of Nobska Point Light and east of the town of Falmouth, is a prominent yellow bluff on the summit of which are numerous homes and a large hotel.

Falmouth Inner Harbor, westward of Falmouth Heights, is a dredged basin about 0.7 mile long and less than 0.1 mile wide, on the north side of Falmouth Harbor. A tall green standpipe, about 1.5 miles westward of Falmouth, is one of the most prominent landmarks in this vicinity. The yacht club dock and flagpole, just inside the entrance on the east side of the harbor, are conspicuous from close inshore. The harbor is entered through a dredged channel between two jetties; a light marks the end of the west jetty.

Current:

The tidal current in the sound about 1.5 miles south of the harbor sets east-northeastward on the flood at a velocity of 2.3 knots and west-southwestward on the ebb at 1.7 knots.

Small-craft facilities:

There are several small-craft facilities in Falmouth Inner Harbor. (53) The harbormaster is at the town-operated Falmouth Marina, on the west side halfway up the harbor; telephone 508–548–9796. The harbormaster monitors VHF-FM channels 16, 12 and 9. A ferry operates in the summer to Oak Bluffs from the wharf at the head of the harbor.

Nobska Point, about 29 miles westward of Monomoy Point, is a bluff with Nobska Point Light (41°30’57″N., 70°39’18″W.), 87 feet above the water, shown from a white tower, at the south end. A sound signal at the light is operated by keying the microphone five times consecutively on VHF-FM channel 83A. Nobska Point Ledges, partly bare at low water, extends 150 yards eastward and southwestward from the point.