Navigation & Anchorage:
Excellent anchorage may be had in Provincetown Harbor. Numerous fishing vessels work out of Provincetown during the year. During the summer months, private floats are set out that are capable of mooring vessels up to 40 feet in length. Larger vessels anchor from south to southwest of the westerly end of the breakwater, depending on draft. In addition, small craft sometimes anchor in Herring Cove, 0.8 mile southward of Race Point Light. A temporary lee from easterly winds is found well inshore in depths of 10 to 24 feet. Anchorage inside the breakwater is reported to be poor to fair due to soft bottom with much debris. The marina close southwest of MacMillan Wharf maintains 100 mooring buoys on the west side of the harbor.
The Coast Guard Captain of the Port, Providence, has established a fairway 100 yards wide extending from 42°02’00.4″N., 70°09’33.1″W. to 42°02’43.4″N., 70°10’59.1″W., and in the area extending 100 yards around the piers in Provincetown. Anchorage is prohibited in this fairway.
Moorings and berths at the town pier and all moorings in the harbor are under the control of the harbormaster, whose office is at the end of the town pier. The harbormaster monitors VHF-FM channel 16.
Provincetown Coast Guard Station is about 0.4 mile southwest of the town pier.
The town pier, known as MacMillan Wharf, is a long finger pier extending 1,300 feet into the bay from a large municipal parking lot. Two seafood-packing plants are on the outer end of the pier, which has a reported 13 feet alongside. There are several float landings along the southwestern side of the pier inshore of the packing plants, which are used by charter and sightseeing craft. A pumpout facility is available.
The finger pier of a marina is about 120 yards southwestward of the town pier. Float landings are along the northeastern side of the pier, and gasoline and diesel fuel are available at the service float, which has 14 feet reported alongside. Guest berths with water and electricity are available. In 1979, depths of 10 feet were reported in the basin between the town pier and the marina’s pier except for shoaling along the edges.
In 1981, an 8-foot shoal spot was reported in about 42°02’50″N., 70°10’56″W., in the approach to MacMillan Wharf and the finger pier about 120 yards southwestward of it.
There is a boatyard with a marine railway about 0.5 mile southwestward of the town pier. Boats up to 80 tons or 70 feet long can be hauled out. Hull repairs can be made, and machine shop repairs can be made on short notice. Engine repairs are available.
Provincetown Harbor, formed by a turn in the northern end of the hook of Cape Cod, has a diameter of about 2 miles. It is one of the best harbors on the Atlantic Coast, having a sizable anchorage area in depths of 12 to 57 feet with excellent holding ground. Coasters and fishermen find protection here in gales from any direction.
Pilgrim Monument, a slim stone structure 348 feet above the water, which rises 252½ feet above High Pole Hill in Provincetown, is the most prominent landmark on the cape.
Race Point Light (42°03’44″N., 70°14’35″W.), 41 feet above the water, is shown from a white tower on the northwest point of Cape Cod.
Wood End Light 42°01’17″N., 70°11’37″W.), 45 feet above the water, is shown from a white square tower, near the water on the southern end of the hook of the cape. A sound signal is at the light.
Long Point Light, 36 feet above the water, is shown from a white square tower at the eastern end of Long Point on the western side of the harbor entrance; a sound signal is at the light.
Two standpipes about 0.2 mile westward of the monument, and a tank, about 1.5 miles northeastward of the monument, and several church spires in Provincetown are prominent from the bay.
Dangers:
Shank Painter Bar, which extends to a maximum distance of 0.6 mile offshore between Race Point and Wood End Lights, rises abruptly from deep water. Wood End Bar is the continuation of the shoal that makes sharply into Wood End. A lighted bell buoy is about 0.6 mile southwestward of Wood End Light. A 2,500-foot stone breakwater is about 300 yards southeastward of the end of the town pier at Provincetown. The breakwater extends northeastward from a point in 42°02’45″N., 70°10’55″W., approximately parallel to the shoreline. The east and west ends of the breakwater are each marked by a light.
