| TRAFTON ISLAND |
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| Seal Cove | ||||||||||||||||
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| 44° 29.35’N 067° 49.80’W |
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| Charts: 13324, 13325 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chart Kit: 76, 24 | ||||||||||||||||
| Down East region chart | ||||||||||||||||
| Harbor chart | ||||||||||||||||
TRAFTON ISLAND has been a favorite of yachtsmen for generations. Lying just east of Petit Manan and northward, at the mouth of Narraguagus Bay, the island has one of the few harbors in the area. The anchorage at the northern end provides good protection from the east around to the south and southwest. From here you can explore the nearby bays or depart for Great Wass and Roque Islands. There might be half a dozen yachts anchored here on a summer afternoon, or you might be lucky enough to have it to yourself.
COPYRIGHT 2006 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
This is a lovely anchorage and one of the best places in Maine to watch the ospreys, which thrive on the enormous numbers of alewives, bass, and smelt that run up the nearby rivers to spawn. At least two osprey families live near the anchorage. The adults stand by the nest, white-breasted and alert, or fly home chirping with fish in their talons or with branches to make repairs. The young birds in the nest tentatively lift their wings and are carried aloft on the breeze. Sometimes there are six or seven ospreys soaring over the island.
COPYRIGHT 2006 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
Trafton has been privately owned by one family for decades, and the owners are in residence much of the summer. Because so many people have come ashore uninvited in recent years, the owners now request that you do not land unless invited.
COPYRIGHT 2006 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
Approaches. From the west, the steep little Douglas Islands are easy to identify. Then you’ll see the abandoned lighthouse on the east coast of large Pond Island. As you pass Jordans Delight to starboard, admire the unusual sea arch buttressing the cliffs.
COPYRIGHT 2006 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
The easiest approach is around the east side of the island. Dramatic Shipstern Island has a rocky southern point shaped like the stern of a galleon. Keep to the west of Western Reef, marked by a nun, and west of partially-wooded Tommy Island, which has multicolored bands of reddish, gray, black, and white rock. Then follow the bold eastern shore of Trafton Island. You will see the red beacon on Trafton Halftide Ledge half a mile to the north. Round the northern tip of Trafton and head back into the anchorage.
COPYRIGHT 2006 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
When Trafton is familiar to you, it is also easy to approach around the west side of the island, focusing on the outlying ledge on the west side of the anchorage.
COPYRIGHT 2006 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
Anchorages, moorings. Anchor in 8 to 10 feet at low, eastward of the little wooded island and the outlying ledge, which is visible at all tides. The water shoals beyond a line that runs from the northern tip of the little island to another ledge making out from the south shore about 100 yards eastward, to a big, white rock with dark lichen on the eastern shore of the anchorage. Anchor well north of this line in good mud.
From A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast