PETIT MANAN ISLAND (known familiarly and universally as ’tit Manan) is an important landmark on the direct passage from Mount Desert cruising waters to Roque Island. On a clear day, the 123-foot-tall pencil of the 'tit Manan lighthouse can be seen from as far away as Frenchman Bay, beckoning enticingly over Schoodic Point.
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But clear days are rare here. The coast from Schoodic to Head Harbor Island is one of the foggiest areas in Maine. At ’tit Manan there is an average of 250 hours of fog a month during July and August. Unless you’re prepared to depend on radar and GPS, you could be holed up in a harbor here for days, waiting to head east. Or home.
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Green Island and ’tit Manan are low-lying, treeless, and surrounded by ledges, and in thick fog you could easily be up on the rocks before seeing the light. In a southwesterly breeze, the foghorn to leeward is often inaudible until you have left it astern.
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Waves coming in from the Gulf of Maine encounter relatively shoal water as they approach ’tit Manan, and often a very rough sea builds up. The current floods east along the coast and ebbs west. It also floods north into the bays and ebbs south, resulting in turbulent waters off ’tit Manan, where the currents meet. This area is especially rough when a southwest wind blows across an ebbing tide. To avoid the worst of it, pass about a mile offshore to a point (44° 21.50’N 067° 51.75’W) halfway between nun “2,” south of ‘tit Manan, and can “1,” off Simms Rock. In thick fog or heavy weather, you would do well to run even farther offshore, outside red whistle “6A” off Southeast Rock.
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Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge