Fifteen miles south of Vinalhaven Island, the imposing 90-foot lighthouse on Matinicus Rock guides offshore mariners into Penobscot Bay. Penobscot Bay is 20 miles wide and nearly 30 miles long and is the largest of Maine’s coastal indentations.

This watery basin of flooded mountain range is rimmed by Camden Hills and Mount Battie to the west and Blue Hill and Cadillac Mountain to the east. Large and small islands–dominated by Islesboro to the north with North Haven Island and Vinalhaven Island to the south–separates East and West Penobscot Bays, and those two bays are subdivided into a welter of smaller bodies of water with their own characters.

Deer Isle and Isle au Haut mark Penobscot Bay’s eastern boundary. Justifiably, Penobscot Bay is the most popular cruising destination in Maine.