Best anchorages and harbours in United States

Castleton Boat Club

Member-owned marina on the east bank of the Hudson River at mile 136.9, eight miles south of Albany.

Robertson Island

Anchorage in Pensacola Bay, north-west Florida, on a weed bottom, lying 3.5 nautical miles south-west of the Bayou Grande Sailing Marina at NAS Pensacola.

• Sheltered E, SE, S, SW

Free Dock no 1

Free public dock on the Hodges Street bulkhead in Raccoon Creek at Oriental, North Carolina, on the ICW at mile 182.

Patos Island

Patos Island is the north-westernmost point of the contiguous United States, a marine state park in the San Juan Islands of Washington reached only by boat.

• Sheltered NW, N, W, SW, S, SE

Tenants Harbor

Working fishing harbour midway down the St. George peninsula in Maine, on a mud bottom, with shelter from nearly every quarter.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, S, SE

Wisteria Island

Anchorage off the north side of Wisteria Island, an uninhabited spoil island about 600 yards from Key West, Florida. Locally known as Christmas Tree Island.

• Sheltered E, S, SE

Chippewa Harbor

Sheltered anchorage on the south shore of Isle Royale, a wilderness national park island in Lake Superior, Michigan.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, E, S, SE

Schoonmaker Beach

Anchorage in Richardson Bay off Sausalito, California, on the north side of San Francisco Bay. The bottom is soft mud.

• Sheltered SW, W

Siskiwit Bay

Anchorage in Siskiwit Bay on the south shore of Isle Royale, a wilderness national park island in Lake Superior, Michigan.

• Sheltered NW, W, SW, S, SE

Spoil Island

Anchorage off a spoil island in the Indian River Lagoon near Fort Pierce, Florida, with a sand bottom and shelter from wind in every quarter.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, S, SE

Beaufort Inlet Boatyard

Working boatyard with transient pontoons on Adams Creek at ICW mile 197.5, just south of the Highway 101 bridge in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Key Lois

Anchorage off Key Lois, an uninhabited mangrove island in the Lower Florida Keys, south of Summerland Key. Algae and mud bottom.

• Sheltered N, NE, E

Bruffs Island Anchorage

Anchorage off Bruffs Island where the Wye River splits around Wye Island, on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, S, SE

Dutch Harbor

Harbour on the west side of Conanicut Island at Jamestown, Rhode Island, between the island and Dutch Island in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay.

• Sheltered N, NE, W, E, S, SE

Duncan Bay

Sheltered bay on Lake Huron about 2 miles east of Cheboygan, Michigan, within the Straits of Mackinac.

• Sheltered W, E, SW, S, SE

Bloody point

Anchorage in the North Edisto River, between Kiawah and Seabrook Islands in South Carolina. Mud bottom, sheltered from every direction.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, S, SE

Port Clyde Harbour

Working harbour and anchorage at the tip of the St George peninsula, midcoast Maine, sheltered behind Hupper Island. Mud bottom.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, SE

Scorpion anchorage

Cove with a pier on the north-east side of Santa Cruz Island, in Channel Islands National Park off Ventura, California.

• Sheltered W, SW, S

Price Cove

Anchorage in a cove off Smith Creek on the lower Potomac River, Maryland, with sand and mud holding.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SE

Raymond Rocks East

Anchorage off East Norwalk in the Norwalk Islands, Long Island Sound, Connecticut, mud bottom.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, SW, S

Westshore Yacht Club Marina

Gated members' marina on Old Tampa Bay, on the south side of Tampa, with about 175 wet berths for vessels from 40 to over 130 feet.

Patriots Point Anchorage

Anchorage off Patriots Point at the mouth of the Cooper River, in Charleston Harbour, South Carolina, on a sand and mud bottom.

• Sheltered NW, NE, W, E, SW, SE

Horseshoe Bay

Anchorage on Prince of Wales Island in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska, a remote stretch of the Inside Passage with no road access.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, E, SW, S, SE

Howell Pt

Anchorage off Howell Point at the wide mouth of the Sassafras River, on the upper Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

• Sheltered SW, S, SE

Matia Island

Anchorage in East Sound, the long inlet that cuts into Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, SW, S

Sea Love Boatyard & Marina

Working boatyard and marina on the south side of Ponce Inlet, at 4877 Front Street on the Halifax River.

Cape Porpoise Harbour

Anchorage at Cape Porpoise, the original village of Kennebunkport on the southern Maine coast, on a sand and mud bottom with shelter from NW through E and round to SW.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SW

Portsmouth

Anchorage on the Piscataqua River at Portsmouth, on the Maine and New Hampshire boundary, mud bottom.

• Sheltered NW, N, W, SW, S, SE

Rock & Dock Marina

Transient marina of 53 berths in North Coast Harbor, the inner harbour of downtown Cleveland on Lake Erie.

Seaplane Lagoon

Enclosed 110-acre basin on the San Francisco Bay side of Alameda Point, California, on the site of the former Naval Air Station Alameda.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E