Best anchorages and harbours in United States

Backway to St. Michael

Anchorage in the Miles River off St. Michaels, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Eastern Shore. Sand and mud bottom, sheltered from most directions.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, SE

Hop-O-Nose Marina

Full-service marina on Catskill Creek at Catskill, New York, near Hudson River mile 112.

Kemah Boardwalk Marina

Marina of 414 berths at Kemah on Galveston Bay, at the mouth of Clear Lake in Texas, between Houston and Galveston Island.

Live Oak Bay

Anchorage on the Neuse River near Fairfield Harbour, North Carolina, with a mud bottom and shelter from the north, north-east, east and north-west.

• Sheltered N, NE, E, NW

Lantana Anchorage

Anchorage in the Lake Worth Lagoon at Lantana, southern Palm Beach County, Florida. Sand and mud bottom, sheltered from most directions.

• Sheltered NW, NE, W, E, SW, SE

Saranac Lake Marina

Full-service marina on Lower Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks, gateway to 27 miles of connected waterways.

Sheep Island

Mooring in Castine Harbor at the mouth of the Bagaduce River, head of Penobscot Bay, Maine, on a mud bottom.

• Sheltered NE, E, SE, S, SW, W

St. Petersburg Municipal Marina

City-run marina of about 640 berths on Demens Landing point, on the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront, with berths up to roughly 120 feet.

Baltimore

Anchorage on the Patapsco River off the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Maryland, on the north-western Chesapeake Bay.

• Sheltered N, NE, E, NW

Echo Bay Sucia Island State Park

Echo Bay is the largest and deepest bay on Sucia Island, a marine state park in the San Juan Islands of Washington.

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

Herb River

Anchorage on the Herb River just south of Thunderbolt near Savannah, Georgia, mud bottom.

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

Key West Bight

City-run marina in the Historic Seaport at the heart of Key West, Florida, on a twenty-acre waterfront.

Tolomato River (S)

Anchorage on the Tolomato River just north of St Augustine, Florida, close to ICW Mile 776 and the St Augustine Inlet.

• Sheltered NW, NE, W, E, SW

Alamitos Bay Marina

Largest of the three City of Long Beach marinas, on Alamitos Bay between Naples Island and Seal Beach, California.

Long beach point

Anchorage off Long Beach Point, the low sandbar that separates Orient Harbor from Gardiners Bay at the tip of Long Island's North Fork, New York.

• Sheltered NE, E, SW, S, SE

Majors Harbor

Anchorage on the south-east side of Gardiners Island, set on the east side of Gardiners Bay between the forks of eastern Long Island, New York.

• Sheltered NW, N, NE, E, S, SE

Menemsha Bight

Anchorage in Menemsha Bight on the north-west shore of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, about 2.5 miles east of Gay Head, with a mud bottom.

• Sheltered NE, W, E, SW, S, SE

Nowell Creek

Tidal creek anchorage off the Wando River near Daniel Island, South Carolina, with a mud bottom.

• Sheltered NW, W, E, SW, SE

Port San Luis

Open harbour on the central California coast, about 1.3 miles west of Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County.

• Sheltered N, NE, W, NW

South Montauk Lake

Anchorage at the southern end of Lake Montauk, a 900-acre embayment on the eastern tip of Long Island, New York.

• Sheltered W, E, SW, S, SE

Stuart Island

Stuart Island is a marine state park north-west of San Juan Island in Washington, with two well-sheltered harbours: Reid Harbor and Prevost Harbor.

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

Warren XOVE

Temporary anchorage in the southern reach of Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts, off Warren Avenue between Plymouth Beach and Rocky Point.

• Sheltered NW, W, SW, S, SE

A1 ‘La playa’ anchorage

Designated weekend anchorage in the Shelter Island Yacht Basin, San Diego Bay, between San Diego and Southwestern Yacht Clubs.

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

Belden Point

Mooring field off the west side of City Island in Eastchester Bay, the Bronx, New York, on a mud bottom.

• Sheltered NE, E, SE

Descanso Bay

Mooring field and anchorage on the east end of Santa Catalina Island, California, immediately north-west of Avalon Harbour.

• Paid
• Sheltered W, SW, S

Edgartown Harbour

Harbour on the east side of Martha's Vineyard, with anchoring permitted in the outer harbour over a sand bottom.

• Sheltered E, SW, S, SE

Island Heights public dock

Public pier on the north bank of the Toms River, Ocean County, 1.7 miles upstream of Barnegat Bay.

Morro Bay

Anchorage in Morro Bay harbour on the central California coast, set behind the 23-million-year-old volcanic plug of Morro Rock, on a sand bottom.

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

Oyster Bay anchorage

Anchorage in Oyster Bay on the north shore of Long Island, off Centre Island, opening onto Long Island Sound.

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

Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor

Full-service marina in a sheltered cove off the Tolomato River, north of downtown St. Augustine, Florida, with 218 slips.