Portland Maine is our home port, it was the place I wanted to live when I was a kid growing up just outside of the city, the place that we moved to for the final prep before buying our boat, and a fun place to hang out.

We spent a couple of months in Portland, staying in two marinas and one great anchorage. Well I suppose two anchorages if you count Jewell Island.

Spring Point Marina was our first stop, technically in South Portland but it’s a short UBER, Water Taxi, or less expensive bus ride and you can hop over the harbor to downtown Portland. A full service marina with an amazing staff we ended up staying for several weeks while we did some last minute things to our new boat. Such as install plumbing. We never did take advantage of the marina’s service department which is something I regret since we have a few items that I could use a hand with.

Spring point is a mile or two walk to grocery stores, a hardware store, and other small shops and cafes. The marina also has a fantastic set of bathrooms & showers & laundry. Best of all though was their generosity with regards to courtesy cars which we used often in multiple runs to West Marine, Home Depot, and other places where we had things that needed done.

I enjoyed the stay but after three weeks we got most of what we absolutely needed to get done complete and moved out to Jewell Island.

Following our week at Jewell we then moved to an anchorage just off the East End of Portland Maine. Near the town docks which sadly does not include a dingy dock we found ourselves beaching our boat just north of the city’s launch and walking to most of the services we needed. Still without a dingy motor for most of our stay at the anchorage we never did take the longer dingy rides into the Back Cove where we could have beached the dingy closer to the three almost side by side grocery stores.

We decided on this particular spot to enjoy the fireworks which are shot off the shore just off the anchorage making it the perfect spot. And if we had been more inclined it would have also been a good spot to dingy to shore and participate in the festivities on the Eastern Promenade which usually happen on the 4th.

This location was convenient though. A short dingy ride to shore then a short walk would take you to Whole Foods with their Amazon Lockers, to West Marine, and to a UPS Store where you could have larger items delivered for a $10 per package fee.

Right by the dingy landing spot is the Portland UHaul which offers propane tank filling, which is getting painfully rare, and of course rents trucks including pickup trucks that offer additional flexibility.

You also have access to the city’s many restaurants and shops.

We stayed at the anchorage for a couple of weeks before moving to Four Points Marina which is in downtown Portland.

Four Points is still under construction land side but their docks are modern and amazing. I can only imagine what their shore side facilities will look like when they are complete if their docks are any indication. This is the spot where the super yachts come to stay so it’s not the cheapest. Location wise it’s quite convenient to downtown allowing you to walk anywhere in the city.

Our stay in Portland was mostly utilitarian. Installing everything from plumbing to solar, buying a dingy, ordering a cheap dingy motor, visiting the dentist, and a trip to the DMV to get a new drivers license.

The prices of the Portland marinas can cause some to avoid the city but I found the anchorage pleasant and worth the stay. A convenient spot that has access to whatever you need.