The Maine Agenda › Outdoors in Maine
Kayaking and Paddling Casco Bay: A Local's Guide
Casco Bay is one of the great paddling playgrounds on the East Coast, and most people who live here never use it. They look at it from the Eastern Prom, take the ferry to Peaks once a summer, and call it a day. That is a waste. The bay is studded with islands, old forts, seals, and protected channels, and on a calm morning it is some of the most rewarding sea kayaking in New England.
It is also genuinely dangerous if you treat it like a pond. The water is cold enough year-round to cause cold-water shock and incapacitation in minutes. Tides run hard, fog rolls in fast, and the same ferries, lobster boats, and tankers that make the bay interesting will not see a kayaker low in the water. This guide is about paddling Casco Bay like someone who wants to keep doing it for decades, not someone who got a deal on an inflatable at a big-box store.
Start at East End Beach
The natural launch point for most Portland paddlers is East End Beach, at the base of the Eastern Promenade. There is a boat ramp, a gravel-and-sand beach you can slide a kayak off, and a parking lot. It puts you straight into the inner bay with Fort Gorges sitting right there as an obvious first destination.
This is also where Portland Paddle runs its operation, which makes it the single most useful spot in the city for anyone new to the bay. From East End you can reach Fort Gorges, the back cove, and the inner islands without committing to a big open-water crossing. Mind the boat traffic in the channel and the wakes near the ferry terminal. If you are hauling your own hull and want the cheaper or quieter put-ins, we mapped every public boat launch and town landing in Greater Portland with each town's current fees. Owning something bigger is a different problem entirely, and we broke down what a mooring costs and how long the waitlists run town by town.
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Take a Guided Tour First (Portland Paddle)
If you have never paddled saltwater here, do not freelance it. Book a tour. Portland Paddle, based at East End Beach, runs guided trips from roughly mid-May to mid-October led by licensed Maine Guides. The Fort Gorges tour goes out daily in season, a three-hour round trip across the harbor with a landing at the fort. Beyond that there is a two-hour sunset tour, a four-hour half-day trip that island-hops the archipelago between the harbor and the open ocean, and a six-hour full-day tour for paddlers with some experience. Their three-day Casco Bay Traverse follows the Maine Island Trail with island camping; their own booking page calls it their most popular trip.
A guided trip does two things at once: it gets you onto the water safely, and it teaches you how to read this specific bay, where the currents pull, where the traffic is, how the fog behaves. That local knowledge is worth more than any amount of flatwater experience from somewhere else. They also rent recreational kayaks, sea kayaks, paddleboards, and canoes if you want to poke around on your own, with one catch worth knowing before you show up: unguided rentals are limited to a protected shore zone near the beach unless you can demonstrate real skills, including a capsize recovery. You are not renting a boat and heading for Fort Gorges on your first visit, and that policy is the right call on this water. And if you want to fish from the boat, the inner bay runs thick with mackerel and striped bass in summer, though saltwater fishing carries its own license and registry rules worth sorting before you launch.
Fort Gorges: The Perfect First Paddle
Fort Gorges is the granite Civil-War-era fort sitting on its own island in the middle of the harbor, and it is the ideal first real destination. It is close, it is dramatic, and landing on it to explore the empty fort feels like trespassing in the best way. The round trip from East End is short enough to be doable for a fit beginner on a calm day, but you are crossing an active boat channel, so keep your head up and cross efficiently.
Go on a calm morning before the wind and afternoon boat traffic build. Do not attempt it in fog or chop. The fort is open to land on, but bring a headlamp if you want to poke into the dark interior passages.
Paddle to Peaks Island (or Cheat With the Ferry)
Peaks Island is the most accessible of the bay's inhabited islands, a 17-minute ride on Casco Bay Lines from the Maine State Pier, with frequent daily departures. Experienced paddlers do cross to Peaks under their own power, but the crossing is exposed and crosses ferry lanes, so it is not a beginner move.
The smart play for most people: take the ferry over with nothing, then get on the water with the island outfit. Peaks Island Kayak runs guided half-day and sunset trips from 88 Island Ave, a short walk from the ferry landing, and its booking runs through Maine Island Kayak Co, the sea kayaking school and outfitter that has been on Peaks since 1986. Do not plan on walking up and renting a bare kayak on the island; neither operation currently lists self-serve rentals, and the guided sunset paddle, watching the sun drop behind the Portland skyline from the water, is the better product anyway. The front (harbor) side of Peaks is sheltered and lovely. The backshore, facing the open Atlantic, is for experienced boaters only and should not be attempted casually. Casco Bay Lines tickets are round-trip and first-come, first-served, with no reservations for regular passenger service, and the boat line recommends arriving about 30 minutes ahead. If the islands themselves are the draw, our Casco Bay islands day trip guide covers the whole ferry system.
Go Bigger: The Maine Island Trail
Once you have your sea legs, the Maine Island Trail is the reason to keep paddling here. It is a 375-mile water trail running the length of the coast, connecting 227 island and mainland sites for day visits and overnight camping, per the Maine Island Trail Association's own current count. A chunk of the best of it sits right here in Casco Bay.
Membership in the Maine Island Trail Association gets you the annually updated guide and app, which tell you which islands you can land on, which allow camping, and the etiquette for each. Jewell Island is the classic Casco Bay overnight: 221 uninhabited acres near the outer edge of the bay, roughly an eight-mile paddle from East End Beach, with first-come, first-served campsites, a seasonal caretaker, a tidal punch bowl full of marine life on the ocean side, and ruins from both world wars to explore, including a pair of concrete observation towers. Cow Island and Little Chebeague are closer options with MITA-maintained sites, though camping on Cow is by reservation request through Rippleffect, the youth nonprofit that owns the island, not walk-up. Little Chebeague is even walkable from Great Chebeague at low tide if you want to scout it without committing to a crossing.
These are not casual trips. They involve real open-water crossings, tide planning, and the ability to self-rescue. Build up to them. Many paddlers do their first overnight with Portland Paddle's guided island-trail trip before attempting it solo.
A Few Hard-Won Rules
Dress for the water, not the air. A sunny 80-degree day means nothing when the water is in the 50s. Wear or carry a wetsuit or drysuit in the shoulder seasons, and take that seriously in September and October, when the air can still feel like summer, the bay traffic thins to almost nothing, and the water is the coldest thing about the day. Autumn is the best paddling of the year here for exactly that reason, and it is also the least forgiving of a bad clothing decision. If you want the color without the crossing, the land version is in our fall foliage guide for Greater Portland. Always wear your PFD, not strapped to the deck. Check the marine forecast and the tide chart before every paddle, and respect the fog, which can erase the whole bay in minutes. File a float plan with someone on shore. And give the big boats a wide berth, because they are not going to give it to you.
FAQ
Where can I rent a kayak in Portland, Maine?
Portland Paddle, based at East End Beach on the Eastern Promenade, rents recreational kayaks, sea kayaks, paddleboards, and canoes from roughly mid-May to mid-October and is the most convenient option in the city; unguided renters stay in a protected shore zone unless they demonstrate skills including capsize recovery. On Peaks Island, plan on a guided trip with Peaks Island Kayak near the ferry landing rather than a walk-up rental, since neither it nor Maine Island Kayak Co currently lists self-serve rentals. For your first time on saltwater here, a guided tour beats a solo rental anyway.
Is Casco Bay safe for beginner kayakers?
The protected inner harbor around East End Beach and Fort Gorges is reasonable for beginners on a calm day, but Casco Bay is open ocean with cold water, strong tides, fog, and heavy boat traffic. Cold-water shock is a real danger year-round. Beginners should start with a guided tour or stick to sheltered water close to shore, always wear a PFD, and check the marine forecast and tides first.
How do I get to Fort Gorges?
Fort Gorges sits on an island in Portland Harbor and is only reachable by boat. Most people paddle out by kayak from East End Beach, a short crossing that still crosses an active boat channel, or join a guided Portland Paddle tour. You can land on the island and explore the old fort for free, but bring a headlamp for the dark interior and only go in calm, fog-free conditions.
Can I camp on the Casco Bay islands?
Yes, on designated sites. Jewell Island's campsites are first-come, first-served with a seasonal caretaker on the island; Cow Island's MITA-maintained sites require a reservation request through Rippleffect. The Maine Island Trail Association's annually updated guide and app, included with membership, carry the site-by-site access details. Sites are reachable by kayak, sailboat, or water taxi. These are open-water trips requiring real paddling experience and tide planning, so build up to an overnight rather than making it your first outing.