The puffin tour offered by Bold Coast Charter Company in Cutler, Maine has been on my bucket list for years and this summer I finally did it … And it was incredible!
This isn’t your average puffin tour …
There are several other puffin tours on the coast of Maine, but Bold Coast Charters is the only company in Maine authorized ashore Machias Seal Island (or any island for that matter) where thousands of puffins, razorbills, common murres, arctic terns and other seabirds nest every summer. The only other tour company authorized ashore leaves from New Brunswick.
Machias Seal Island has the largest puffin colony on the Maine coast!
The island is located about 10 miles east of Cutler, Maine. It’s about a 5 hour drive from the Maine New Hampshire border, and about as far northeast in Maine as it gets! Ownership of Machias Seal Island is actually disputed between the U.S. and Canada, but no passport is required to visit.
Booking The Puffin Tour
The cost of the five hour tour is $150/person and it’s in such high demand that they usually book the entire summer in the first week that they start taking reservations in January. I think that this year they sold out in just a few days. That’s why it took me so long to go here!
Visit Bold Coast Charter Company’s website in December to get the date that they’ll begin taking reservations. Mark it on your calendar and call them to book a date before they sell out!
When To Go
Bold Coast Charter Company offers tours from late May until August 12.
Departure times vary depending on weather and tides and may leave as early as 7:00am, so you’ll probably want to stay nearby in Lubec, Maine. Since departure times vary, you must call them the evening before to confirm your reservation and get the departure time.
Our Puffin Tour
We booked our trip for June 2nd, 2019. A bit early in the season but there were tons of puffins and other seabirds.
The only drawback to going this early in the season is that it was colder than usual on the island, and especially on the water.
Regardless of when you go, bring warm clothing! Always a good idea when you’re out on the water in Maine!
Our puffin tour departed at 10:30am from Cutler’s harbor.
As you leave the harbor, you have a fantastic view of Little River Lighthouse. This is one of the nicest lighthouses I’ve seen in Maine and I never knew it existed because you can only see it from the water.
The trip to the island took about 45 minutes on thankfully relatively calm seas, although it was cold, windy and foggy! The boat is 40 feet long and there were about a dozen people on our tour, plus Captain Andy and his first mate.
There wasn’t much to see on the ride there, but I suppose you could get lucky and see a whale, seals or porpoise in the water.
It wasn’t until the lighthouse on Machias Seal Island was visible that we began to see a few seabirds. They were all on the island!
Machias Seal Island
Going on land isn’t a guarantee. They’ll only take you on land if it’s safe to do so, and thankfully we could! They take you in smaller groups to the island on a small boat and you’ll see hundreds of puffins the second you’re ashore.
Once everyone was on land, they escorted us to the blinds. These are small structures, pictured below, where you can open small windows to stick your camera out and photograph the birds.
We were in the blind for about 2 hours of nonstop photographing! Don’t bring your kid or anyone who isn’t a photography enthusiast, or they’ll be bored in the tiny dark room, but we of course loved every second of it!
Photographing Puffins
You’ll want a camera with at least 150mm lens (about 6x zoom). Cell phone cameras aren’t adequate. You wouldn’t know it by looking at the photos, but puffins are really tiny, so you need to zoom in close to get the best pictures.
The puffins are everywhere, on every side of the blinds, even on the roof, and you have windows on every wall that you can slide open. They’ll be as close as 5 feet away from you! Our photographs were taken at between 40mm and 500mm (about 2x zoom up to about 20x zoom). Anything more than that is probably unnecessary.
The blinds are really small so don’t bring a tripod, but a compact monopod would be fine. All of our shots were handheld. The most difficult part was keeping the puffins in focus because they hop around so much!
Puffins Video
See what it’s like photographing the puffins from the blinds. I recorded these video clips in between the hundreds of photos that I took! The birds are very vocal! Listen for the sound of the puffins landing on the roof!
Bonus: Seals!
After getting our fill of puffin cuteness, on the way back to Cutler, we stopped briefly at a large ledge near the island where there were several seals sun bathing on the rocks and swimming in the water. Later in the summer it’s also more likely to see dolphins and porpoises.
More To See In Bold Coast Maine
While you’re in this beautiful part of Maine, see some of the sights!
Check out my blog on the places to see, things to do and where to stay on Maine’s Bold Coast.
What an amazing and lovely bird I have never seen in my life.
Thank you, I was trying to remember our tour of the island about twenty years ago. I was there again. Ellen from Massachusetts
I’ve have visited the island since the 70’s. Super great ornithological and photographic experience!