Penobscot Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, downriver from Belfast. Penobscot Bay has many working waterfronts including Rockland, Rockport, and Stonington, and Belfast upriver. Penobscot Bay is between Muscongus Bay and Blue Hill Bay, just west of Acadia National Park.
Penobscot Bay near Belfast
A 180° panorama of the Penobscot Bay from near the Belfast/Searsport town line looking SE. Belfast Bay is to the right, Northport on the peninsula, Islesboro on the center horizon, Castine to the left of that, and toward Stockton Springs and the entrance to the Penobscot River are beyond the trees on the far left.
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. The gulf includes the entire coastlines of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine, as well as Massachusetts north of Cape Cod, and the southern and western coastlines of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, respectively.
Major features of the Gulf of Maine
A number of states and provinces along the North American coast drain into the Gulf of Maine. Much of that region is depicted here.
S. latissima, one of the most abundant of the Saccharina species in the Gulf of Maine
Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, in mid-September 2004
