Spring along Maine’s magnificent MidCoast comes loaded with breathtaking natural spectacles and epic opportunities for outdoor recreation (which tend to go hand-in-hand on this part of the North Atlantic seaboard). And there’s no better home base for taking it all in than The Craignair Inn by the Sea, where the finest in waterfront B&B-style accommodations and amenities combine with a serene—and auspicious—location in the heart of the MidCoast.
From the world’s most endearing seabirds (we’ll go on the record here making that claim!) to world-class sportfishing and whale-watching, this is a really amazing time of year to experience what MidCoast Maine—and The Craignair Inn—have to offer!
The Atlantic puffin, a downright iconic member of the auk family, is one of those glorious creatures that combines genuine beauty with utter cuteness, and Maine provides its only nesting habitat in the U.S. And among the preeminent sites to see puffins in Maine is right within shouting distance of The Craignair Inn by the Sea: Eastern Egg Rock in Muscongus Bay.
This grass- and shrub-swept isle, part of the Allen D. Cruickshank Wildlife Sanctuary, is celebrated as the first restored seabird rookery in the world. The measures undertaken here back in the early 1970s to bring back breeding puffins as well as terns, guillemots, and other feathered marvels have been replicated in many other corners of the planet.
Puffin-watching cruises embark from Rockland, Port Clyde, and other regional ports beginning in late spring and running through summer. We’re talking really unmissable territory for anybody remotely interested in birding—or simply natural spectacles of the flashiest (and sweetest) variety.
Spring and summer are the all-around best time to whale watch in Maine. April marks the start of the peak whale-watching season off the MidCoast, and our Inn provides the perfect launchpad for enjoying the spectacle.
Numerous species of great whales migrate to or through the Gulf of Maine this time of year, not least the Western Atlantic stock of humpback whales, which cruise their way here from wintering grounds in the Caribbean. These wing-flippered rorquals, the most acrobatic of the great whales, are an unforgettable sight.
And the humpbacks aren’t the only leviathans beelining for local waters: You’ve also got the chance to see everything from minke, sei, finback, and blue whales to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, not to mention such smaller toothed cetaceans as pilot whales and orcas. The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in the southwestern Gulf of Maine ranks among the best whale-watching destinations in the world.
You’re well poised to join Maine whale watching tours as a Craignair Inn guest, and we couldn’t recommend it more!
April also kicks off one of the very best windows for sportfishing on the Maine MidCoast, which happens to be an absolutely world-class destination for that on-the-water pursuit — and the delectable cuisine that can come from it!
On the freshwater side of things, you’ve got fabulous chances to reel in smallmouth and largemouth bass among other quarry. And offshore, deep-sea fishing in Maine for cod, haddock, striped bass, and more really ramps up come last spring and early summer.
And if you’d rather just get out there and enjoy some wind-powered Gulf of Maine sightseeing, rest assured that sailing charters (and sailboat rentals, if you’ve got the experience) are easy to come by in our MidCoast backyard here at The Craignair Inn by the Sea!
Whether to photograph puffins, chase bluewater trophies, spot spouting ocean giants, or all of the above, choose The Craignair Inn by the Sea as your springtime perch in MidCoast Maine, and soak up everything our local saltwater has to offer this time of year—which is an awful lot, needless to say!