Cruising guides are known for using more than their share of hyperbole, but the Embassy Guide to the Maine coast is not going too far when it refers to Roque Island (NOAA Chart No. 13326) as the "Down East Shangri-La." This crescent moon-shaped atoll just south of Jonesboro succeeds in drawing cruisers beyond Mount Desert Island, with a stunning white sand beach that adds a touch of the Caribbean to Maine's Bold Coast (the appropriately named Anguilla Island that you pass as you enter the harbor helps further the tropical theme). We're fortunate that Roque isn't located in the more heavily cruised areas, or else it would almost surely have been overrun and ruined by now.

The island is privately owned by the Gardner family, which has been generous and gracious enough to allow cruisers to land here but asks that they restrict themselves to the northern end of the beach (a sign makes obeying the rules easy). Please heed their wishes. Cruisers shouldn't need an excuse to venture farther Down East, but if they do, there's no better enticement than Roque Island.