Carrying Cove Place Beach - Surry, ME

Carrying Cove Place Beach
Surry, Maine.

8/9/2014: On a beautiful August Saturday we decided that it was a beach day.  There are many nice beaches within an hour drive of Bangor, but our criteria was pretty simple: not crowded!  Jolene heard about a great beach in Surry from her mom that was a true hidden gem.  So we packed the car and off we went.

We traveled route 1A from Bangor to Ellsworth and took a right down Main street.  At the fork in the road we took a left onto route 172 towards Blue Hill/Surry. It took us about 15 minutes to get into Surry, and we took a left onto Morgan Bay road, then a slight left onto Newbury Neck road.  For GPS directions, enter 1076 Newbury Neck Rd, Surry, ME (which is the address of Perry's Lobster Shack, with dining right on the small wharf.)  

We arrived about 11am, and there was 10 or so cars parked along the side of the road and in a small parking area.  Parking could definitely be an issue on a busy day, but the great thing about this beach is that is so far off the beaten path that its never that busy!  We got a space in the small parking area, and headed off across the street to the beach.  There aren't any public facilities here save for a couple of port-a-potties, so be prepared.  


The beach itself was made up of small crushed stone.  When we arrived, the tide was on the way out and there was about 15 feet of beach between the water and the seawall.  The beach had a fairly steep incline, which isn't a problem if you are laying out, but if you have a chair it would sink into the rock and pitch forward.  I spotted some driftwood and a couple of bigger rocks that I placed under the front two legs of my chair to make it level.  

This beach had it all for a relaxing day.  At its busiest, there were maybe 50 people hanging out, leaving plenty of space for privacy.  Not a lot of kids, but there was so much space that they could play and not bother others looking to soak up the sun.  Carrying Cove sits right on the Union River bay, so the clean crisp waters of the Atlantic were refreshing.  We sat in the sun, went for a swim, ate some lunch, and hung out until about 2:30 in the afternoon.

If we went back again, we would definitely take some water shoes, as the rocks were pretty tough on the feet.  Also would have brought our canoe as the calm waters looked pretty inviting.  Down the beach from us a couple was sailing a small sailboat back and forth, and another couple pulled a rowboat up on shore and hung out for a couple hours.