Woods Hole, Massachusetts · Buzzards Bay · 41°31.6′N 70°40.2′W
Holding at Woods Hole is rated fair, over a sand/mud bottom. Set well and check your swing before you trust it.
Woods Hole is well sheltered from north, northeast, east, southwest, west, northwest winds. Check the wind-protection rose above for every direction.
Woods Hole is primarily a mooring or dockage harbor — Woods Hole Marine guest mooring — by phone, with little or no room to anchor free.
There's no monitored VHF channel at the anchorage itself — Woods Hole Marine (phone); drawbridge Ch 13.
Reservable — Woods Hole Marine guest moorings by phone; Eel Pond slips via the drawbridge. It full daily in season.
Woods Hole is the oceanographic capital of the coast — WHOI and the MBL line a village at the elbow of the Elizabeth Islands, guarding the tide-swept passage between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound.
This is a spot to plan carefully: the passage runs hard, so time it for slack, and anchoring is allowed only in Great Harbor northwest of the NMFS wharf, where the current works against your hook (holding is fair at best). For a settled night, arrange a guest mooring with Woods Hole Marine, or slip into landlocked Eel Pond through the drawbridge (hail on Ch 13). Provisions, the aquarium and the Vineyard ferries are all steps away.
Hazards & cautions. Woods Hole is a narrow, ledge-riddled tidal passage — Red Ledge and "The Strait" — with currents strong enough to stop an underpowered boat; transit only near slack. Eel Pond is reached solely through a small drawbridge on a limited schedule, and anchoring is prohibited in both Eel Pond and Little Harbor.
NOAA Coast Pilot notes Woods Hole passage is swept by strong reversing currents amid scattered ledges; anchoring is permitted only in Great Harbor northwest of the NMFS wharf, and Eel Pond is entered through a drawbridge.
No cruiser reports yet. If you've anchored here, be the first — your note helps the next boat in.
Augusto ratings and editorial are our own synthesis of public-domain sources and cruiser reports. Always verify against current charts and local knowledge before you rely on them.