Project Puffin provides narrators for the puffin watching tours provided by two companies to view the thriving colony at Eastern Egg Rock, Muscongus Bay, Maine.

Hardy Boat Cruises, based in New Harbor on Maine's Pemaquid Peninsula, runs a Puffin Watch cruise in the Spring with Audubon naturalists starting in early June (and without Audubon naturalists beginning in mid-May). The trip departs daily at 5:30pm, and trips end in late August. The one and a half hour tour departs New Harbor for Eastern Egg Rock, where the boat slowly circles the island for 30 minutes.

In addition to puffins, passengers have an opportunity to view endangered Roseate Terns, Arctic Terns, and Common Terns, along with Black Guillemots, Common Eiders, Laughing Gulls, and many other seabirds. Tour participants have also been able to view Harbor Seals, Minke whales, Northern Gannets, and Storm Petrels.

Boothbay Harbor is also a point of departure for CAP'n FISH's Island Lady, which offers a two and a half-hour Puffin Cruise on a few select days in June, plus Mondays and Tuesdays at 1 pm, and Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 10 am, from July through late August. The tour features Boothbay Harbor sights, including several lighthouses and a seal ledge, before heading to Egg Rock for a thirty-minute tour around the puffin colony.

Although we are often able to come quite close to puffins, they stand only ten inches tall, and binoculars are strongly recommended to enhance your overall experience.

Puffin watching tours sail rain or shine, so it is important to bring appropriate attire - including a sweater or windbreaker, and sunscreen.

Both puffin cruise lines recommend reservations. For more information about the Puffin Cruises, please contact the companies directly.

Other puffin tours in Maine:

• Puffin watching tours to Eastern Egg Rock are also available from Port Clyde on Monhegan Boat Line. 
• Puffin Watching tours are available to Machias Seal Island, courtesy of Bold Coast Charter Company, with Captain Andrew Patterson from Cutler, Maine.

Please note: The two tours mentioned leaving from Port Clyde and Cutler DO NOT include Audubon Naturalists.