Here you see the 130-foot ketch “Angelique” on Tuesday. She’s discharging her passengers onto the western beach of Babson Island where they likely will have an exquisite lunch and an opportunity to explore the rim of the island, climb into its wooded highlands, and roam through the fern fields at its center.
That Island commonly is called Big Babson because there is a small, private island known as Little Babson about 1000 feet to the north, which is virtually connected at low tide. Here’s a chart that includes water depths:
The waters to the east of the islands generally are considered to be Great Cove. The images of “Angelique” above were taken from the Cove shore.
Big Babson now is a public preserve being conserved by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which also issued the chart here. The Island was sold to the Trust in 2011 after local residents and others contributed large amounts of money to the Trust to have it preserved in perpetuity. (Photograph taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 1, 2024.)