Mainly a home to commercial fisherman that ply the waters of Cape Cod looking for the daily catch, Sandwich is also home to a large and well-equipped marina that has transient slips available for boaters planning to transit the Cape Cod Canal. This is an excellent place to wait out a favorable tide in the Canal, or to tie up for the night if you arrive to late in the evening to make a Cape Cod Canal passage. Keep in mind when planning your canal transit that the tide ebbs to the southwest, and this is the tide you will want to catch.

Use NOAA Chart 13229.

From Cape Cod Bay, flashing green buoy "1" marks the initial approach to the twin breakwaters, east of the town of Sandwich, that mark the beginning of the canal.
From flashing green buoy "1," set a course for flashing green buoy "3" and flashing red buoy "2" (visible in the image above), which both mark the breakwaters at the opening of the canal. Green Cans "5" and "6" are the last aids to navigation you will see until Taylor Point at the south end of the canal. Once inside the canal you will find project depths of 32 feet with a minimum channel width of 240 feet.

The Sandwich Harbor of Refuge is located on the east bank of the canal about one mile in from the north breakwater. Be sure to take the current into mind when exiting the channel for the harbor.

Local Notices to Mariners are now exclusively available online from the U.S. Coast Guard.