On the New Bedford side, you will see a commercial waterfront, with a large part of the harbor's fishing fleet tied up in various locations. Fish intake and processing facilities, ice houses, and a ferry dock among other things. You will see all manner of boats/ships in the harbor. Small cruise ships, mega yachts. Whale boats being rowed by crews for fun and exercise. Rowing sculls from a local rowing program. Tug boats, barges, rowboats. You can usually see the Hannah Boden around. This being the boat Linda Greenlaw captained in the Perfect Storm saga. I believe she also used it for one of those dangerous catch type shows on TV. I thought the boat was moving up to Maine, but I still see it in the harbor quite a bit. In downtown New Bedford, there is a very nice historical area that contains the Whaling Museum, the Seaman's Bethel, restaurants, National Park visitor center and little shops. If you like Moby Dick, you'll like the fact that you can visit the area and many of the buildings and sites that he speaks of. There is a public dinghy dock that you can use to access this part of town which I'll describe in a later post.
When you first enter the harbor, you will see a picture perfect little lighthouse off of Palmer Island on your left. If you are going to get hung up in the harbor, the water around the north of Palmer Island might be the place where it will happen. They've put moorings into the pocket area southeast of the island and there is a large mooring field on the west side of the island (Gifford Street mooring field); but watch your chart in this area and make sure you are in the channel or east of it, when you enter the harbor from the barrier.
I am bouncing you back and forth, but as you enter the harbor from the barrier, on the right you will see the beginning of the Fairhaven Shipyard complex. This facility has gotten larger and larger, gobbling up some other properties over the years. It is divided into the North and South yards. Gas and diesel is available at the South yard as you enter the harbor. This complex has got it all from soup to nuts. It has got a marina and works on anything from small boats to ferries to fishing boats. It really dominates the waterfront on the Fairhaven side. It has a great reputation, but I don't have a lot of personal experience with it other than buying fuel.
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