Approaches
Scituate is easy to enter and well protected in everything but a severe easterly. Breakwaters at the mouth flank a dredged channel into the mooring basin. A major dredging project over the winter of 2002-2003 specified controlling depths of 12 feet in the outer channel, 10 feet in the inner channel, and 8 to 10 feet in the mooring areas.
The narrow opening may not be immediately obvious among the hills, dunes and trees of the shoreline, but the white lighthouse tower on Cedar Point is a good daymark.
At night, you'll have to look hard for the R&W Mo(A) just east of the channel entrance, and the red light at the end of the breakwater. Both are very difficult to identify with any confidence among the other lights on shore, especially when approaching from the east. The channel itself is marked only by unlit nuns and cans.
Anchorages
Because all the deep water in Scituate Harbor is dredged and used for moorings, anchoring is neither permitted nor practical.
Moorings
There are some 650 boats moored in Scituate, so the law of averages suggests there's nearly always a mooring available. Arriving in the afternoon, you can usually hail any of the launches for directions. The 4 launches in the harbor each have access to different sets of moorings; you may need to try more than one.
The two commercial launches, E-Z Rider and Cedar Point, are long-standing fixtures of the Scituate waterfront. Both run out of the town's Cole Parkway Marina, convenient to the shops and restaurants. The club launches run from their respective clubhouses, just north of town. Over the years, we've had moorings from all of them. E-Z Rider's website includes an email reservation form.
Note that in Scituate the Harbormaster does not handle transient moorings.
Slips
Scituate Harbor Marina, in the center of the waterfront, is a full-service marina with transient dockage. The town-owned Cole Parkway Marina, supervised by the Harbormaster has 3 or 4 slips frequently available for visitors. Expect them both to be full on summer weekends unless you've reserved ahead of time.
