Drive to the literal edge of the country and you'll find Herring Cove Beach tucked below wooded headlands, facing the mouth of Passamaquoddy Bay. The sand is coarse and dark, scattered with rounded stones that shift beneath your feet. Water temperature rarely climbs above the mid-fifties, even in August, so most visitors walk the tideline rather than swim—though you'll see the occasional hardy local take the plunge. Fog rolls in thick and sudden here, muting the calls of gulls and erasing the horizon.
“This is the easternmost beach in the United States, where you can watch the country's first sunrise over Canadian waters.”
Credit: UnsplashWhite cliffs over a desert beach
The beach stretches in a gentle arc, backed by a fringe of beach grass and a low dune line. At low tide, tide pools reveal periwinkles clinging to rocks and small crabs scuttling between strands of kelp. You'll often have the place to yourself, save for a dog walker or two and the seals that surface just beyond the breakers, their dark heads bobbing like buoys. The FDR International Bridge spans the narrows to your north, a reminder that you're standing at a geographic seam.
Come at dawn and you'll witness sunrise before nearly anyone else in the United States—the sky ignites over Grand Manan Channel in shades of salmon and slate. Pack layers; the wind off the bay is relentless, even in July. And bring binoculars: eagles nest in the spruces, and the whale-watching boats that pass offshore sometimes signal sightings with a blast of their horns.
