PUFFINS, PUFFINS, PUFFINS and MORE PUFFINS!

~ Norton of Jonesport, Maine ~
Founded in 1939 by Captain Barna B. Norton

Click here to hear the puffins! (Internet Explorer only)

Norton of Jonesport Holly Davis, Owner 118 Main Street Box 330 Jonesport, Maine 04649 WE HAVE THE LANDING PERMITS!! Tel. 1-207-497-2560 or 1-207-497-5933 puffins@machiassealisland.com

Norton of Jonesport takes you to Machias Seal Island - Here's Why!

Puffin Sites on the Maine Coast

While there are four other islands off the Maine coast where visitors can view puffins (Seal Island, Petite Manan, Matinicus Rock and Eastern Egg Rock), the combined totals of puffins on those islands comes nowhere near the number of puffins on Machias Seal Island. See for yourself how many puffins make Machias Seal Island their "home port!"

Island	Puffin Population	Port
Machias Seal Island	3000 puffins	Jonesport with Norton

We can get you close to the puffins -
sometimes as close as 4 feet to view the puffins close up!

New! Lodging available by the day or week at the Puffin House, Tern Cottage and Sea View Cottage. Contact us for more details! Map to find us at the Jonesport Marina

Our History
Our Boat, The "Chief" and Jonesport
Our Famous "Puffin Patch"
Schedule & Pricing

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Norton of Jonesport The Norton family moved to downeast Maine in 1760, and we know the secrets of the puffins, the other birds and the islands. We've taken more people to see puffins at Machias Seal Island than anyone else! Here are just a few of our visitors: Roger Tory Peterson, Canadian Geographic, Marlin Perkins and the Wild Kingdom, Portland Press Herald, New York Times, Boston Globe, Newsweek, Bangor Daily News, Yankee magazine, US News & World Report, National Geographic. Will you see more than puffins when you boat with us out to Machias Seal Island? Yes! Here are just a few of the "other" happenings: National Geographic was to do an article on bird migration. They told us that they needed a photograph of "the king of the migrators" (the arctic tern). They hired us. . .we delivered. credit: L. Page Brown

Marlin Perkins wanted to photograph a razor billed auk. Perkins was very pleased when the bird opened his mouth and displayed the orange interior.

credit: W.S. Clar

A Boston Globe photographer was able to photograph a huge whale that had died. It had its killer right with it: a tangled fishing net. The "Chief" The boat is built especially for our business of transporting birdwatchers and nature lovers of all kinds to view the extraordinary wildlife here at the easternmost tip of the United States. It easily passed Coast Guard regulations, but that wasn't enough for us: Since regular fiberglass boats burn fearlessly and cannot be put out, we had our boat built of special fire retardant glass. Since fiberglass will not float, we had our boat built with special air tanks for flotation. Since a rhythmic roll causes some people to become ill, this boat has an erratic roll built by design. Since the ocean makes it cold, we installed heaters. The boat has Loran, Radar, GPS, Color Scope, Automatic Pilot and Radio. Of all the boats in the area, the "Chief" was chosen and hired to transport Angus King, former Governor of Maine, and his party on their inspection of Atlantic Salmon pens on November 13th, 1997. Why do we operate out of Jonesport? We have a ramp and float here. You can walk aboard, you do not have to climb a ladder. Jonesport is a peninsula already six miles out in the ocean. It puts you at the start in the edge of the birds of the ocean. Jonesport has probably the most uninhabited islands of any town along the Maine coast. The islands make great nesting areas for eider, cormorant, gulls, razor bill auks, guillemots, loons, black ducks, grebes and eagles. It also makes sheltered water for the seals to have their young and raise them. As we travel toward Machias Seal Island, we go farther to sea than other tour boats. You have a much better chance of viewing offshore birds such as jaegers, shearwaters, phalaropes and many others. Head Harbor Island South Jonesport Schedules and Pricing Our season begins the first week in June and ends mid-August. The trip takes about an hour and 20 minutes from Jonesport, and the maximum time for you to spend on Machias Seal Island is 2 hours. Departure from Jonesport is usually at 7 am, but due to the ever-changing nature of sea conditions, it's best to call us between 7 pm and 8 pm the previous evening to learn the actual planned departure time for your trip. The price of our trip to Machias Seal Island is $100.00 per person per tour.

For more information or reservations, please contact us!

Norton of Jonesport Holly Davis, Owner 118 Main Street Box 330 Jonesport, Maine 04649 WE HAVE THE LANDING PERMITS!! Tel. 1-207-497-2560 or 1-207-497-5933 puffins@machiassealisland.com

Please visit our friends at Young's Guide Service!

See Our Famous "Puffin Patch"