BELFAST — If future summers find Belfast teeming with cruise ships great and small, it will be because of this winter’s labors by a group that sees an untapped gold mine in the city’s harbor.

The group, consisting of Jim Lovejoy, Doug Thompson, Mike Hall, Capt. George Jennings and Capt. Jim Thorpe, are working to bring everything from water taxis and excursion boats to windjammers, coastal cruisers and the QEII to Belfast’s beautiful corner of Penobscot Bay.

Lovejoy, director of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, says the effort grew out of concerns that a day-excursion boat that has operated out of the city for several years may not return this summer.

“They really cut back last summer, and we don’t expect them back at all this year,” Lovejoy said. “As long as we’re working on getting back what we had, we thought we should move ahead and get some things under way to really tap into the potential Belfast has as a destination.”

A day-excursion boat is the group’s top priority, Lovejoy said. “We have to get something lined up fast, by the end of April at the latest, so the operator can get a commitment for the use of the city-owned dock. We just can’t let a summer go by without a cruise boat available. People come in the chamber’s information center all the time wanting to rent boats, which aren’t available for liability reasons. Visitors want to get out on the water, they expect it, but they can’t if there’s nobody here to take them. We have a wonderful harbor, but no boat, so we’re trying to get the word out.”

The group is willing to entertain all proposals for an excursion boat, whether it’s an owner-operator contracting with the city, a boat leased to a local operator, or an outright purchase. “The ideal would be a relatively new boat, able to carry 45 to 80 people, with an enclosed area,” Lovejoy said. “If we can get an operator for the first year to show the potential, I’m confident we could pull together a group of investors and buy a boat outright.”

The group already has a solid commitment on a boat for use as a water taxi, with Castine-to-Belfast seen as the most likely route.

Bringing the visually spectacular windjammers to Belfast, would be a bit tricky because their routes are determined by the prevailing breezes, but Thompson said the city’s Harbor Committee, of which he is a member, is willing to make it work.

“My idea is to have a mooring available at no charge, even if it takes some help from the city on putting in a mooring large enough, with local boats contracting with the windjammers to tender passengers in and out. If people crossing the bridge looked down and saw windjammers in the harbor, they’d want to stop instead of driving on by. It would be a great attraction. One reason I think this can work is that the really new things we’re talking about — windjammers, cruisers and big ships — all prefer to use moorings or to anchor, so none of this will put a strain on our dock facilities.”

While large cruise ships might seem like a pipe dream, Jennings said it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. “Large ships are already going to Mount Desert Island, and what’s there except one mountain to look at? Here, you come up one of the most beautiful 65-mile stretches of estuary in the world. It’s safe, there’s no liability because they’d anchor. All we have to do is put together some launches to get them ashore and show them a good time.”

Thorpe, whose marine services company does business from Maine to Florida, is using all his contacts to make the project work, with promising results.

“There are eight cruise lines coming to New England this summer, from New York to Canada. I agree that the QEII could have picked Penobscot Bay as easily as anywhere else, with more satisfying results for the passengers. The open sea all looks the same after a day or two. I’ve sailed cruise ships, and the best cruises are the ones where there’s land to watch go by. It’s much more attractive. I’ve had some very encouraging discussions with cruise lines, something may even happen this summer. Once we get the first one in, it will take off from there.”

Thorpe said the city also has great potential as a turnaround point for yachts. “We’ve been very successful with this in Newport (Rhode Island). People charter a yacht, bring it in here, we provide complete service: fuel, cleaning, laundry, limos to the airport if they’re only going one way. A service like that doesn’t just bring a lot of people to town, it also puts people to work. Once you get established, once people know you offer that service, you can’t keep them away.”