Home: safety, quietude, belonging. Port: haven for mariners and vessels. Saquatucket Harbor, in Harwich Port, Mass., has been our home port – away from our true home port – for 20 years.

“Northern Lights” by Desmond Holdridge. Viking Press, 1939; 246 pp. Paperback $32, Kindle Edition $5. Review by Charlie Doane I’ve said this before, and now I’ll say it again: the book “Northern Lights,” by one Desmond Holdridge, first published by Viking in 1939, is one of the best – perhapsRead More

By Randy Randall Some people you meet in this life leave a lasting impression. I suppose the grizzled waterfront character is a stereotype, and people coming to the marina or boatyard are not surprised when they run into such a bard roaming the docks. These old salts are often biggerRead More

Warwick, R.I. Rebecca “Becky” J. Milton, 63, passed away Aug. 20 at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I. Born in Danville, Illinois, she was a daughter of the late James B. and Esther J. (Matthews) Milton, and grew up in Hoopeston, Ill., home of the Cornjerkers. She graduated from IllinoisRead More

Essex, Conn. Charlotte Riker Perry Barringer, 94, passed away in her sleep August 15 at Essex Meadows in Essex, Conn. Born in New York City in 1925, “Sharlie” spent her childhood years in Greenwich, Conn., where she attended Greenwich Academy and The Ethel Walkers School. Her family then moved toRead More

North on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Jacksonville Beach, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia in March & April 2020.

Bellingham, Mass. Artist and sailor Robert “Bob” Carl Rasche, 61, of Bellingham, Mass., and Wells, Maine, died in an apparent accident off of his 22’ O’Day sailboat Avalon in Wells Harbor on Saturday, Aug. 8. The boat was found unmanned and adrift from its up-river mooring at approximately 11 a.m.Read More

We wanted to get in some fishing time before tropical storm Isisais stirs thing up here in L.I.Sound. Sea conditions in the AM were 2′ with a lot of whitecaps. After lunch things calmed down and seas went to 1′. We noticed schools of bait fish swarming the surface. TheyRead More

Sighted at Chick’s Marina in Kennebunkport. The Fore Aces is a 124′ Delta Marine vessel, built in 2003 refitted in 2014, according to Boat International. Formerly owned by musician Jimmy Buffet, she’s available for charter starting at $90,000 per week.

When I think of this Bay State port, I recall rocky beaches, lighthouses, lobsters, a vibrant downtown, rich commercial and political histories, the iconic Motif #1 fish house – and a brief moment of panic.