Part 1: What does a former professional ocean mariner do when he seeks relaxation? He heads to the inland waterways of the U.S. and Canadian Triangle Loop on his 32-foot trawler.

Competing in a New England classic-yacht event aboard a British-built 1939 Gloucester-type staysail schooner may not be for the weak of spirit, but it will be exhilarating and the experience of a lifetime.

New England offers countless harbors, both great and small – some bustling with commercial traffic, others quiet and “undiscovered.” For me, none is more interesting, vibrant or gorgeous than Boston Harbor.

Part 2: In the August issue, the McGuires and their trawler Hope entered Long Island Sound, expecting to be underwhelmed. Instead they were delighted and excited. On the next leg, they were challenged.

In 2017, we cruised from our hailing port of New York City to the Bras d’Or Lakes of Cape Breton Island, at the north end of the Maritime province of Nova Scotia. We liked what we found.

“You have to sail Newfoundland; there’s nothing like it,” a colleague had proffered decades ago. And for years we dreamed of cruising to this Maritime province. Then, finally, our reverie came true.

Our eastern Long Island Sound cruise was one of the more delightful – and humorous – we’ve ever logged; and it was, literally, right around the corner from our Rhode Island homeport.

In 2017, ten sports boarded the f/v Nor’easter, out of Kennebunkport, Maine, to fish some 25 miles at sea, in 300 feet of water on Jeffreys Ledge, for cod, haddock, pollock . . . and blue shark!?

Part 2: Grateful to be under way again, we envisioned plying Somes Sound and visiting the Japanese gardens at Northeast Harbor’s Asticou Inn. But, as we left Stonington, engine alarms shattered the peace and our plans.

Can a sail across Maine’s Casco Bay qualify as a cruise? Yes, when the vessel is a nine-foot Nutshell Pram with a podiatric whisker pole and the skipper has prehensile toes.