We learn from, and share resources with, other islanders in New England and beyond. We experiment. We have developed a new awareness that waste is not an option. These efforts are yielding great results. Sometimes they are quirky; often they’re ingenious.

Fall arrived at the Isles of Shoals one Sunday afternoon in mid-September, on the back of a blustery northwest wind that turned the misty air clear, and the water from gray/green to blue, in the matter of an hour. Weekend visitors that had arrived the previous day to escape theRead More

It is a hot Sunday afternoon in late July, and I’m walking across the dusty back lot of a small boat yard in southern Maine a dozen miles from the ocean. Ahead of me in the shimmering heat is a large metal-clad storage shed whose dark-green panels creak in theRead More

Forgive me if the following dispatch is a bit disjointed. The demands of finishing projects and opening up the island are at their height right now, and the best I can muster tonight is a partially embellished list of some of the notable recent events and preparations for the summerRead More

One bright afternoon last July I was cornered on the porch of the Oceanic Hotel by an older gentleman who has been a Star Island guest for decades. This man is notorious among long time hotel staff for his annual list of complaints, generally delivered on the Monday following hisRead More

In the course of my earliest seasons of youthful sailing exuberance, I cruised the coast in a 17-foot O’Day Daysailer. Then in my early 20s, I can still recall the dismissive reaction of one of my more experienced sailing friends to the concept of sailing anywhere offshore in an openRead More

Alright, I admit it: Outboard-powered rubber boats are convenient, and they can even be a little fun. We have one at the island, and it comes in very handy sometimes. We use it as a harbor-rescue craft, a tender, and sometimes as a mini tugboat. Most of the time, itsRead More